Librarian: Michelle Chesner
Title: Librarian for Jewish Studies
Subject specialties: Hebrew, Yiddish, Israel, Jewish Studies
Contact info: mc3395@columbia.edu, 212 854 8046, 304 Lehman Library, International Affairs Building
Library: Area Studies
@ Columbia Libraries Since: 2010
Education Info: B.A History, University of Maryland; M.A. Hebrew and Jewish Studies, NYU; M.L.I.S. Long Island University
About me: "My personal interests lie in the field of rare Hebraica, specifically Hebrew incunabula, those first books printed just after the invention of the printing press through 1501. I’m so excited to work with Columbia’s incredible Hebrew manuscript collection (the second-largest in the country) and the many other treasures I’ve recently discovered throughout the library."
What’s new at my library: Me! I’m Columbia’s first Librarian for Jewish Studies. We’ve also recently purchased:
- The Bar-Ilan Responsa Project, a full-text database of pretty much all Jewish religious texts, from the Torah to 20th century responsa
- The Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World (online and in print), a critical work which is the first of its kind
- Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive, a fantastic resource with over 50,000 hours of video interviews of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. We are the only location in NYC to host this archive
Personal Favorite: RAMBI – The Index of Articles in Jewish Studies, a catalog produced by The Jewish National and University Library (now the National Library of Israel), which indexes articles across many books and journals relating to Jewish Studies. It’s a great way to search for Jewish Studies articles, and often yields resources in unexpected places.
Recommended Resources:
- ATLA Religion Database: an index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion.
- Encyclopedia Judaica: provides an exhaustive and organized overview of Jewish life and knowledge.
- Internet Jewish History Sourcebook: subset of texts derived from the three major online Sourcebooks.
- Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts Catalog: a comprehensive catalog – in Hebrew – of nearly all manuscripts written in Hebrew letters in the world
- Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia: the Jewish Women’s Archive is devoted to making known the stories, struggles, and achievements of Jewish women in North America in order to enrich the way we understand the past and to ensure a more inclusive future.