Library Catalogs


If you are looking for a specific title or author, or want to conduct a subject search, you should start with WorldCat — the single largest bibliographic database of library holdings around the world. Be aware that most of Columbia University's East Asian holdings (including thousands of Tibetan records) have not been uploaded yet to WorldCat. If you find that a title in WorldCat displays no holdings icon for Columbia University Libraries, please search the University's online catalog CLIO. It is likely that the item is in our collection. If not, Columbia faculty and students can submit requests through Interlibrary Loan or Borrow Direct (a rapid service drawing from a consortium of research libraries in the region.)

 

Several key institutions with Tibetan Studies resources do not subscribe to WorldCat. Their catalogs must be searched separately, which can be done online for the following:

Print catalogs of Tibetan collections in the United States and elsewhere may list additional holdings (often rare) that are not listed in WorldCat. The following list of print catalogs is arranged by geographic location: North America, Western and Eastern Europe, East Asia, and South Asia.

North America

Tachikawa, Musashi, Tsultrim Kelsang Khangkar, Shunzo Onoda, Library of Congress, and Library University of Pennsylvania. A catalogue of the United States Library of Congress collection of Tibetan literature in microfiche. Bibliographia philologica Buddhica. Series major; 3, [a]-b. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1983.

Smith, E. Gene. University of Washington Tibetan catalogue, 1969.

Leonard Zwilling. Tibetan blockprints in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Wisconsin--Madison Libraries. [Madison, Wis.] : University of Wisconsin--Madison Libraries, 1984.

Asia Society. Himalayas, Council, and Joan Kutcher. Tibetan resources in North America, Occasional paper - Himalayas Council of the Asia Society; no. [1]. New York: Himalayas Council of the Asia Society, 1977.

Western and Eastern Europe

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Library of the Oriental Institute Prague, Czech Republic

Kolmas, Josef ed, and ustav Orientalni. Prague collection of Tibetan prints from Derge; a facsimile reproduction of 5,615 book-titles printed at the dGon-chen and dPal-spungs monasteries of Derge in Eastern Tibet. Asiatische Forschungen, Bd. 36, 1971.

Orientalni ustav, Knihovna, and Josef Kolmas. Tibetan manuscripts and blockprints in the Library of the Oriental Institute Prague. Dissertationes orientales; vol. 16, 1969.

 

DENMARK

Royal Library of Copenhagen

Catalogue of Tibetan Manuscripts and Xylographs, v. 1. Compiled by Hartmut Buescher and Tarab Tulku. Copenhagen: Curzon, 2000.  Full text available.  

 

ENGLAND

"A Descriptive Catalogue of the Tibetan manuscripts held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford." Prepared by John E. Stapleton Driver, c. 1970; revised by David Barrett, 1993.  Full-Text hosted by the Bodleian Library.

Bod Blog. "Bod Blog. An occasional update from the Tibetan subject librarian at the Bodleian Library, Oxford." Author: Charles Manson, Librarian.

Tibetan-Mongolian Rare Books and Manuscripts Project, with searchable Catalogue for holdings in the University Library, Cambridge -- Bodleian Library, Oxford -- World Museum, Liverpool -- The Ancient India and Iran Trust, Cambridge.

Cambridge Digital Library.

 

FRANCE

France (general)

Catalogue SUDOC. The networked library catalog for universities in France. This site is generally searchable in Tibetan script.

Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF)

Lalou, Marcelle. Catalogue du fonds Tibetain de la Bibliotheque Nationale, Buddhica; documents et travaux pour l'etude du Bouddhisme. 2. ser.: Documents, t. 4, 1931.

P. d Cordier, and Marcelle Lalou. Bibliotheque nationale. Departement des manuscrits, Repertoire du Tanjur. Catalogue du fonds Tibetain de la Bibliotheque Nationale. New Delhi: Sharada Rani, 1984.

