The Master Union Bibliography of the Philippines

"The right book for the right person at the right time" is the dictum that guides librarians in their daily quest for perfection in reader service. This simply means that librarians and information specialists aim to make available books, articles, and other types of research materials, which contain the information that the researcher needs.

The mission of Filipiniana.net is to digitally preserve the most significant documents and audio-video artifacts on Philippine history, culture, science and the arts. Filipiniana.net collects and collates in its database these important historical and cultural artifacts and makes them freely available through easy Internet access for all those who love the country. Its catalog of Filipiniana documents, images, audio and video can be accessed from anywhere in the world where there is web access. FilNet's goal is to create the first truly fully-indexed, fully-searchable Philippine digital library. To unify its database of bibliographic listings, Filipiniana.net created the Master Union Bibliography of the Philippines .

As a tool for research, the Master Union Bibliography of the Philippines is the first and largest of its kind in Philippine bibliographic history. The project's goal is to unionize all the major Philippine bibliographies that have been compiled by José Toribio Medina, Wenceslao Retana, Gabriel Bernardo, James Alexander Robertson, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Isacio Rodríguez, and others. To supplement knowledge about contemporary Filipiniana, the librarian team has integrated FilNet's executive summaries and commentary as part of its Union Bibliography. In this manner all artifacts that you view in its master card catalog have at least a description to guide the assiduous scholar in his or her research choices.

To date, the bulk of Filipiniana.net's bibliographic activity is concentrated on artifacts published within 1593 and 1850. 1593 is the birth of printing in the country while 1850 was the date when Manila became an open port and the entry of reading materials from Spain and Europe, resulting in further publishing activity. The latter half of this period also saw the Philippines represented in the Spanish Cortes.

Filipiniana is defined as all books, pamphlets, periodicals, etc. printed and published in the Philippines in whatever language or dialect regardless of subject, documents written by Filipinos regardless of subject matter, or written on the Philippines as a subject regardless of author, language and place of publication. FilNet also defines as Filipiniana all publications which do not fall under any of the above categories but which contain substantive portions about the Philippines .

Methodology

In its initial phase the Master Union Bibliography of the Philippines has unionized the listings of renowned bibliographies: Wenceslao Retana's Aparato Bibliografico de la Historia General de Filipinas , vol. II (1906), James Alexander Robertson's Bibliography of the Philippine Islands: Printed and Manuscript, (1908) and Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera's Philippine Bibliography (1903).

FilNet has also incorporated a location field in its union catalog. Thus, entries in the master union bibliography contain the following bibliographic data: 1) author(s) or joint authors 2) title, 3) imprint (place of publication, publisher and copyright date or date when the artifact is created) 4) location (library, archive or research center or personal collection) of the artifact, 5) abstracts 6) annotation, if any 7) series title, and 8) subject headings. The serial title where an entry is cited is also given. Descriptive information about an artifact, including physical description or characteristics, is included when available. No call number however, is included.

The bibliographic database allows the user to search and/or identify the publication by author, title and by assigned descriptors or subject headings and keywords, thereby improving search precision. Unique to the FilNet digital library is the considerable effort that has been spent on building a Master Filipiniana Thesaurus Database. This new type of thesaurus database has been arranged hierarchically by themes and topics. For example, the search term "laguna" when placed into FilNet's search engine will ask the reader whether the search meaning is related to "Laguna de Bay" or "Laguna the province." By suggesting similar, broader or narrower search terms, we hope that the FilNet user will be guided quickly to his or her research topic. The nomenclature for subject headings follows the Library of Congress Subject Headings, 22^nd edition (1999) but have been supplemented with more specific and localized Filipiniana subject headings.

For a deeper understanding of this type of thesaurus, refer to similar databases such as the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, used to index the American databases of museums, and Artefacts Canada, sponsored by the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN). Bibliographic citations are formatted following the University of Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. A unique bibliographic feature called "Cite Me" is found on every title page, which allows the user to copy and paste bibliographic references formatted in several formats, including Modern Library Association style.

Considerable effort has also been spent in tagging keywords found in each page of a full-text document that has been uploaded into the FilNet digital library. FilNet's team of subject specialists and librarians has identified an artifact's major concepts using a controlled vocabulary. Because of this, any page in the digilib's tens of thousands of pages is searchable with the granularity of sand. Supplemented by an intelligent thesaurus database and standard Library of Congress subject headings, the user will find with remarkable ease and intelligence any research topic he or she desires.

Sample Master Union Bibliography of the Philippines entry :

Cañamaque y Jimenez, Francisco. La Provincia de Zambales de Pile de Lucon. Paris , France : Imp. Chaix, 1881.

Annotation/s

Reviewed by Wenceslao Retana. In : Aparato bibliografico de la historia general de Filipinas, volumen segudo. Entry #1779.
Reviewed by Pardo de Tavera. In : Biblioteca Filipina. Entry #491.

FilNet Explanation: The book La Provincia de Zambales de Pile de Lucon by Francisco Cañamaque y Jimenez is listed as having bibliographic annotation in Retana's Aparato bibliografico, as entry number 1779 and in Pardo de Tavera's Biblioteca Filipina as entry number 491. The location of the book indicating where the work is stored or is preserved (library, archive resource center or private collection) is indicated after the entry. Other relevant information such as a physical description of the materials is also incorporated, if available.

Future Directions

In its entirety the Master Union Bibliography of the Philippines will be incorporating additional entries from the following bibliographies:

• Retana, Wenceslao Gamboa. Aparato Bibliograpfico de la historia general de Filipinas. 1906. Vols. 1 and 3.
• _________. Origines de la Imprenta Filipina : Investigaciones, historicas bibliograficas y typograficas. 1911.

