The following is the standard format for the catalog of the Tibetan Collection of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Branch, and for the Tibetan Collection of the Oriental Library of the University of St. Petersburg, as of July 1998.

Please note that the catalog is, in its present form, a simple flat-file database: straight text in the universal ASCII code that can be read and searched on any computer.

Each title is treated as a separate work in its own right, and complete cataloging information is given for each one. Since the catalog is computerized, it is possible to include a level of detail not achieved in any previous printed catalogs. Therefore, a total
of twenty-two different details of each title are recorded, including the entire colophon of composition and printing information. This colophon makes it possible for users of the catalog to conduct advanced research and come to their own conclusions about difficult items.

Where the colophon of a given title does not list particular items of information, these may be supplied from other sources, but are then enclosed in braces. This applies even to an individual title in a single volume with multiple titles; i.e., information derived from the colophon of the final title is not assumed to apply to all other titles in the volume.

The raw data of the catalog is expressed mainly in single-letter codes. This system allows the input operators to catalog more items per day; at present, two operators are completing approximately seventy-five titles each day. The system also has the advantage of allowing the entire catalog to be loaded into a relational database, to enable multiple sorting on different fields.

Please note that the information in the "author" field especially represents a "best guess" by native Tibetan operators on site who are not highly trained students of philosophy. Researchers should rely upon the colophon (which is always included), and upon the Institute’s own catalog number to place a particular title within the collected works of a particular author. Here is a sample entry for a single imaginary title:

1) S:00001

(Serial number of item, which is simply the order in which the titles
are entered into the catalog, with no other logic.)

2) N:B6388/1

(Number of the title currently, in the system of the library of the Institute or Library. The number after the slash is new and represents the position of the work in a single volume of multiple works. This number is being added in ink on the title page as volumes are cataloged. In the case of a loose, random page located within a volume, a lowercase alphabetical letter will be placed after the slash in order not
to disturb the total number of titles in the volume. No attempt will be made to collate these random pages into their proper volume until the catalog is completed, since this will allow the collation to be performed accurately and quickly.)

3) T:RDO RJE GCOD PA

(Title in Tibetan as it appears on the title page, written in ACIP input code.)

4) K:BADZRA TZTSEDIKA

(Title in SansKrit as it appears on the title page in Tibetanized Sanskrit. These titles are primarily ornamental and often appear with incorrect spelling, or divided into syllables illogically. The native Tibetan operators entering the data onto diskette also have trouble reading these difficult stacks correctly, and we can anticipate additional errors on their part. Nonetheless this data will be of some benefit to scholars seeking Sanskrit equivalents.)

5) E:LT

(Extra languages appearing either on the title page alone, or throughout the whole work [such as in bilingual dictionary in interlineal format]. Current code options are: LT [Lanycha script, title page only]; LW [Lanycha script, throughout whole work]; MT and MW [same for Mongolian]; DT and DW [same for Devanagari]. No attempt is made to input the entire extra language, but simply to indicate its presence.)

6) X:3

(X represents a seal or stamp that has been pressed onto the title page,
a common monastic practice to identify the library or press from which the work has come. Each time a new seal is encountered, it is photocopied and added to a master chart and given a number. These seals have been scanned into computer files, and are included here on the CD-ROM; we have not yet attempted to relate the seals to particular institutions from which the texts were obtained. Some title pages have multiple stamps; these will be represented by numbers separated by commas.)

7) B:RDO GCOD

(Brief title of the work as it appears by tradition in a small box on
the end of the woodblock.)

8) A:SH’AKYA THUB PA

(Author of the work, only as reported in the colophon to the parti-
cular title. If the name of the author has been identified by other means it will be included in braces, for future verification.)

9) Y:SHING PHAG

(Year of publication or composition, only as reported in the colophon to the particular title. If either year has been identified by other means it will be included in braces, for future verification. This applies as well to attempted correspondence to the Western year.)

10) F:XYL

(Format of the book. Current options are XYL [xylograph], MS
[handwritten manuscript], or TYP [metal typography].)

11) M:T

(Material used, meaning apparent source of paper. Current options
are T (Tibet), R (Russia), I (India), or C (China). The decision of the apparent source of paper will be somewhat inexact by nature, and will be made by the Tibetan input operators and Russian experts on site.)

12) H:W,Y

(Hue of paper. The first letter refers to the color of the paper, which
in almost every case will be white or off-white, both indicated by W. Works on black paper do exist at the Library and will be indicated by B. The letter following the comma gives the color of the traditional dye smeared on the side of the volume, which can aid in the identification of the source of a text. Current options are original White, or else colored Red or Yellow.)

13) G:G

(Grade of paper. A subjective decision by the operator about the strength and thickness of the paper. Current options are Good,
Medium, or Bad.)

14) R:G

(Readability of printing. Subjective decision by operator about whether the printing is clear and easy to read, or whether for example parts are badly smudged and illegible. Current options
are Good, Medium, or Bad.)

15) V:KA PA

(Volume number, according to traditional Tibetan system of assigning letters in alphabetical order.)

16) P:1A-15B

(Page numbers of text, as they appear in text.)

17) Q:6

(Quantity of lines per page, taken from the front side of the fifth folio, if there is one. Otherwise from any page typical for the majority of the text.)

18) O:5.2 x 20.6

(Outside dimensions of folio; the dimensions of the paper page. Again taken from the fifth folio if available, otherwise from any typical page. Expressed in centimeters to nearest tenth.)

19) I:4.3 x 19.4

(Inside dimensions, meaning dimensions of the printed area, normally the dimensions of the traditional line box carved around the text. Again taken from the fifth folio, front side, or from any other, typical folio if it is not available.)

20) L:LHA SA

(Location mentioned in the colophon to the particular text. Normally the place of printing, but sometimes place of composition of the text.)

21) D:1AL-RJE RIN PO CHE, 1AR-RJE BTZUN BYAMS PA

(Drawings carved or painted on the folio, with location and identification of figure copied from accompanying caption. In the above example, 1 indicates folio number; A front side of folio; and L the left side of the folio, with the caption for the figure following a hyphen. When a certain ornament covers the entire folio this is indicated in the form of 1A-RGYAN.)

22) C:PAR BYANG SMON TSIG CHA TSANG,

(Normally the entire Colophon.)