Rare Books, Special Collections, & Archives
Columbia University's C.V. Starr East Asian Library owns many rare and unique materials, including rare books and archives in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, and Western languages, as well as non-print collections. These non-circulating materials are available for use, by advance appointment, in our Special Collections Reading Room by both CU students, faculty, and staff, as well as non-affiliate scholars. Some collections have also been digitized for online access.
For more detailed information about specific collections:
- First-time users will need to first register a SPECIAL COLLECTIONS RESEARCH ACCOUNT. If you already have an account, you can access it through the same link.
- Since substantial portions of our Special Collections are stored offsite, we ask that you make your appointment, and place your requests at least one (1) week ahead of your visit to ensure that the required material will be available.
- Requests for rare and special books and non-print materials should be placed through the request button in CLIO, the online catalog. You will find the request button in the grey sidebar in individual bibliographic records.
- Archival material can be found and requested throught the Archival Collections Finding Aids or by title in CLIO. Please note that, at this time, not all finding aids have an active request function yet. In those cases, please submit a Manual Request in your Special Collections Research Account by going to the New Request tab and clicking the link at the bottom of the request options.
- Upon submitting your request, you will be asked to log into view the Request Details form.
- To complete your request, scroll down to Choose A Site, then click on New Appointment to select a date and time. Once you have created an appointment you can then Submit Request to complete the request.
- To add an item to an existing appointment, you can select the appointment date from the dropdown menu.
- Please note that you must choose the owning library under Choose A Site. Special Collections material are not moved between libraries.
- If, for any reason, you have trouble requesting material, please contact us at starr-spec@library.columbia.edu. We will be happy to help.
- Our storage space is limited, so we ask that you do not request more material than you anticipate being able to use during your visit.
These procedures are intended to optimize research while protecting and preserving the Special Collections materials:
- Wash your hands before coming to the Special Collections Reading Room, and handle all materials with extreme care.
- When using books or bound volumes, cradles and book weights will be provided as needed.
- When using archival and manuscript material, remove only one folder at a time, keep all archival materials in their original order and place all materials flat on the table.
- Gloves are required when handling photographs, film, slides, or metal objects.
- Only pencils and electronic devices (preferred) may be used for note-taking. Electrical outlets and wireless access are available. Pens and indelible markers are NOT permitted.
- Please leave all other personal belongings with the librarian on duty.
- Food and drinks are NOT permitted.
- Please silence your camera, phone, and other electronic devices, and keep conversations to a minimum.
Non-flash photography with a camera, phone, or tablet is allowed for personal research purposes only within the limits of U.S. copyright law and provided it will not damage collection materials.
The following items are not permitted:
- Tripods, flash, and additional lighting
- Personal copies and scanners
Reproductions of items in our collection can be requested. Please refer to the Digitization and Reprographic Instructions page for instructions and order forms.
In most cases, Starr Library owns only the physical object and therefore does not assume any responsibility for literary property, copyright, or any other legal issues involved in the publication and reproduction of items in its collections. It is the responsibility of the user to secure permission from the appropriate copyright holder. Any copyright infringement which may occur through the use of our materials is the responsibility of the user. When using images of material from our collections we request that you use the following credit line (in the language of your publication):
Courtesy of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University
哥伦比亚大学史带东亚图书馆所藏 / 哥倫比亞大學史帶東亞圖書館所藏
コロンビア大学C.V. スター東亜図書館所蔵
컬럼비아대학교 C.V. Starr 동아시아도서관 소장
ཀོོ་ལུམ་སྦི་ཡ་སློབ་གྲྭ་ཆེན་མོའི་སི་ཝི་སི་ཊར་ཨེ་ཤར་ཡ་ཤར་མའི་དཔེ་མཛོད་ཁང་གིས་མཁོ་འདོན་བྱས།
Institutions interested in borrowing materials from our Special Collections for exhibitions should contact Starr Library at least one year in advance of the opening of the exhibit for domestic exhibitions and significantly longer for exhibitions in countries other than the United States. Preliminary information should include full description of item(s) requested, opening and closing dates of the exhibit, and an indication of how material would be displayed. Exact display information and a formal exhibitions facilities report for the institution will be required before a decision can be made.
Please see the Columbia University Libraries Guidelines for Lending Materials for Exhibition for a detailed description of how to place your loan request.