260 RA: Lopez Library

E-Journey to the Lopez Library

I, together with my 260 classmates, was able to visit the Lopez Library on 20 September 2011 through the class of Prof. Sharon Esposo-Betan.  The library which is operating hand in hand with the Lopez Museum serves as a magnet that attracts researches and scholars both here and abroad because of its unique and rare holdings (Quiason).  The institution was established in 1960 by Don Eugenio Lopez in honor of his parents Don Benito Lopez and Doña Presentacion Hofileña that aims to commit to scholarship, education, refinement, and instructive amusement of the FIlipino people (Quiason).

The class was entertained by the head librarian of said library, Ms. Mercy Fervida.  The physical arrangement as well as the physical space dedicated for the library would establish to the visitors why it has to go digital, because of its limited space and restrictive physical layout management.

The first part of the trip was to orient us on the first phase of the process of digitization. The class was able to witness the process of scanning of every pages of the book, processing the scanned file to acceptable file properties, and saving the processed image files to the server.  Digitization of the microfilm materials was also introduced to the class (though microfilm can last for several years, digitization would enable the library to better serve its clients because microfilm machines are not that easy to use). The microfilm materials are being read by the microfilm reader which is connected directly to a computer to convert it to digital format.  Microfilms are also saved onto the server in JPEG format.  According to Ms. Mercy, their priority for digitization are those materials that need to be preserved due to rarity and deterioration.

Ms. Mercy then proceeded in showing us their database / IRS.  We were apprised that the Lopez Library just shifted from one IRS (Alchemy) to another one (Docu 1).  According to her, their previous software, Alchemy, was not able to hold their huge and growing collections so their provider offered another up-to-date software which is the Docu 1 which is envisioned as a permanent IRS for their collection.  The class experienced operating the two databases.  Trying to search using the two IRS both yielded a high recall but a very low precision.  The low precision might be attributed to the lack of advance search feature where a user can use boolean logic searching. 

According to one of the staff of Ms. Mercy, Docu 1 is still in the process of development. Many more improvements are expected of the Docu 1 software. The library is indexing and linking their newly created digital files to Docu 1, while to old files remains to Alchemy.  But the library is also on the process of transferring Alchemy files/indexes to Docu 1. When asked about the possible feature of import/export of the two softwares, the staff answered that they are asking the help of their software developer to ease the transfer process.

For security pruposes, the library is creating an off-site back-up of their files to preserve their files, dreams and efforts :) They are also servicing and preserving their dilapidated rare materials and afterwards storing them on a disaster-resistant vault.

As for the time lag of the systems, it is quite tolerable but I would not say that it is fast (considering that the server was just inches away from the processing PC).  As for the library server, we were informed that another high capacity and performance server is on its way as they are now processing its procurement.

As per Ms. Mercy, they had just renovated their book shelves with minimalist theme.

Before leaving the library, the admin office of the Lopez Museum was so kind to our group that they have let us explore the museum J Thank you very much for the very warm welcome, Lopez Museum and Library staff.  The learning experience brought by your institution is truly one for keep.

P.S. Let me also thank our Professor, Ma’am Sharon, for the fun field trip and for the pizza she had generously shared with us J

 

References:

Quiason, S. The Lopez Library: An Archeion for Today. Retrieved from http://www.lopez-museum.org/lopez_library/lopez_library.html on 12 October 2011.