• _________. Tablas cronologica y alfabetica de imprenta e impresores de Filipinas, 1593-1898. 1908.

• Medina , Isagani R. Filipiniana Materials in the National Library 1972.

• Rodriguez, Isacio R. O.S.A., Updated Checklist of Filipiniana at Valladolid . Manila : National Historical Institute, 1976.

• Tubangi, Helen E. A Catalog of Filipiniana at Valladolid . Quezon City : Ateneo de Manila Press, 1973.

• Palao, Trinidad E. A Bibliography of Filipiniana Imprints 1800-1900. 1973.

• United States . Library of Congress. Bibliography of the Philippine Islands . 1903.

• Medina , Jose Toribio. La Imprenta en Manila desde sus origines hasta 1810. 1896.

• Mitamura Ichiro. Bibliography of the Philippine Islands . Tokyo : Institute of the Pacific, 1941.

• Perez, Angel and Cecilio Guemes. Adiciones y continuacion de "La Imprenta en Manila " de D.J.T. Medina; o rarezas y curiosidades bibliograficas de las bibliotecas de esta capital. Manila : Imprenta Santos y Bernal, 1904.

• Catalogue of Filipiniana Materials in the Lopez Memorial Museum . Pasay City, Eugenio Lopez Foundation, Inc, 1962.

• Early Philippine Imprints in the Lopez Memorial Museum . Pasay City : Eugenio Lopez Foundation, Inc., 1961.

• Cruickshank, Bruce. Filipiniana in Madrid : Field notes on five major Manuscript Collections. Honolulu , Hawaii :

Center for Asia and Pacific Studies, University of Hawaii , 1984.

Index of Abbreviations

a. agustíno

A. de A. Archivo de Alcala

A. de I. Archivo de Indias

A. de I. de S. Archivo de Indias de Sevilla

A. de S. Archivo General de Simancas

A. del V. Archivo del Vaticano

A. H. Archivo Historico

A. H. N. Archivo Historico Nacional

ac. actor, actriz

al. alemán

amer. americano

arz. arzobispo

aus. Austriaco

B. Biblioteca

b. benediction

B.A. Biblioteca de los Agustinos

B.B.C. Biblioteca del Beaterio de la Compaña

B.B.S.S. Biblioteca del Beaterio de San Sebastían

B.D. Biblioteca de los Dominicos

B. del B. M. de L. Biblioteca del British Museum de Londres

B.F. Biblioteca de los Franciscanos

B.G. Biblioteca de Graiño (Antonio)

B.J. Biblioteca de los Jesuítas

B. M. British Museum

B.N. Biblioteca Nacional and Bibliotheque Nationale

B. N. de P. Biblioteca National de Paris

B. P. Boston Public Library

B. R. Biblioteca Real

B.R. Biblioteca de los Recoletos

B.U. Biblioteca de la Universidad

bibl. Bibliofilo, bibliografo

c. capuchino

caj. cajon

car. carmelita

col., cols. columna, columnas

ch. chino

d.m.B. De mi Biblioteca

d. dominico

dib. dibujante

din. dinamarqués

don. donado

E. de a. Escudo de armas

E. de a.r. Escudo de armas reales

E. de la O. Escudo de la Orden

ed. edición, editor

ej. ejemplar

enc. Encuadernador

Est. Estante

f. franciscano

fil. Filipino

fr. francés

G.de T. de F. Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas

g.g. gobernador general

grab. grabado, grabador

grab. en c. grabado en cobre

grab. en m. grabado en madera

h. hospitalario

H. en b. Hoja en blanco

H. S. of A. Hispanic Society of America

h. s. n. Hojas sin numerar

Hs. Hojas

hol. holandés

imp. impresor

Imp. Imprenta

In. ingles

it. italiano

j. jesuíta

J. C. B. John Carter Brown

jap. Japonés

of C. Library of Congress

de Ch. Librería de Chadenat

Leg Legajo

Lib. librero

Lit. litografía, litógrafo

L. de V. Librería de Vindel

M.B. Museo Británico

M.B. de U. Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar

Med. Medina (J.T.)

m. mercedario

mex. mexicano

mús. músico

ob. obispo

p. pagina

P. de T. Pardo de Tavera

Pág., págs. Página, páginas

p. paul

P. en b. Página ó plana en blanco

P. G. Perez (Angel) y Guemes (Cecilio)

Pbro. presbitero

port. portugués

Port. Portada

Prels. preliminaries

Ps. pseudónimo

r. recoleto

R. A. de la H. Real Academia de la Historia

Ret. Retana (W.E.)

S. l ni a. Sin lugar ni año

s.n. sin numerar

s.p. Sin portada

s.p.d.i.n.f. Sin pie de imprenta ni fecha

s.p.l.n.f. Sin portada, lugar ni fecha

t. tomo

t. trinitario

tor. torero

V. Véase

V en b. Vuelta en blanco

Vol. volumen

y. yanqui

Summary

The Master Union Bibliography of the Philippines is a major work in progress. It is a major engine that will drive Filipiniana.net in its mission of creating the most authoritative and comprehensive bibliographic study of the most significant Philippine books and artifacts. In its mission of collecting and digitizing all Filipiniana in whatever language, Filipiniana.net is simultaneously in the forefront of preserving the country's vast and magnificent cultural heritage and thereby instilling pride in everything Philippine. We hope that users will be pleased with Filipiniana.net's conceptual framework, that of a modern digital Alexandria with its cornerstone based on the new Library 2.0 concept for the internet age, which seeks to bring to all lovers of the Philippines free research materials, at any time, in any part of the world.