What Collections, Events, and News Does Columbia University Libraries Highlight?

Updated

Columbia University Libraries uses its homepage to surface three rotating content areas: New & Notable Collections (archival papers and historical materials), Events & Training (public programs, exhibitions, workshops, and drop-in help), and News (stories about archives, museum history, and library resources). Each section links to fuller listings, and the collections area includes a "View All Collections" option for browsing beyond the featured items.

New & Notable Collections

The featured collections mix personal papers, corporate records, and visual materials spanning roughly the 15th to 21st centuries. Examples currently highlighted include:

Collection Date range
Al Jaffee Papers circa 1900–2019, bulk circa 1990s–2010s
Daniel Talbot Papers 1923–2010, bulk 1960–2008
Theodore Richards Conant Collection 1949–2010, bulk 1953–2000
Frances Perkins papers 1895–1965
W.W. Norton & Company records 1923–1967
Historical Maps Collection 1500–1900
Maison française records 1930s–2000s
Taliesin Fellowship and Personal Photographs undated
"Los Manantiales" Restaurant (Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico) undated

The range is broad on purpose: you can move from a theological archive to publishing house records to architectural photography in the same carousel. A "View All Collections" link sits at the end of the section if the featured set doesn't cover your interest.

Events & Training

This section covers several formats rather than a single event type:

  • Public Programs — talks and presentations open to a wider audience
  • Exhibitions — curated displays drawing on the collections
  • Workshops — skill- and tool-based sessions
  • Drop-In Help — short, no-registration sessions; the homepage describes a 15-minute introductory session on how to use the libraries, offered on September 2–3 and September 8–11, covering collections, expert staff, study spaces, and trainings

The drop-in model is worth noting if you want orientation without committing to a scheduled workshop — the page states no registration is required for that session.

News

The News section mixes archival processing stories, institutional history, and resource guides:

  • A guest blogger processing the papers of Rosemary Radford Ruether, a Catholic feminist theologian, whose archive includes notebooks, CDs, floppy disks, and other ephemera
  • A piece on the Columbia Geological Museum, once housed in Schermerhorn Hall, which held fossil fish, stones, and "upwards of 10,000 specimens" of coal, minerals, and more
  • A resource highlight on the evolution of online, networked information and current problems with "enshittified websites, addictive social media feeds, and rampant disinformation"
  • A librarian-written guide (Sydni Meyer and Jeffrey Wayno) to "hacks, etiquette, and best spots" across Columbia's 18 libraries
  • A note that the Libraries' Journal Publishing program released 273 new articles across 22 journals from July 2025 through June 2026, including new issues from Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta and the Columbia Journal of...

How to Use These Sections

If you're deciding where to start:

  • Looking for primary sources → begin with New & Notable Collections, then use "View All Collections" to search more broadly
  • New to the libraries or want orientation → check Events & Training for a drop-in session, which requires no registration
  • Interested in how the collections are built and used → the News section shows processing work, historical context, and staff recommendations

Each area links out to its own page, so the homepage works as a starting point rather than a complete index.