One of the most important destinations on my list is Madrid’s Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). This library is unlike any research center that the average college student has seen. The BN, founded by King Felipe V in 1712 as the Palace Library, is located on Madrid’s busy Paseo de Recoletos.

As you approach the library from either end, there it stands menacing and intimidating. It is encircled by a tall wrought iron gate, which projects a most uninviting sensation. It is obvious that the library’s contents are valuable and treasured by Spain for it is filled with security guards and checkpoints. The most vigilant guardians of the BN are colossal white stone statues of some of the country’s greatest intellectuals: Alfonso X, Cervantes, Isidore of Seville, Lope de Vega, Nebrija and Luis Vives.

Once you pass through the security area, you must present a “carnet” (library card) for entrance into the “salas” (research halls). A library card is secured by presenting a passport and a written endorsement from an institution such as a university. The written endorsement justifies the purpose behind your consultation of the library’s materials. Fortunately, I secured my carnet last year and it does not expire until 2002.

I’ve been here twice before, and I learned on both occasions two valuable rules, which sound, in fact, more like popular refrains. First, patience is a virtue. Second, don’t bite off more than you can chew. I will tackle the second rule first.

When you arrive at the BN for the first time, you experience an information overload, an intellectual feast for the mind. There is so much here with which you can work that you can easily make the mistake of putting too much on your plate, going from floor to floor, and ending up getting little accomplished. It is best, I have learned, to select one tiny project in one area of the library, and dedicate oneself to that project for the day. Time and patience are indeed “golden” at the BN.

It should be understood immediately that the hands-on independence that we may enjoy in other research institutions does not exist here. There is a great deal of bureaucracy. The process often works like this: In order to work with a document you must go to a card catalogue and locate the document’s call number. Then you have to fill out a request form, get assigned your personal desk with a lamp, and wait there (sometimes an hour or more) before they bring your request to you or display your number on the digital screen telling you to pick it up. The rushed way of doing things in the United States does not apply here. Sometimes the librarians are quite efficient. Other times, they may be in frivolous conversation among themselves. In that case, you just have to wait until they decide to retrieve your materials.

Unfortunately, I’m having an unlucky day on my first day at the BN. I arrived here as soon as the library opened, shortly after 9a.m. I made my way through security in record time due to my early arrival. The delays began when I asked an assistant were I could find the periodical, La Guinea Española. She sent me to the fourth floor. When I arrived on the fourth floor, I was told that this periodical has not been microfilmed, therefore, I would have to work with the hard copy located on floor zero. Floor zero?

Anyway, I went to the dungeon, and here I sit waiting for the first volume of La Guinea Española, dated between 1903 and 1907. I’m interested in tracking the cultural voice of Equatorial Guinea from the colonial period to the present. How has the cultural voice evolved over the years? Most importantly, how did Spain’s colonial presence influence what was written about Equatorial Guinea (during the colonial era, it was called Spanish Guinea). I will go through as many editions as I can in order to establish a clear definition of this voice and compare it, for example, with the writings of contemporary Equatorial Guinea.

The BN strictly limits the number of photocopies that a patron can make in a day -- the restriction is 20 pages -- more bureaucracy. In addition, microfilming a patchwork of relevant articles from multiple volumes of periodicals is impossible. For these reasons, I will use my laptop to copy useful material. This is not as bad as it may sound since the data will already be in my computer files when I am ready to prepare them for publication, for my classes or for future reference.

I’ve been waiting for my book for over an hour. It’s 10:47a.m. A few years ago I probably would have gotten up and asked them what’s taking so long. Experience has taught me, however, if I complain, the wait could get even longer. I will just relax, and remind myself of where I am. It’s not too bad. In fact, the atmosphere is quaint. I can see the green trees and the blue madrileño sky slip through the slits of the wrought iron fence outside of the window above my head. How does the saying go? When in Madrid?” Or was that Rome?) The irony of today is that my first full day at the Biblioteca Nacional is “full” only by the standards of my host country.