Catalogue of the Collège de France (includes the Institut d'Etudes Tibétaines, Institut d'Etudes Indiennes, Institut d'Etudes  Coréennes, Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises and Institut d'Etudes Japonaises). See also the site of the Library for Tibetan Studies, of the Center for Tibetan Studies.

Centre de recherche et documentation sur la Chine contemporaine (=Centre Chine) The largest collection of modern and contemporary works on China in France.

 

GERMANY

Germany (general)

Taube, Manfred. Tibetische Handschriften und Blockdrucke, Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland; Bd. 11. Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1966.

Schuh, Dieter. Urkunden und Sendschreiben aus Zentraltibet, Ladakh und Zanskar. St. Augustin : VGH, Wissenschaftsverlag, 1976-

Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek

Gronbold, Gunter, and Staatsbibliothek Bayerische. Die tibetischen Blockdrucke der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek: eine Titelliste. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1989.

Berlin   

Taube, Manfred. Die Tibetica der Berliner Turfansammlung, Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients. Berliner Turfantexte; 10. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1980.

Royal Library in Berlin

 Beckh, Hermann, and Bibliothek Preussische Staatsbibliothek. Handschriften-verzeichnisse der Koniglichen. Verzeichnis der tibetischen handschriften der Koniglichen bibliothek zu Berlin, Die handschriften-verzeichnisse der Koniglichen bibliothek zu Berlin. 24. bd., 1914.

Stuttgart Linden-Museum Library

Meisezahl, R. O., and Stuttgart Linden-Museum. Die tibetischen Handschriften und Drucke des Linden-Museums in Stuttgart, 1957.

 

HUNGARY

Of special interest are the special collections related to Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, with online materials.

  • Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia, Konyvtar, and Jozsef Terjek. Collection of Tibetan mss. and xylographs of Alexander Csoma de Koros. Oriental studies 3. Budapest: Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia Konyvtara, 1976.

 

IRELAND

Dublin

Snellgrove, David L. The Chester Beatty Library. A catalogue of the Tibetan collection. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, 1969.

 

ITALY

Rome

Ramon Prats & Geshe Jampel Sanghe Ati. Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (presently ISIAO), Rome. Catalog of the Institute's Tibetan Collection.

 

NORWAY   

Oslo University Library

Per Kværne. A Norwegian traveller in Tibet: Theo Sörensen and the Tibetan collection at the Oslo University Library. New Delhi: Mañjuśrī Pub. House, 1973.

 

RUSSIA

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

IOM RAS Tibetan Collection

Vostrikov, A. I. Tibetan historical literature. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1994.

Oriental Institute of the Soviet Academy of Science, Moscow.

Savitskii, L. S., and vostokovedeniia Institut. Opisanie tibetskikh svitkov iz Dun'khuana v sobranii Instituta vostokovedeniia AN SSSR. Moskva: Nauka, 1991.

Dandaron, B. D., and institut Buriatskii kompleksnyi nauchno-issledovatel'skii. Opisanie tibetskikh rukopisei i ksilografov buriatskogo kompleksnogo nauchno-issledovatelskogo instituta. Moskva: Izd-vo vostochnoi literatury, 1960.

Uspenskii , Vladimir L. Prince Yunli (1697-1738): Manchu statesman and Tibetan Buddhist. Tokyo : Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1997.  With a list of (mostly Rnying ma) texts from Prince Yunli's library held in Russia.

 

SWEDEN   

Uppsala UniversIty Library

Uppsala universitetsbibliotek, and Helmut Eimer. Tibetica Upsaliensia: Handliste der tibetischen Handschriften und Blockdrucke in der Universitatsbibliothek zu Uppsala, Bibliotheca Ekmaniana Universitatis Regiae Upsaliensis; 66. Stockholm: distributed by Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1975.

