The Western-language Collection

The Columbia University Libraries have collected material on East Asia for a long time. In the early decades of the twentieth century, as an "East Asiatic" collection came into being the majority of such materials came to be assigned to this collection. Given the limited number of publications on East Asia in those days, anything remotely related to the East Asian area -- and frequently material related to other parts of Asia or "The Orient" in general -- was added as well. However, as the field of East Asian Studies grew ever faster, particularly in the later decades of the twentieth century, the publication output grew in conjunction and with it the need to become more selective in collecting such publications. This explains why, among older parts of the collection,one may find material on subjects that would today be considered outside the scope of the collection.

Starr's Western-language collection serves to complement the library's collections in the East Asian original scripts, and provides access to Western-language scholarship on East Asia. Curricular support and support for research by the Columbia community comprise the main focus of the current collection. The emphasis of the collection is on scholarship in the Humanities (Religion, Literature, History, etc.) and selective Social Sciences (Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, etc.), with lesser holdings on a number of other subjects. And as research and teaching foci shift, the collection scope broadens correspondingly.

In addition to what the Starr Library collects, a substantial number of Western-language materials on East Asia can also to be found in other divisions of the Columbia University Libraries. E.g., East Asian business and economics materials are in the Business Library, and materials on East Asian international relations are generally in Lehman Library. CLIO, the online catalog, indicates locations for all material in the bibliographic records.

Current Western-language periodical issues are shelved, in call number order, on the west wall of the second alcove on the southside of the reading room. Completed volumes are bound and then intershelved with the rest of the collection in the stacks. Due to space limitations, only the most current four years of active periodical subscriptions are housed in Kent. Older volumes are located offsite. A number of English-language East Asian newspapers are located on racks in the alcoves where the current periodicals are shelved, depending on relevant area; i.e. newspapers from China are in the Chinese periodical alcove, etc. Back issues of newspapers are kept for several months on the newspaper shelves in front of the periodical alcoves in the reading room.

Any comments, questions, and suggestions regarding Starr's Western-language collection can be directed to the East Asian Studies Librarian, Ria Koopmans-de Bruijn, who is in charge of this collection. She can be reached by email at rkb7@columbia.edu, or by phone at 212-854-1505.