Searching Catalogs | Locating Material

To find bibliographic information on Tibetan materials, search CLIO.

When searching CLIO for a topic, try a keyword search using either Romanized Tibetan terms or English terms.

At present, CLIO, Columbia's online catalog, is not capable of displaying Tibetan script. Therefore, our records follow the Library of Congress Transliteration system for Tibetan titles, authors, and publishers. The Library of Congress system of transliteration is very similar to the Wylie romanized system most often found in western scholarly works, with only a few minor differences.

The following table is also available for download.

Many popular books and internet sites use non-standard forms of spelling which are based on how Tibetan words sound when pronounced, leaving out the many silent letters.

When searching the computer for Tibetan language authors, titles, or subjects, remember to include all silent letters or no result will be obtained. However, if you are searching a non-Tibetan book with Tibetan subject matter, a non-standard keyword search may yield results if the spellings match the popular ones employed in the particular book.

Note that the last keyword search yielded 5 titles, 3 in English with popular spellings and 2 from Sikkim which had non-standard spelling in the online records.

Although several punctuation marks are used by the Library of Congress system to differentiate sounds, when typing search terms in CLIO, do not use punctuation.

Until recently Tibetan Studies materials were not an integrated collection, so over the years they have been acquired by a number of different selectors and housed in various campus libraries according to subject (art, history, religion, etc.) unlike our Chinese, Japanese, and Korean collections which have been concentrated in one library.

This situation has changed, and responsibility for Tibetan works from all sources is now centered in the Starr East Asian Library. However, because of space and format considerations, not all materials can be consolidated in one location. Traditional Tibetan texts (dpe-cha) are shelved in the Tibetan Reading Room at Lehman Library, while modern-format books and most other materials are processed at the Starr Library (300 Kent Hall.)  At least 40% of the modern-format titles are stored off-site at RECAP, but can be requested for pick-up (24 hours advance notice required). 

A few rare titles are housed at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Butler Library, 6th floor), or in the Kress Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room at Starr Library.  Columbia owns some very valuable Tibetan religious works, including early Bon texts as well as a nearly complete Snar-than'’ edition of the buddhist canon, published between 1730 and 1732. 

Please see CLIO records for location details, or contact the Tibetan Studies librarian if you have any question.

In addition to titles received in bulk through SACAP (successor to the PL480 program), the Starr Library actively orders titles published in Tibetan regions of China, and from commercial vendors covering India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and other areas.

Since January 2008, acquisitions ordering for Tibetan titles is done online. Thus, researchers can immediately know when a title has been selected, and estimate when it might arrive.  In addition, preliminary records are now entered for materials received, but for which no full record is available. To access these materials, please send an e-mail with the pertaining title to the Tibetan Studies librarian (lh2112@columbia.edu).

• Tibetan Language
  
  • Loose-leaf format traditional texts
    Housed in Lehman Library's Tibetan Reading Room.
  • Western-style books, both monographs and facsimile reproductions of traditional texts
    Housed in Starr East Asian Library's regular stacks.
  • Rare and Special items
    Starr Library's Special Collections area, or the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (6th floor of Butler Library).
  • Serials
    Unbound recent issues displayed in Starr East Asian's main reading room; bound issues of previous two years are shelved in Starr's regular stacks; earlier issues are bound and stored off-site. Available for two-week loan.
  • Newspapers
    Current issues available in Starr East Asian's main reading room serials alcove.
  • Reference works
    Housed in Starr East Asian's main reading room; some duplicate copies in Lehman's Tibetan Reading Room. Tripitaka is housed with other language editions on the 250 stack level of Starr.
• Chinese and Japanese Works
  All secondary scholarship on Tibetan subjects in these languages is located in the Starr East Asian Library.
• Western Language Works
  Most English, French, and German scholarship on Tibetan subjects is now housed in Starr, except for items purchased specially by Barnard College, by the Avery Art & Architecture Library, or by College Reserves.

If you need help locating materials in either the C.V. Starr East Asian Library or the Lehman Tibetan Reading Room, please contact the Tibetan Studies Librarian, Lauran Hartley (lh2112@columbia.edu; 212-854-9875); or the bibliographic assistant, Chopathar Wayemache (jm900@columbia.edu; 212-854-1509).