Libraries of the Past,

Libraries of the Future

GUS VIBAL
Executive Director, Vibal Foundation
Founder, Filipiniana.net, Vee Press and Wikipilipinas

15 November 2010
UST Miguel de Benavides Library
“Emerging Technologies and Their Impact on Libraries”
Traditional Libraries

Books are acquired

and curated to
represent sum total
of human
knowledge
Traditional Libraries

The librarian orders

library contents
according to strict
taxonomy
Traditional Libraries

Reading is a largely
solitary activity
 Digital Libraries
• Collections are accessible through
computers or devices linked to the
internet
• More easily navigable by librarians and
users
- search engines
- embedded thesauruses
- hyperlinks for contextual reading
Project Gutenberg
University of Michigan Digital Library
Text Collections
Archive.org
Scribd
 Online Library Communities
• Sites of reader discourse and counter-
discourse
• Contents also controlled by readers, who
can
• store and share their e-books
• rate books
• exchange reviews
• annotate and comment on books
• interact with other members
• Reading becomes a social activity
Shelfari
GoodReads
LibraryThing
E-books and Portable Libraries

• Entire libraries in a
single device
• Reader is librarian
and curator
- chooses, buys,
reads and discards
books at will
E-books and Portable Libraries

• Shares some
searchability
features of web-
based digital
libraries
• But do not provide
same social reading
experience
Vibal Foundation's Library
Initiatives
• Fully-featured digital library and online
research portal
• Rare and out-of-print books, manuscripts,
images and other documents
• Materials in Filipino, English, Spanish
• Dating from the Hispanic era to the
contemporary period
Filipiniana.net Features
SEARCH TOOL
Filipiniana.net Features

BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFO
Filipiniana.net Features

COMMENTS SHARING
Filipiniana.net Features

HYPERLINKED KEYWORDS
for CROSS REFERENCING
and FURTHER READING
• Multi-format digital
publisher
• Out-of-print classics
and landmark
Filipiniana
• Contemporary fiction
and non-fiction
Vee Press E-Book Features

HYPERLINKED KEYWORDS
Vee Press E-Book Features

CLICKABLE NUMBERED ENDNOTES

Vee Press E-Book Features

ANNOTATIONS/EXECUTIVE
SUMMARIES/INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS
 TRADITIONAL DIGITAL

1. Librarian is curator 1. Reader is curator

2. Reading is solitary 2. Reading is social

 TRADITIONAL DIGITAL

3. No sharing is 3. Social networking is

possible possible
4. No metadata; 4. Readers annotate and
information is locked disaggregate the text
within the book 5. Readers classify
5. Librarians classify (folksonomy)
(taxonomy)
 TRADITIONAL LIBRARY DIGITAL LIBRARY

1. Curation Librarian Reader

2. Reading Solitary Social

Experience

3. Sharing n/a Social Networking

4. Metadata Information is locked Reader annotate and

within text disaggregate the text

Taxonomy Folksonomy (tags)

5. Classification
Library 2.0
• Coined by Michael Casey (2006),
following same principles as Web 2.0 and
Business 2.0
• Emphasizes user participation,
interactive info sharing, and user-
centered design
• Will replace tradtional and one-
directional service of traditional libraries
Gus’ Top 10 Lumina Pandit Artifacts

1) Replica of the first printing press in the country (1593)

2)  UST founder Miguel de Benavides’ collection from 1605
3) Nicolaus Copernicus’ On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres,
published in 1543
4) Plantin Polyglot Bible, a peak achievement in typography (1569-73)
1) The oldest book in the collection, Flavius Josephus’ book on the history
of the Jewish war of AD 70 against the Romans. An incunabulum printed
in 1492
6)Foundation act of the University of Santo Tomás (1611)
7)Papal bull Supereminenti (1645), containing the university charter
8)Libros de pique, final examination book for licentiate or masters degrees
9)A great cultural treasure, a 16th-century baybayin (ancient script)
document found in the UST Archives. Its syllabry is similar to that of the
first book printed in the Philippines, Doctrina Christiana
10) 1st edition of Rizal’s Noli me tángere (1887)
Other bibliographic articles
• 2nd Memorial Lecture Series on
Philippine library pioneer “James
Alexander Robertson and the
Construction of the Phil Bibliographic
Canon”
• Tatler Oct 2010: Life of library pioneer
Trinidad Pardo de Tavera
• Tatler Dec 2010: Lumina Pandit and
UST’s 400th anniversary
Invitation
• Thurs 9 Dec 2010: Book Launch of “The
Life, Art & Times of Damián Domingo”
• 2011: Opening of MAIA (Museo Aklatan
ng Impreso at Awit)
 THANK YOU!

Libraries of the Past,

Libraries of the Future

GUS VIBAL
Executive Director, Vibal Foundation
Founder, Filipiniana.net, Vee Press and Wikipilipinas
15 November 2010