The Miguel de Benavides Library, also known as the University of Santo Tomas Library, is the main

academic library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution, which supports the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are an es ...

of the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

. The library has been in continuous service and its collection antedates the existence of the university itself.

History

The initial collection of the

's (UST) library came from donations; specifically from the private collections of the institution's founder, Fr.

Miguel de Benavides Miguel de Benavides y Añoza, O.P. ( – July 26, 1605) was a Spanish Catholic prelate and sinologist who served as the third Archbishop of Manila. He previously served as the first Bishop of Nueva Segovia and was the founder of the Unive ...

and other benefactors including Fr. Diego Soria and Hernando de Los Rios Coronel. Other members of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

also donated books concerning priesthood. UST's academic library was founded on July 24, 1605, which makes it 6 years older than the university itself. It was originally hosted inside the University Building in UST's original campus in

Intramuros Intramuros () is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Intramuros comprises a centuries-old hist ...

and later establish presence in other buildings within the campus. Following the destruction of the Intramuros campus, the library moved in to the Main Building at the university's new campus in

Sampaloc, Manila Sampaloc is a district of Manila, Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of is ...

. The library moved in to a dedicated building in 1989. On October 29, 1989, the UST Central Library Building was inaugurated. The UST Central Library adopted its current name in 2008 in honor of Miguel de Benavides.

Collection

The Miguel de Benavides Library hosts centuries-old publications some of which are accessible online through the UST Digital Library. The library is also in possession of the UST Baybayin Documents, two documents written in

baybayin Baybayin (,), also sometimes erroneously referred to as alibata, is a Suyat, Philippine script widely used primarily in Luzon during the 16th and 17th centuries and prior to write Tagalog language, Tagalog and to a lesser extent Visayan lang ...

script, which has been declared as a National Cultural Treasure by the

National Archives of the Philippines The National Archives of the Philippines (NAP; ) is an agency of the government of the Philippines mandated to collect, store, preserve and make available Archive, archival records of the government and other primary sources pertaining to the h ...

in 2014. The Antonio Vivencio del Rosario UST Heritage Library, a section at the main library, houses over 30,000 ancient volumes published between 1492 and 1900. It is the largest, oldest, and best-preserved collection of ancient books in the Philippines. It is named after Antonio Vivencio del Rosario, a former secretary general of the university (1854-1866). The heritage library collections include '' La Guerra Judaica'' (1492) by Josephus Flavius, ''

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'' (English translation: ''On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres'') is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) of the Polish Renaissance. The book ...

'' (1543) of

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

, ''

Doctrina Christiana The ''Doctrina Christiana'' ('Christian Doctrine') were two early books on the catechism of the Catholic Church, both published 1593 in Manila, Philippines. These are two of the earliest printed books in the Philippines. * The ''Doctrina Chri ...

'' (1593), and the first edition printed copies of ''

Noli Me Tangere ''Noli me tangere'' ('touch me not') is the Latin version of a phrase spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognized him after His resurrection. The original Koine Greek phrase is (). The biblical scene has b ...

'' and '' El Filibusterismo'' of

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...

. In collaboration with Unionbank, the library was able to conserve, digitize, and publish the university collections. The Esquinita de Quijano de Manila, a reading section at the humanities section of the library, holds the book collection of

Nick Joaquin Nicomedes "Nick" Marquez Joaquin (; May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004) was a Filipino writer and journalist best known for his short story, short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaq ...

. Joaquin's personal library, which contains 3,000 books, was donated to the university in 2005.

Gallery

File:Ust library33jf.JPG, The facade of the UST Central Library building File:Santo tomas libreria.jpg, Library of the Santo Tomás University in Manila, 1887 File:MigueldeBenavidesLibraryjf0474 09.JPG, Hallway File:MigueldeBenavidesLibraryjf0474 08.JPG, Miguel de Benavides Library at dusk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miguel De Benavides Library, University Of Santo Tomas University of Santo Tomas Academic libraries in the Philippines Libraries in Metro Manila Educational structures in Metro Manila Buildings and structures in Sampaloc, Manila Research libraries 1611 in literature Educational organizations established in the 1610s Libraries established in the 17th century Organizations established in 1611 1611 establishments in the Philippines