The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino has opened its Aklatang Balmaseda to the public early January. 

Located at the BFB Building, 1575 J.P. Laurel Street corner Matienza, Barangay 640, Malacañan Complex, San Miguel, Manila, the special library houses more than 5,000 print publications including the Balmaseda Collection, the Villanueva Collection, the Aklat ng Bayan series and different resource materials.

“Ang Aklatang Balmaseda ay isinara sa publiko noong 23 Mayo 2023 dahil ililipat ang aklatan sa bagong lunan nito para sa mas episyenteng paglilingkod (The Balmaseda Library was closed down on 23 May 2023 to be moved to a new location to provide more efficient services),” said librarian Arman Ople.

The library also maintains an online service, launched in December 2021 as one of the agency’s responses to the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 700 e-books, which can be accessed online through https://library.kwf.gov.ph/. 

The Aklatang Balmaseda is part of KWF’s fulfillment of its mandate of developing, propagating, promoting and preserving the Filipino language and other languages of the Philippines. It keeps books on languages, linguistics and culture, literary works and other collections. It is named after Julian Cruz Balmaseda, former director of the Institute of National Language, which is now KWF, from 1938 to 1947, in recognition of his contributions to the development of the Filipino language.