Resources

Located in the heart of one of the world’s greatest and most diverse cities, the MARSEA program at Columbia University offers students access to a wealth of opportunities and resources--both on and off campus.   See below for a sampling of:

  • campus resources, including libraries and archives

  • student activities and ways to engage with the Columbia community

  • funding opportunities

  • career services

  • special access to the unparalleled arts and culture of New York City

On Campus Resources

Columbia Libraries

The library services at Columbia University are ranked in the top five in the United States. At Columbia, students have twenty-two libraries at their disposal, including over 12 million volumes, over 160,000 current journals and serials, and an extensive collection of electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, and graphic and audiovisual materials.

Columbia Students have borrowing privileges from other Ivy League universities through Borrow Direct, as well as libraries world-wide with Inter Library Loan. Students who have applied for a SHARES card have additional reading privileges at over 100 top-rated university libraries in New York and across the world.

C. V. Starr East Asian Library

The C. V. Starr East Asian Library is one of the most important collections for the study of East Asia in the United States, with over 1,000,000 volumes of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu, and Western-language materials and almost 7,500 periodical titles, and more than 55 newspapers. Subject emphasis is on the humanities and social sciences. The Chinese collection is particularly strong in history, philosophy, traditional literature, and--increasingly--film studies. The Japanese collection excels in literature, history, and philosophy. The Korean collection is deepest in history and is growing in literature. The Tibetan collection, which originally centered on traditional Tibetan subjects, has expanded to include modern Tibet as well. These Asian-language materials are supported by an extensive collection of secondary materials on East Asian subjects in Western languages.

The Kress Special Collections Reading Room provides access to the rare book, special, and archival collections, especially strong in Chinese local histories and genealogies, Japanese Edo-period woodblock-printed books, and the Korean Yi Song-yi Collection of rare books, as well as extensive collections of non-print materials such as ancient Chinese oracle bones, Chinese paper god prints from the early twentieth century,  Edo-period Japanese woodblock prints, maps, and paintings. These special collections are non-circulating materials, and are available for use by readers in the Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room.

An increasing number of electronic databases is also offered, most of them through the E-resources link on the Libraries homepage, and some as stand-alones on designated terminals in our reading room, one each for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

University Writing Center

The Writing Center provides writing support to graduate students at Columbia. In one-on-one consultations and workshops, our consultants offer feedback and strategies to help you improve at every stage of your writing, from brainstorming to final drafts.

Student Activities

Please visit the Campus Life page for more information about these opportunities.

Career Services

GSAS Compass is a new initiative in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences that offers a variety of career development services including career development workshops, employer events, networking opportunities, and one-on-one advising that are tailored to current master’s and doctoral students as well as recent graduates.

GSAS Connect is a new online career management hub for current GSAS students and alumni, allowing students to schedule career advising appointments, RSVP for Compass events, access its resource library, and search for jobs and internships. 

Columbia University’s Center for Career Education (CCE) is an invaluable resource. Alumni have access to Columbia’s career services for the rest of their lives. A full list of CCE services can be found on the center’s website.

LionSHARE is a full service on-line recruiting system encompassing job and internship postings, on-campus recruiting opportunities, and events such as employer information sessions and career fairs. The system is for the exclusive use of Columbia students and alumni.

Alumni Directory: The university-wide Alumni Directory is open to alumni and helps individuals stay connected with fellow alums from all Columbia schools. The database allows alumni to search by a variety of factors, including class year, city, state, country, field of work, company name, job title, school, major, and degree.