The Columbia University Library system is one of the nation’s ten largest academic libraries. Students in the Department may avail themselves of any of the more specialized Columbia libraries (such as Fine Arts, Law, Psychology, and Social Sciences), as well as Barnard’s Wollman Library. For library locations, hours, and services, students should consult Columbia's LibraryWeb.

Butler Reference Department
325 Butler Library is the main reference department serving graduate study in the humanities. The reference collection of 70,000 volumes is strong in bibliographies, indexes, dictionaries and handbooks for the study of English and comparative literature, including the MLA Bibliography, Baldensperger’s Bibliography of Comparative Literature, and bibliographies of criticism on individual authors, genres, countries, and periods.

Library Consultations

A consultation service is available to students undertaking a major research project. A reference librarian will meet with students to discuss the bibliographies, periodical indexes, dissertation lists, library catalogs, directories of archives and manuscripts, and other pertinent primary and secondary source materials. Consultations are scheduled at the Butler Reference Department.

Research in the Humanities (G4000)

This course introduces graduate students in the humanities disciplines to resources in print and electronic formats that are fundamental to advanced research. The course covers such topics as: major reference tools including computerized online and CD- ROM databases; micro-computer database for managing personal notes and bibliographies; scholarly communication and publishing; machine-readable texts; textual analysis, and critical editing. The course is offered the first eight weeks of Spring term.

The Electronic Text Service (ETS)

ETS provides information on various new technologies available to support scholarly research at Columbia. This service focuses on the use of computer-based technologies for the creation of bibliographic databases and for information management, for literature searching, and for research and analysis using machine-readable texts and data. In the ETS the libraries' staff consult with students and faculty and teach workshops on new information technologies. Students may use the resources of the ETS by appointment.

ETS facilities include microcomputer hardware and software for the compilation and management of bibliographies and collections of research notes, including ProCite, INMAGIC, Library master, and others. This software is available to assist students and faculty in identifying the programs best suited to their research needs. Full text date bases, including ARTFL, the Dartmouth Dante Project, The Riverside Shakespeare, Biblical and classical texts, Library of America texts, and others are available through the ETS for students to experiment with or incorporate into their research. The ETS also serves as a clearinghouse for evaluations and demonstrations of text analysis programs, such as the Oxford Concordance Program, WordCruncher, and other analytical software.

Computer-Assisted Searching

All of the following computerized indexes are available on CD-ROM in Butler Reference (325 Butler). No training is necessary, though assistance is available at the Reference Desk.

• Oxford English Dictionary. The 1928 edition of the OED is available on CD-ROM in Butler Reference Department.
• ARTFL Database. contains roughly 2,000 French works from the 17th through 20th centuries, along with some medieval and Renaissance texts.
• MLA Bibliography. Standard bibliography for modern language and literature studies. Lists articles, essays in books, conference proceedings, and dissertations (1981 to present).
• Dissertation Abstracts on Disc. Lists American Dissertations, and some recent foreign dissertations (1861- present). Dissertations completed after 1980 may also be searched by words in the abstract.
• Humanities Index. Lists articles and book reviews in selected humanities and history journals.
• Religion Index. Lists articles in religious studies journals and books (1975 to present).
• English Short Title Catalog (ESTC). Database which will eventually contain records of all works published from 1485-1800 in English.

• The Central Research Library, has 2 million volumes in the arts and humanities alone. The entire collection here is on reserve, and books may be read in the Main Reading Room. Contact: 5th Ave and 42nd Street; (212) 930-0500.
• The Mid-Manhattan Library is the largest circulating and reference unit in the branch system. A library card can be obtained on the spot by presenting identification with one's address and signature. Contact: 455 Fifth Avenue at 40th Street; (212) 340-0863.
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture contains more than 100,000 volumes and microfilm files of more than 400 newspapers, 1000 periodicals, as well as rare books, personal papers, manuscripts, and so forth. Contact: , 515 Lenox Avenue at 135th Street; (212) 491-2200.
• Donnell Library Center has the largest foreign language collection (69,000 volumes) in the city. Contact: 20 West 53rd Street; (212) 621-0618.