 

SWITZERLAND

Tibet-Institut Library

Dahortshang, Champa N. Lodro, and Rikon-Zurich Tibet-Institut. Tibetan manuscripts, blockprints, and modern editions in the library of the Tibetan Institute at Rikon/Zurich = Sud-si Ri-kon Chos-'khor Dgon du bzugs pa'i Bod kyi dpe deb rnams kyi dkar chag gzigs bder bkod pa blo ldan padmo'i dga' tshal zes bya ba bzugs so. Opuscula Tibetana; fasc. 5. Rikon: Tibet-Institut, 1974.

 

East Asia

JAPAN

Toyo Bunko (The Oriental Library)

Home Page (English Language)

Online Catalogue : Asian Studies Multilingual Source Material Digital Library Information System

E-Resource Network Storage (ERNEST)

Fukuda, Yoichi. "Toyo Bunko shozo Chibettogo kanpon mokuroku" sakuin (東洋文庫所蔵チベット刊本目録) = Index to the Catalogue of the Tibetan books in the Toyo Bunko, Studia Tibetica; no. 24. Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 1992.

Kawaguchi Ekai Tibetan Collection database

PL480 Microfiche Edition of Tibetan Literature Online Search

Tohoku University

Kanakura, Yensho; Tada, Token; Yamada, Ryujo; Hadano, Hakuyu (eds). Tohoku Catalog: a catalog of the Tohoku University collection of Tibetan works on Buddhism. Sendai: The seminar of Indology, Tohoku University, 1953.

Otani University Online Catalog

Peking Tripitaka Online Search; a project of Otani University

 

CHINA & TIBET

Derge Printing House

Sde dge par khang dang Dkar mdzes khul rtsom sgyur cus, ed. Sde dge par khang gi dkar chag zhib rgyas su bkod pa. 2 vols. Pe cin : Krung go'i Bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, 1994- (2000).

Sde dge par khang gi par shing dkar chag Bod Rgya shan sbyar. [Chengdu]; Si khron dpe skrun tshogs pa : Si khron mi rigs dpe ksrun khang, 2004.

China Library of Nationalities (Beijing)

Mi rigs dpe mdzod khang, ed. Bod gangs chen gyi grub mtha' ris med kyi mkhas dbang brgya dang brgyad cu lhag gi gsung 'bum so so'i dkar chag phyogs gcig du bsgrigs pa shes bya'i gter mdzod. Zangwen dianji mulu. Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 3 vols. 1984-1997.

List (given in Tibetan and Chinese translation) of all the collected works (many of them manuscripts) once held at the People's Culture Palace in Beijing. Each "Collected Works" entry is broken down into all the titles in each collection, and followed by a brief biography of the author in Tibetan and Chinese.

See also: Sun, Wenqing. “Remarks on the Cataloguing and Classification of Tibetan Classics and Literary Texts: A Preliminary Survey of the Tibetan Collection in the China Library of Nationalities in Beijing.” SCEAR 1 (1988): 88-101. Includes a draft plan for the classification of Tibetan Classics and Literary Texts.

Labrang Monastery / བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཁྱིལ།

Bod kyi bstan bcos khag cig gi mtshan byang dri med shel dkar phreng ba = Zang wen dian ji yao mu. Xining: Mtsho-sngon mi rigs dpe skrun Khang, 1985. Catalog of Bla-brang Monastery.

Catalogs of the Potala (Zhol) collection

Three karchacks: Lha ldan sprul pa'i gtsug lag khang gi dkar chag shel dkar me long (1645) by the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho. Grwa sa chen po bzhi dang rgyad [sic] pa stod smad chags tshul pad dkar 'phreng ba (1744) by Phur bu lcog Ngag dbang byams pa. And Gangs can gyi ljongs su bka' dang bstan bcos sogs kyi glegs bam spar gzhi ji ltar yod pa rnam nas dkar chag spar thor phyogs tsam du bkod pa phan bde'i pad tshal 'byed pa'i nyin byed; edited and reproduced by Ngawang Gelek Demo, with an English introd. by E. Gene Smith. New Delhi : [s.n.], 1970.
Three catalogs which contain listings for one or both of the two Zhol printeries. The collection of these materials was compiled during the reign of the Tagdra regent in about 1957. This includes all printeries surveyed in the TAR excluding Chamdo Prefecture.

