Library History

A year after the founding of the Holy Angel Academy in 1933, the library started with just a few sets of textbooks. It was open until eight in the evening. Unfortunately, the library did not have a regular librarian at that time. Since it was located in one of the rooms adjacent to the office of Dr. Ricardo V. Flores, the principal, the library was supervised by him and with the help of one Pedro Ayson.

School year 1941-1942 saw the purchase of more books for the library, but this was cut short by the outbreak of the Pacific War, when the Japanese bombed Clark Field on December 8, 1941. With the help of the students, the books were packed in boxes and were brought to the Holy Rosary church. Some of these books were discovered after the war. The books were still intact inside the church. (Flores, V.P.).

A few years later, Mrs. Angeles Mendez Camarao supervised the library. It was then located in one of the rooms in the Main Building, which now houses the office of the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs. When Mrs. Camarao resigned, Mrs. Elena O. Magat became her successor. At this time, the library collection for the collegiate courses and that of the high school collection were separated. Eventually, both libraries were relocated to the San Juan De Dios building; wherein the High School Library was located at the ground floor while the College Library was at the second floor. Because of the growing number of library users, Mrs. Imelda Peraga Sison was employed to oversee the College Library’s operations, while the High School Library remained under the supervision of Mrs. Magat.

According to Engr. Mamerto “Uncle Toc” Nepomuceno in 1978, he, as the University President then, and Engr. Teresito Remollo planned the construction of a one storey building for the library. When finished, it was called the Social Hall. But due to the demand of library spaces, Uncle Toc thought of making the Social Hall into a two-storey building, to house the social hall, little theater, computer laboratories and the chapel at the second floor and the libraries at the ground floor. And this in now called the Library Building.

Eventually, in 1990, the Engineering Section of the college library was organized into an Engineering Library and it was transferred to the fifth floor of the Archbishop Pedro Santos (APS) Building, because of its growing collection and number of users. But again in 1992, the Engineering Library was transferred to its permanent site, on the second floor of the Sacred Heart (SH) building, housing the College of Engineering.

The high school library was also transferred in 1991, at the Ricardo V. Flores (RVF) building, leaving the main library in the Library building. Meanwhile, a separate library for the Grade School department was in the Annex Building. It was a one room library under the supervision of an accounting graduate in the person of Mrs. Lourdes Siapengco, until then Vice President for Academic Affairs, Miss Araceli Vallejo, decided to reorganize it as it is today. The researcher assisted in the organization, and became the Grade School Librarian afterwards. Soon, the need to establish an Audio-Visual Librarian became apparent. Mrs. Cristina R. Alfonso was hired on May 1, 1989 to organize it. However, she resigned without completing the job. Consequently, the researcher was asked to take over and later became Audio-Visual Librarian. The Grade School Library was placed under the supervision of the grade school principal. Soon, the researcher was also asked to improve the Engineering Library. The Audio-Visual library became the present ED Tech-Center under Mr. Anthony Bonicar Duenas.

In 2003, plans for a new library building were finalized. The University Library transferred its operation to the temporary site at the Angel Building, also known as the Twin Building, to give way to the construction of the new building at its old site. Also, the Engineering Library, the Periodicals Section and the CD-ROM Station of the Main Library were temporarily housed at the 2nd and 3rd floors of the newly constructed JDN Extension Building. It was also in this year that the library integrated system was made operational.

The construction of the University Learning Resource Center (ULRC), the new library building, was completed in the Summer of SY 2006-2007. The University Library was then transferred in another temporary site, the RVF Building, since the ULRC’s facilities and furniture are not yet available. The High School Library collection was transferred to the 2nd and 3rd floors of JDN Extension since the Engineering Library collection was merged with the Circulation collection as well as the professional collection of the Graduate School Library.

In November 2007, the University Library was finally transferred to its permanent site in the San Francisco Javier Building, retaining its former name, University Library. To date, it is occupying the 2nd and 3rd floors of the San Francisco Javier Building.

In July 2021, the High School Library was transferred to Geronimo G. Nepomuceno Building (GGN) and in April 2022 the Laboratory Elementary School Library (LES) was also transferred in the same building.