Full Computerization of Librarians Licensure Exam

The Board for Librarians exercises quasi-legislative (rule-making power) under Section 8 of Republic Act No. 4373.
The Board for Librarians is empowered by Section 4, Republic Act No. 4373 and Section 6(a) of Presidential Decree No. 223, as amended to adopt measures that preserve and improve the technical, ethical, and moral standards of librarianship.
The resolution is driven by trends of technological modernization and globalization, requiring changes in licensure examination methods and processes.
The resolution aims to produce credible, qualitative and efficacious examinations that strengthen public trust and faith in the licensure system.
The resolution targets expeditious releases of examination results and gives the Board time to exercise its regulatory powers and functions.

The resolution provides that full computerization covers not only correction and rating of test papers but also uses a question bank from which questions are extracted and randomly arranged by and through the computer.
The resolution requires question construction, storage, extraction, printing, security controls, and scoring using computerized systems and controlled procedures.
The resolution prescribes an examination blueprint that combines objective and subjective testing through a fixed weight distribution.

The resolution becomes effective after fifteen (15) days following its publication in the Official Gazette or any newspaper of general circulation, whichever is earlier.
The resolution states that it becomes effective upon approval by the Commission and after the required publication period.
The resolution directs dissemination to ensure implementation among education providers offering Librarianship.

Each Board Member assigned to subjects must frame or formulate his/her own questions or adopt questions supplied by the academe after modifying or reworking them.
Every question must be appraised by a technical expert, if necessary, for objectivity, validity, reliability, and efficaciousness, and must be unambiguous and definite, calling for one definite correct answer.
Each question must be classified by degree of difficulty (easy, average and hard) and by level of knowledge and proficiency, and by types (subjective and objective).
The Board Member must ensure questions for each category are equitably comprehensive and representative of the mass.

Subjects containing both objective and subjective questions must follow a fixed weight proportion of 70% objective and 30% subjective.

For each subject, the assigned Board Member must initially input no less than five hundred (500) questions into the question bank located at the Commission.
The questions must be based on the syllabus and must be built up by no less than three hundred (300) questions for every succeeding examination.
The Board Member must work toward an optimum ideal number of at least three thousand (3,000) questions.
The resolution allows questions to be withdrawn or replenished using items abreast of economic, social, technological and scientific advances and the globalization of the profession.

Questions once fed into the question bank become the intellectual property of the Commission.
The Board Member who formulated and inputted the questions loses the right to withdraw them.
Once a Board Member is no longer a Board Member, the newly appointed Board Member assigned to the subject, or an incumbent Board Member reassigned out of rotation by the Chairman, must review the questions in the question bank, reword or delete any of them, and add his/her own questions.

The Board Member must randomly extract or withdraw the required number of questions for each subject from the question bank.
The randomization must produce at least two (2) sets, with each set having different chronological arrangements of questions for printing and distribution.

During extraction and printing of questions and the assembling and packaging of questionnaires, all authorized persons in the confidential room must not leave until after the lapse of one (1) hour from the start of the examination for the concerned subject.
Agents of NBI, security officers, designated persons, and even authorized observers must be stationed outside the confidential room to watch and/or safeguard the proceedings.

Computer programs and files must be ensured to be tamper-free.
The resolution requires adoption of multiple passwords so no single person has complete control of, or access to, the computer programs and files.
The resolution mandates designation of three (3) responsible key officials for access control.

Objective type questions (multiple choice) must have answers corrected and rated through the OMR (Optical Mark Reader) Machine.
Subjective type questions (problem solving, drawing or essay) may be corrected through the OMR or manual process.

The resolution directs dissemination through school/colleges/universities offering the course of Librarianship to all concerned.
The resolution makes implementation operational through the required staffing actions, question bank procedures, security rules, and computerized scoring steps for the December 1994 schedule.