TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS

DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Isabela School of Arts and Trades
Ilagan, Isabela

TERM PAPER ON THE

HISTORICAL RESEARCH: LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Submitted By:

ARMILYN B. MENDOZA

DEPARTMENT IN
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Submitted to:

ALMA HERMINIA TORRES

Instructor

December 6, 2024
ABSTRACT

This paper covers the idea of libraries and archives, both historically and in
the present, not only in the Philippines but globally as well. It traces the evolution
of library management practices from ancient archives to modern libraries,
highlighting key milestones and shifts in methodologies preserving items of
historical significance. Among the important factors to consider is why Libraries
are created and maintained by librarians. Alternatively, why do archivists
archive the archives?

Historical research entails locating, utilizing, and comparing data from

primary and secondary sources to convey an understanding of historical events.
In this process, historians formulate questions (e.g., who was involved in an event,
when an event occurred, etc.) using their scientific knowledge, experience, and
intuition and then attempt to find the relevant information from their source.

By examining historical precedents, libraries preserve cultural heritage,

facilitate learning, and foster intellectual inquiry for an important part of our
community and cultural history.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction…………………………………..……………………………………. 1
Literature Review……………………………………..………………… ……….. 2
Methodology………………………………………………………………………. 3
Body/Main text…………………………………………………………………….. 4-6
Analysis/Discussion……………………………………………………………... 7-8
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….. 9
References………………………………………………………………………….. 10
INTRODUCTION

Libraries have been termed “one of the pillars of civilization.” The World
Book Encyclopedia says that they are among the most important contributors to
human culture and technology. The German poet Goethe called them the memory
of mankind. The library is generally the first place a student goes when they need
to conduct research. This makes sense: it is a place where books,
articles, Newspapers, dissertations, multimedia collections, and other possible
sources are saved and kept. Aside from their collections, libraries are staffed by
experienced "librarians" who are willing to assist students in locating specific
sources for any type of research.

“The archive is the metaphor used to describe memory. For many

generations, the entry to this archive, remembering, was the golden path to
wisdom and all knowledge that reaches beyond the here and now.” (Brockmeier,
2010, p.7)

The archival functions appraisal and selection of records are said to be one
form of writing history. This goes along with taking the initiative of preserving them
to make these surrogates of memory last. Archival theorists have put forward the
dynamics of records creation and preservation in pluralizing the archives in society
(Buenrostro,2015)

In a similar vein, scholarship, and practice are continuously examining its

long-standing relationship with libraries and archives as institutions of memory.
This highlights the idea that libraries, and more specifically, archives, should be
equated with evidence-keeping to prevent administrative errors, legal and ethical
lapses, and to counteract collective amnesia.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The emergence of digital communication, changing perceptions of archives

brought about by a renewed focus on the ability of archives and communication
channels to influence knowledge, and the ensuing fundamental discussions about
the proper operation of archives present challenges to the global archival
community.

With the emergence of technology, the increasing availability of archives

online and digitized surrogates of the originals has brought substantial
transformations on how users’ access and utilize archival materials (McCausland,
2011).

In building communities and identities, memory or more specifically social

or collective memory, is a central concept because a certain group recognizes itself
and its roots from its memory of a common past (Ketelaar, 2005)

Assmann (2008) emphasizes that cultural memory is communicated,

manifested, objectified, and preserved in symbolic forms that serve as reminders,
such as monuments, libraries, archives, and other mnemonic institutions.

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METHODOLOGY

This paper explores Libraries and Archives during the ancient and modern
era. And how these libraries and archives are being helpful to students and
researchers. Data from secondary sources are extracted. They are presented and
summarized below. Literature reviews are also consulted to learn more about the
Libraries and Archives during the ancient and modern era.

