Yup, that's Ate Vi on the cover of Liwayway. And yes, it's under a glass case. But guess what? I took this photo at the Library of Congress.
I joined the public tour, but it was not until I thought of asking whether there was a Filipino librarian in the building that my visit turned into something beyond my wildest expectations.
My curiosity led me to the Asian Reading Room, where Kathryn Wellen, reference librarian and specialist on Southeast Asia, took me behind the scenes and showed me what many tourists don't see on the regular tour.
She took me through the endless corridors (left), introduced me to Rann, the technician who has to deal with the many Southeast Asian languages (center), and brought me to the digitization lab that's converting rare Chinese documents.
Category: Libraries
