By now, you may have noticed that the Electronic Commerce Act is not really much about commerce. It is more about information. It gives legal recognition to "information generated, sent, received or stored by electronic, optical or similar means."

Along the same line, the Rules on Electronic Evidence allow the admission of this type of information in civil actions and proceedings as well as quasi-judicial and administrative cases. Recently, its application has been extended to criminal proceedings.

Of course, we know that it is you "librarians" who are responsible for storing and ensuring easy retrieval of information. The fact that information has been of late more and more in electronic form should be a challenge to you. Familiarity with the provisions of the Electronic Commerce Act and its IRR, and of the Rules on Electronic Evidence should come in handy.

Yours is a very important profession. In an article by Travis McDade (At Home on the Edge of a Profession, available at www.law.com, April 29, 2002), it has been likened to that of a piano tuner. According to that article, there may be millions of piano players in the world but only a few are gifted with skill of the piano tuner. There may be millions of information users in the world, in fact everyone may be considered an information user, but only you are skilled in storing them and ensuring their easy retrieval.

In the legal profession, librarians play a very important role. In an article by Luis Acosta (Reforming the Legal Profession: Implications for Law Librarianship, 94 Law Libr. J. 121), you were referred to as an important player in reforming the legal profession.

The challenge is, for law librarians, to ensure access to legal information not only to lawyers but also to non-lawyers. That way, you contribute to making the legal profession more accountable, more transparent, and more responsive to the needs of the public.

(Copyright 2003. Gilbert E. Lumantao. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.)