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BODY/MAIN TEXT

An Ancient “Encyclopedia of Human Knowledge”

In the Middle Eastern country known today as Iraq. The year is 650 B.C.E.
The towering walls of the city of Nineveh (near modern-day Mosul), is the imperial
palace of King Ashurbanipal—ruler of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylonia. Men are
carting heavy earthen jars into the building. These men have just returned from the
extremities of the Assyrian kingdom. They are attempting to gather every known
work about the social, cultural, and religious traditions of the people living in
Ashurbanipal’s realm. One is full of pillow-shaped clay tablets about three
inches [8 cm] wide by four inches [10 cm] long. Inside the palace are scribes with
bone styli making wedge-shaped impressions on small tablets of moist clay. They
are translating foreign-language documents into Assyrian. Later, the tablets will be
baked in an oven, making the records almost indestructible. The records are stored
in rooms filled with shelves that are stacked with hundreds of jars. On the
doorposts of the rooms, plaques state the subject of the records held in each
location. The more than 20,000 clay tablets in this library contain information about
business transactions, religious customs, law, history, medicine, and human and
animal physiology, forming what a later scholar described as “an encyclopedia of
human knowledge.”

Before and After the Nineveh Library

Other great libraries existed before Ashurbanipal’s library at Nineveh. King

Hammurabi built a library in the Babylonian city of Borsippa a thousand years
before Ashurbanipal. Rameses II founded a famous library in the Egyptian city of
Thebes more than 700 years before Ashurbanipal. But the diversity of information
and the sheer number of records earn Ashurbanipal’s library the reputation of

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being “the greatest of the ancient world.” It was 350 years before another library
surpassed it.
That greater library was built by Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander the
Great’s generals, about the year 300 B.C.E. It was constructed in the Egyptian
seaport city of Alexandria, and its librarians endeavored to collect copies of most
of the writings in the inhabited world. According to tradition, at Alexandria, about
70 scholars started translating the Hebrew portion of the Scriptures into Greek.
This translation came to be called the Greek Septuagint and was used extensively
by early Christians.

Oriental Libraries

At the time that Ashurbanipal was improving his library, the Chou dynasty
was ruling China. During the reign of this dynasty, from 1122 B.C.E. to 256 B.C.E.,
a group of books were produced that came to be known as the Five Classics. They
included a handbook for interpreting the future, a collection of speeches of early
rulers, poetry, instructions for religious ceremonies and rituals, and a history of the
state of Lu from about 722 B.C.E. to 481 B.C.E.—the last book being ascribed to
the Chinese philosopher Confucius. The Five Classics and the numerous
commentaries about them influenced Chinese thinking and formed the basis of
both imperial and private libraries for more than two millenniums.

In Japan, Hojo Sanetoki, a member of a ruling samurai family, founded a

library in 1275 at his family home in Kanazawa (now part of Yokohama). He
attempted to collect every existing book in Chinese and Japanese. Although
diminished in content, this collection of books still exists today.

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Libraries of the 21st Century

Today some libraries have grown to extraordinary size. Imagine a bookshelf

that was 530 miles [850 km] long and that contained over 29 million books. That
is the approximate size of the world’s largest library—the Library of Congress, in
the United States. In addition to books, the library holds some 2.7 million audio
and video recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 57 million
manuscripts. Each day, the library adds 7,000 items to its collection!

The British Library in London holds the second-largest number of books,

more than 18 million of them. The Russian State Library in Moscow holds
17 million books and has a collection of some 632,000 annual sets of newspapers.
The National Library of France, one of the oldest surviving national libraries in
Europe, has 13 million books. In addition, the book Library World Records states:
“The French National Library was the first library to provide full-text access to a
great deal of its collections via the Internet.” For anyone with access to a computer,
the Internet has provided unprecedented ease of access to mankind’s storehouse
of knowledge.

As never before, the quantity of information available to the public is

exploding. It is estimated that the total stock of human knowledge is doubling every
four and a half years. In the United States alone, over 150,000 new book titles are
published each year.

