About the Lehman Library

The Lehman Social Sciences Library holds a contemporary collection of more than 330,000 volumes and approximately 1,700 current periodical titles. It includes materials acquired by Columbia libraries since 1974 in political science, sociology, social and cultural anthropology, political geography, journalism, environmental science, as well as a rich collection of materials on post-World-War-II international relations. It also houses a collection of close to 100 foreign newspapers and holds masters’ essays produced by Columbia students in the Graduate Schools of Journalism. Lehman Library also houses the following collections:

• U.S. Government Documents
  (East Reading Room)

  The U.S. Government Documents collection receives approximately 70 percent of the works available through the United States Federal Depository Library Program. The time period covered is 1976 to the present.

• New York State Documents

  Lehman Library was a depository for New York State documents from 1983 to 1996. The documents are on microfiche in the Lehman Reference Room, and not cataloged on CLIO. For more information see the New York State Subject Guide

• Map Collection
  (213 International Affairs Building)

  The Map Room holds a general map collection covering a wide range of subjects, including geography, geology, economics, and international affairs. The collection houses more than 185,000 maps.

• Electronic Data Service (EDS)
  (215 International Affairs Building, 212-854-6012)

  EDS offers the University community access to a wide variety of numerical data resources and related services. Staff consultants are available to help university members select the appropriate data for their needs and to guide students and researchers through the process of extracting and moving the data to their own facilities. EDS is a joint operation of Columbia University Information Technology (CUIT) and the Libraries.

• Post-Soviet Nationalities Collection

  A collection of over 19,500 monographs, extensive periodical literature and numerous newspapers on microfilm, in 56 of the Indo-European, Uralic-Altaic, Transcaucasian, and Palæo-Siberian languages of the former Soviet Union. Collecting began in the early 1960's and has grown steadily since then.

• Rand Corporation Publications

  The library was a depository for all the publications of this "think tank," up to 2005. There is a CLIO record for each of the individual series published by Rand (Joint Reports, Rand Notes, Issue Papers, Conference Proceedings etc.), but not for each title within the series. The materials are shelved in the Lehman stacks under call number AS36 .R344 -- AS36 .R35; check the shelves for holdings. Rand publications are now available online via the Rand books and publications database.

Columbia's wireless ethernet network is available in most locations in Lehman Library. Coverage is limited in the stacks. If you have a wireless network card installed in your laptop computer, you can access all of the campus network computing services without a network cable and jack.

For more information about the campus wireless network and how you can equip your laptop to take advantage of it, please consult the CUIT Wireless Networking webpage, at:
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/access/oncampus/wireless/