Maps and Geospatial Information Center

Collections

Print Map Collection:

The Map Collection is one of the largest cartographic collections at an academic institution. It is a non-circulating collection accessible only from Monday through Friday: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and has over 300,000 maps and charts, aerial and satellite photographs, relief models, globes, and slides. The collection is strong in geoscience, topographic, and bathymetric maps and charts. In 1986, the scope of the collection was broadened by the addition of Firestone Library’s large collection of contemporary (post 1918) maps in political, physical, and cultural geography. Current road maps and atlases for all countries and major cities are available as well.

Subject Areas

Maps: Geology, geochemistry, geophysics, climatology, natural resources, land use, soils, water resources, remote sensing, topography, political and cultural geography, physiography, bathymetry, transportation, navigation, urban and regional planning.

Online Catalog

Most of our maps are cataloged and can be searched from the library online catalog.

Our library has a strong commitment to scanning our print maps collection. Many of the scanned maps are accessible through our Digital Map and Geographic Data Portal.

Geographic data and digital map collection:

Our library regularly purchases digital maps and geographic data from all over the world to help our researchers. Many of our digital maps and geographic data can be searched from our Geographic Data Portal. There are many that are not in our Portal but are in external hard drives. We are creating new infrastructure to move these data online. There are some geographic data we cannot upload in our Portal because of license agreements. Many of the commonly used data are stored in our data server and are shared to all the computers in the Map and Geospatial Information Center. If you need help in finding or locating the data, contact Tsering Wangyal Shawa, GIS and Map Librarian.