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ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION

As how libraries expanded in different parts of the world, the Philippines

also has The National Library of the Philippines located in Ermita, Manila, which
provides a vast treasure trove of materials for students and researchers interested
in Philippine history, particularly in its Filipiniana Section. It contains a valuable
Rizaliana collection, several sets of Blair and Robertson's The Philippine Islands,
1493-1898, rare Filipiniana volumes, Philippine Presidential Papers, and other
openly accessible materials, especially for students.

Research in archives may be much more complicated and advanced, but it

will provide plenty of resources that are not available in traditional libraries. The
National Archives of the Philippines, based in Manila, is a government institution
tasked with collecting, storing, and preserving records, and make available official
records and other primary sources about the Philippines' history and growth.

The libraries at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City,

have collections that could be beneficial for research. The Main Library at
Gonzales Hall has an extensive variety of resources, particularly the Filipiniana
department, serials, theses, and dissertations.

Other university libraries are also accessible to the public. The Ateneo de
Manila University in Quezon City holds the American Historical Collection, a rich
source for the American period in the Philippines.

The University of Santo Tomas in España, Manila, also has collections

from the sixteenth century, since it is the oldest university in the country and is a
historic site itself.

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 Private libraries and institutions have archives that can be used for
research. The Family History Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints is an excellent resource for genealogical research. The Chinben See
Memorial Library, Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center, provides information about
Chinese and Chinese Filipinos in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The
Archdiocesan Archives in Manila offer extensive Church data sources. Your city or
town may have local archives, museums, or public libraries where you can obtain
primary sources and other materials for your research.

Many libraries use the Dewey decimal classification system, which appears
as a series of numbers in their catalogs and on the spines of their books. Melvil
Dewey, an influential American librarian, first published his system in 1876. It uses
numbers from 000 to 999 to classify all materials by subject, organizing them into
ten major groups.
These days, libraries use the Online Public Access inventory (OPAC), a
computerized inventory of their holdings, instead of the laborious, outdated card
cataloging technique. The Library Catalogue, at times. Instead of wading through
each entry on actual index cards, a quick search using this approach will reveal
the library's holdings relating to your topic. Searching by subject will bring up a list
of primary and secondary sources. can help you create a draft bibliography that
you can then physically access in the library's collections.

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CONCLUSION

In a traditional library, although myriads of books and magazines may have

been painstakingly arranged, time is still needed to wade through this carefully
cataloged printed matter. But even after searching through a catalog, there is no
guarantee that the book you are looking for is on the library shelf.

While it is true that libraries and archives often claim objectivity,

transparency and neutrality in maintaining their position as repositories of
memories that will help shape identity as well as history

The materials found in archives and libraries or any other materials that are
by-products of activities or documentations are not the memories themselves, but
these are carriers of what can or will be remembered. Even the act of
documentation is partial, although the documentalist will affirm objectivity in
capturing information and memories. The archival function of selection and
appraisal, which is considered to be the most intellectually demanding task for the
archivists, is likewise subjected to some prejudice and judgment of the archivists,
the institutional mandate, and the political, social, and cultural climate that
envelopes the existence of the archives. The maintenance of a personal archive
of notes and copies of documents, when possible, either printed or digital, is a
common practice among all researchers.

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REFERENCES

1.1Bastian, J. A., & Yakel, E. (2006). Towards the development of an archival core
curriculum: The United States and Canada. Archival Science, 6, 133-150.
1.2Buenrostro IS (2010) Preserving the postwar archives heritage and collective
memory of Bulacan: Local government records and practices. Journal of
Philippine Librarianship 30(1): 56–74. Retrieved April 30, 2012,
1.3Golfo-Barcelona, Mary Grace (2017) Towards a master’s program in archival
studies at the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), University of
the Philippines
1.4Ridpath’s History of the World (Vol. II)
1.5Ridpath’s History of the World (Vol. IX)

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