Lokesh Chandra, ed. Tibetan works printed by the Shoparkhang of the Potala = Zhol spar dkar chag. New Delhi : International Academy of Indian Culture, [195-].  A catalog of the New Zhol printery. There is a catalog of the old Zhol printery, which Lokesh intended to publish but only got around to publishing the catalogs of the Dga' ldan pho brang at Drepung, Kathog, etc. (Comments by Gene Smith).

Bsod nams don grub, ed. Bod kyi lo rgyus dpe tho/ Xizang shi xue shu mu. Lha sa : Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang, 2000.
List of Tibetan historical books. Lists title, author, and whether it is a blockprint or manuscript.

MONGOLIA

Ragchaagiin Biambaa; D Ganzorig; L Sosorburam. Mongolchuudyn Tovd kheleer tuurvisan Mongol khelend orchuulsan nom zuin burtgel =The bibliographical guide of the Mongolian writers in the Tibetan language and the Mongolian translators. Ulaanbaatar. 2004.
A collection of the titles of all the known Tibetan language works by Mongols. Vol 1: The collection of the nine Rje btsun dam pa incarnations. Vol. 2-3: Covers the first 51 authors whose names started with "Ngag" (these are the first three volumes of a set which proposes to document 500 authors). English translation of foreword, introduction & guide to use makes this easy to use. Texts listed in this catalogue not necessarily held in Mongolia.

TAIWAN

蒙藏委員會圖書暨微捲目錄 = Meng Zang wei yuan hui tu shu ji wei juan mu lu = Catalog of books and microfilm collection of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, Republic of China. Volume 1. Published by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission Republic of China, January 1975.

 

South Asia

BHUTAN

National Library and Archives of Bhutan

INDIA AND SIKKIM

Library of Tibetan Works and Archives བོད་ཀྱི་དཔེ་མཛོད་ཁང་།, Dharamsala.

Tibetan Books and Manuscript Library downloadable catalog

Foreign Language Reference Section downloadable catalog

Jampa Samten Shastri, ed.  Catalogue of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (Manuscript Section), Volume 1: Historical Works.  Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1983.

Lobsang Shastri, ed.  Catalogue of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (Manuscript Section), Volume 2: Historical Works.  Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1990.

Lobsang Shastri, ed.  Catalogue of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (Manuscript Library), Volume 3: Biographical Works.  Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1994.

Lobsang Shastri, ed.  Catalogue of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (Manuscript Library), Volume 4: Tibetan Medicine and Astrology.  Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1995.

Othog Geshe Tenzin Wangyal, ed. Catalogue of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (Manuscript Library), Volume 5: Bonpo Collection.  Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2001.

Jackson, David Paul. The "miscellaneous series" of Tibetan texts in the Bihar research society, Patna: A Handlist. Wiesbaden: F. Stiener, 1989.

Taikhang, T. Tsepal. Rare Tibetan historical and literary texts from the library of Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa. New Delhi: Taikhang, 1974.

Mullard, S. And Wongchuk, H. Royal Records: A Catalogue of The Sikkimese Palace Archives. Andiast: International Institute of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, 2010.

NEPAL

Nepalese-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project (NGMCP)

For more information, see the NGMCP homepage.

Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project
Initiated in 1970 by the German Oriental Society to catalog and create microfilm images of ancient Nepalese and Tibetan religious and historical texts. Copies of the microfilm can be ordered.  Includes numerous historical documents from Samling Gompa (Mustang), including Tibetan and Chinese documents from early 19th century relaying orders of the Manchu emperor.

National Archives, Kathmandu. Print catalog (5 volumes); available in the Reference Section of the C.V. Starr East Asian Libary.