The single most important resource any researcher should be aware of is...
When library catalogers all across the country are creating records for books or journals (etc), they all rely on a single, slow to change (for both good and ill) standard for how they are going to romanize writing systems. Even though some languages share the same script (for instance, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Marathi all use the Devanagari script), they are not all romanized in the same way. One interesting exception is Nepali, which uses the Hindi guide. You can read more about that in the Tibetan & Himalayan Library.
When you as a researcher are looking for a book or journal, you, too, need to search using these Romanization Tables. They may not agree wtih the current romanization standard in the field, and occasionally there are omissions or mistakes in the charts, but for the purposes of library searches it will make information much easier to find!
The second most important resource is...
This will help you figure out which romanization of Gandhi's name is preferred, or the title under which all works by Rumi are filed. It can also help you discover how the Library of Congress categorizes Tibet, or different ways that you might want to search for a work about Bengal.