In today issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Click HERE to read the full article.
Books, curiosity and catalogs
By: Ambeth R. Ocampo
My delight in library catalogs, and the hours and hours of fun I spend poring over bibliographies, is seen to be weird, a perversion formed growing up in the age without the internet or the online public access catalog or OPAC. Once upon a time, we had the card catalog, which trained the mind to find books by author, title or subject.
The state of libraries and archives in my youth formed my research instincts and taught me that patience is indeed bitter, but its fruit is sweet. In every new library, my method was the same: Pull out the card catalog drawer that contained cards on the Philippines, put them on a table and go through every card, stopping only to note items I would return to later.
When I search Google today, I’m not content with the result at the top of the list; that could have been sponsored, so I scroll through all results to the end before I decide, based on my instinct and previous knowledge, what is the best source.
The tools of research have changed, but the critical faculty remains: One must continually ask, doubt and weigh evidence before assuming you are right. The UST catalogs will provide sleepless nights, but the outcome will be knowledge of a new terrain for research.
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