The Libraries seek to support research in all aspects of East Asian studies, with an emphasis on humanities and social sciences, except where these fields overlap with other Columbia collections (e.g., Business, Lehman, etc.) It supports the needs of undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D. students, the teaching faculty, post-docs, research staff members, and visiting scholars.

There was a dramatic growth in the library's user population during the first half of the 1990’s. The East Asian Languages and Cultures department has seen an annual enrollment increase of nearly 30%.

Areas of established specialization include are History, Literature, Religion (particularly Buddhism).

Overall, the Libraries’ existing collection and current acquisitions commitment, based upon available resources, for East Asian Western Languages are at the study and teaching level. Its collecting goal, however, is at the research level.

1. Formats collected: We collect monographs, periodicals, reference tools and scholarly series extensively; annuals, audio-visual materials, CD-Roms, and newspapers and selectively; textbooks and maps minimally.
2. Imprint Dates Collected: We collect current publications extensively and twentieth-century, nineteenth-century materials and earlier selectively.
3. Languages Collected: We collect English language materials extensively and all Western languages selectively.
4. Place of Publication: We collect all English language producing areas extensively and all areas producing materials in other Western European languages selectively.