Lumina Pandit II to preserve 400-year-old UST Library’s collections

The Miguel de Benavides Library of the University of Santo Tomas last Tuesday presented Lumina Pandit II, a program that aims to preserve its 400-year-old library and archives.

The project entails the conservation, digitization, and publication of the library's historical collections from 1492 to 1900.

The multi-million-peso project is supported by UnionBank.

Go here for a virtual tour of the library.

Lumina Pandit ("spreading the light") will enable people to access the library's contents online. A press release from the university stated that about one million pages have already been scanned and are being uploaded. Moreover, the catalogues of the library's historical collections covering the 16th to 19th centuries were published, and several publications and old editions of the UP Press were reprinted.

According to the university website, the library and the university were founded 410 years ago when the third Archbishop of Manila, Miguel de Benavides, bequeathed some money and his personal library to the founding of a college for young men entering the priesthood.

UST Prefect of Libraries Fr. Angel Aparicio noted Benavides' vision of a "just and humane society." "His books became the first seeds of our library. Gradually, the library grew into a substantial body of information and knowledge. Undoubtedly, UST and its collections has contributed to the transformation of the archipelago into a society with a communal and public commitment to a life of dignity, justice, and freedom for all. These books, therefore, can still help keep alive that vision and to continue the transformation of our society,” he said. — BM, GMA News