Lauran Hartley's office is in the C. V. Starr East Asian Library where the bulk of Tibetan materials is now housed, but she is also in charge of Tibetan materials housed in Lehman Library's Tibetan Reading Room. She selects and purchases all types of material in Tibetan, both classical and contemporary, and oversees the Tibetan materials purchased through the SACAAP program (successor to the PL480 program). She also coordinates initiatives with librarian colleagues in the U.S. and abroad through the Tibetan Resources Working Group (TRWG).

For in-depth reference assistance related to Tibetan Studies, you may contact Lauran Hartley by telephone at (212) 854-9875 or by e-mail at lh2112@columbia.edu.

Lauran Hartley has a Ph.D. in Tibetan Studies (Indiana University, 2003) and is editor of Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Change (Duke University Press, 2008).  She has also taught courses on Tibetan literature and religion at Indiana University, Rutgers University, and Columbia University.

Chopathar is the first support staff member ever hired to work exclusively on the Tibetan Collection. He divides his time between the Lehman Library and the Starr Library, where he conducts pre-order searching, prepares materials for the bindery, and assists the Technical Services Department of Starr in the copy-cataloging of Tibetan language materials.

If you need help locating Tibetan materials in the Lehman or Starr libraries, you may contact Chopathar by telephone at (212) 854-1509 or by e-mail at jm900@columbia.edu.

Chopathar Wayemache was born in Dpa'-ris (Chinese: Tianzhu Xian) in the Amdo Region of what is now China. He attended the Northwest Nationalities Institute in Lanzhou, majoring in political science, and from 1972-1976 he studied music in the Arts Department of the Central Nationalities Institute in Beijing. After graduating, Chopathar worked as a composer for the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Song and Dance Ensemble, based in Chab-cha (Ch. Gonghe) in Qinghai Province. He went to Shanghai for further study in 1985, where he spent two years at the Shanghai Music Conservatory. He is famous for his musical composition Mtsho Sngon-po, "Lake Kokonor," and also the "Hor Gling g.yul gyed" portion of the contemporary musical opera Gesar. He is the author of articles and essays on Tibetan musical arts, and a compilation of Chinese documents on the history of Tibet.