Southeast Asian Studies: Books

In the Kroch Asia Library, books are shelved by Library of Congress call number with oversized (+ or ++) books on level 1 and regular sized books on level B1.  See the Kroch Asia Stacks Maps for more help finding books.

It's also good to remember that browsing the stacks, while useful to find related books, is no longer a sufficient tactic to use for finding all closely related books because a large percentage of the collection is housed at the Library Annex.  To browse online in a similar fashion to browsing the stacks, in the catalog, bring up a record for a book you want to start with and click on the call number link for that book below the "Browse related items by call number."  You will get a list of call numbers that you can browse by using the "previous" and "next" buttons. This is the only method that allows you to see all the books as if they were shelved together.

In most catalog records you will find a list of subjects that librarians have assigned to that item.  You can then click on any subject to see other titles associated with that same subject.  This is a great way to find to find books or other material on those same subjects.

Finding Books

To find books in Southeast Asia studies at Cornell University Library, you should begin your search in the Library Catalog. Use the basic search box to begin searching with keywords and the facets on the left side of the screen to limit your search results as necessary. You can search using English keywords, or terms in any of the languages of Southeast Asia.

Searching in the Languages of Southeast Asia

Please note that searching in the written scripts of Southeast Asia is limited for many languages, such as Khmer, Lao, Burmese, or Thai. Searching in the Thai script is possible, but will mainly work for books published since 2010.  Prior to 2010, and for books in the other scripts, you will need to search in the "Romanized" versions of the scripts. Guides for the Romanization systems for each language can be found on the Library of Congress Romanization Guides pages.

Advanced Searching

For more advanced searching, use the Advanced Search in the Library Catalog.

More help for searching and other functions of the Library Catalog is available in Search Tips page on the Library Web site.

For help finding books in the Kroch Asia stacks, please use the Kroch Asia Stacks Maps.

You can also read through the Introduction to Research pages for more tips and guidance on doing research and finding material in the library.

If the catalog record indicates that the book you want is checked out, or if you find a book that the library does not own by using the Cornell Worldcat catalog found at the "Request from Libraries Worldwide" link, you have a couple of options to get that book. In the Cornell University Library catalog, look for the "Request" button to initiate a request from another library. In the Cornell Worldcat catalog, look for the links to either Borrow Direct or Interlibrary loan to initiate a request.

Omit the initial article from title searches. In other words, don't include the initial word if it's a, an, or the.

When you note down call numbers, be careful to indicate if the material is shelved in the regular, oversized (+), or double oversized (++) sections.

You can find books on similar topics by clicking on the subjects listed in the catalog record for most books.

To limit results to a particular language, date range, format, location or many other options, use the facets on the left of the screen.

If a record says its available online, it may or may not be available in full text. If the reference is to a journal, check to see which years the online version covers to make sure that the article you want is available in full text. If not, check to see if Cornell has a copy of the print version.