Literature by or about women continuously grow each year. With the increasing number of institutions both public and private, as well as individuals who are concerned and interested in women studies, there is no doubt that researches, publications and write-ups in this area has been increasing through the years.

In 1998, the National Centennial Commission-Women Sector headed by Helena Benitez commissioned a group of Filipino librarians from 27 institutions to create a union catalog documenting women’s role in Philippine History and Nation Building. The result is a multivolume series: Volume I, a union catalog on Filipino women with categories adapted from the sectors listed in the Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development (1995-2025); Volume II, an annotated bibliography of selected titles on Filipino women; Volume III, an index to periodical articles on Filipino women; Volume IV contains bibliographies of Filipino women writers and their works; and Volume V contains bio-bibliography of outstanding Filipinas and list of first women in their chosen profession. This project only shows that libraries have a wealth of information by and about women in their custody.

As a primary higher education institution in CALABARZON, the De La Salle University-Dasmariñas, through its library - the Aklatang Emilio Aguinaldo, has acknowledged women’s contributions and achievements in all aspects of national life by acquiring, disseminating, and preserving information and reference resources by or about women, locally and internationally.


What are the types of materials do we have on women? Where are these materials located? And what are their classification numbers?

Searching the AEA On-line Public Access Catalog (OPAC) reveals that AEA has information and reference resources on women in various format such as periodicals, books, theses and dissertations, vertical files, audio-visual materials and in electronic format. Subjects also vary from biography to literature; labor and employment, law and legislations, social and economic conditions, parenting and family life, religion and spirituality, offenders, authorship, health, education, women in development, history, art, literature, mass media and in various fields, in various places of the world. The Library of Congress (LC) identified at least 1000 major subject headings on literature and researches about women.


Resources on women are located in various sections of the AEA depending on the type and format of material. Information found in journals, magazines and newspaper, printed or on-line, can be found at the Periodical section. Information on women in general reference sources such as encyclopedia, handbooks, manuals, government issuances, yearbook, almanac and gazetteers is in the Reference and Information section (RIS). RIS also holds materials donated by United Nations and Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) which features vast information on women. The Social Science, Humanities and Filipiniana sections of the Readers’ Services unit have the most number of resources on women. They are mostly classified in: HD (Women professionals and laborer); HQ (Family life and marriage, women studies, women’s rights); HV (Pathology, Social and Public Welfare); N (Women Artists); PL (Filipino literature literature); PS (Filipino literature in English); and Z (bibliography). Researches conducted by DLSU-D
faculty members and students on women are kept at the Archives and Special Collections unit. Resources on women found in VHS, VCD, transparencies, slides and other audio-visual materials may be borrowed at the Educational Media Services (EMS), while the Electronic Resource Services keep the database on women. ERS also houses the Lex Libris where various Philippine laws and legislations on women may be consulted.

Women will always have a place in the library not because women dominated the world of library and librarianship but women, like men, have played heroic role in the raising of a nation. The women and their works must be remembered, disseminated and preserved today and for future generations.