Among the worlds the Library’s program attempts to bridge are some that have been sundered by our own academic system. The Bridging Worlds book displays cross area boundaries drawn between South, Southeast, and East Asia to show how various themes play out Asia-wide. The displays also crosscut traditional academic divisions of labor which take art, philosophy, history, and religion, for example, as distinct fields of enquiry. Instead the Library displays put emphasis on what Buddhists actually say and do, evidence that can fuel any number of academic—or personal—types of interpretation. Materials from Buddhist worlds were grouped throughout Library space as follows:

Corridor linking Olin and Kroch Libraries

Paintings from the Kathmandu Valley, Monasteries and Architecture, The Caitya, The Mandala, and Practitioners

Severinghaus Reading Room, Kroch Library, level 1

Buddhist Texts and Buddha Biographies

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Kroch Library, Level 2B

Buddhist treasures of the Asia Rare collections

Kroch Level 1 Corridor

Computer-generated 3D model of the Kalacakra Mandala

Outside the Olin Library Current Periodicals Reading Room

T-shirts and current imprints honoring the Dalai Lama’s visit to Ithaca