DLSU LIBRARIES - 4TH WEEK
- CHRISTIAN NOE BONGALBAL
- Apr 4
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 13
(MARCH 10 TO MARCH 11)
A. MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES
My last week in DLSU Libraries was on the Special Collections. There, I was mentored and evaluated by Miss Minette. I had the opportunity to explore their almost sixty (60) special collections, from the Brother-Presidents to Deans, Sponsors, and prominent people like Bonifacio P. Sibayan, one of the former presidents of my alma mater, Philippine Normal University. I was able to encode special collections under the European Documentation Center and these range from journals, research, and documents. Also, with my time here in DLSU, this was the only week that I faced my inner fear–book covering. I’m genuinely grateful to Sir Jansen for allowing me to conquer that. Kidding aside, I enjoyed it to the point that I do not want to stop.
But what I loved doing this week is when I had encoding and describing memorabilia of former brother-president, Bro. Raymundo B. Suplido. I had to wear gloves for protection, especially since those are rare materials ranging from certificates, plaques, teapots, to an authentic cross from Jerusalem with four relics said to be produced in Jerusalem.
B. LESSONS LEARNED
I have learned that even though, as much as DLSU Libraries have curated more-or-less 60 collections of special materials, not all of them are special collection-worthy. This is for a reason that some are just textbooks used or collected by a certain dean or professor and then donated to the library, which the libraries used to just accept.
Also, Miss Juvy, one of the library staff assigned to the special collections, highlighted the importance of “the contract” or the “deed of gift or donation,” as it must be more favorable to the institution, not the donor. She emphasized it over and over again as previous contracts favor the donor, and a case happened where someone pulled out the collection, leaving the DLSU Libraries nothing. I also learned from her that materials that are being donated shall not be tagged as “special collections” not until evaluated carefully by the administration as it can lead to space limitations, especially if the donor wanted their collection to be housed separately, and also undocumented materials, which what we did during our duty there. Nevertheless, I learned a lot in this area, especially with Miss Minette, as she told us that we must be ready with everything and, as special collection librarians, we must have the ability to deal with the donors, their requests, and the evaluation of the materials.
C. BEST PRACTICES/FEATURES OF THE LIBRARY
Up until this week, the DLSU Libraries still surprise me with their practices, particularly with the special collections section. First, their whole special collections are not only available on the 14th floor of the Henry Sy Building. It is also available on the 7th Floor (Reference Section), 9th Floor Mezzanine (Periodicals Section), 10th Floor (Filipiniana Section), 10F Mezzanine, and 12th Floor (Archives).
Description: Slider of the collections available in the Special Collection
Also, I liked how the materials are either for room use only, commonly for books and manuscripts, to prevent any loss or misplaced materials. Or “viewing only,” particularly those who are classified a artifacts, memorabilia, relics, and clothes. Their practice of having a contract or “deed of gift” ensures that the donor and the DLSU libraries have an agreement on the housing, management, and description of the materials. Despite them being room-use only, librarians also established security by implementing a “closed-shelf” system, allowing the librarians to only access or retrieve the material from a certain collection. Also, like the PNU, their practice of book covering is efficient and effective as it only acts as a “book jacket” and induces less damage to the book, considering their rarity and value.
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