Die Bibliothek sammelt Literatur in den Bereichen Mathematik, Physik, Materialwissenschaft, Chemie, Biologie und Kognitionswissenschaft. Der Bestand umfasst überwiegend Monografien, Proceedingsbände werden nur bei besonderer Bedeutung der Konferenz erworben.

Die Bibliothek ist eine Spezialbibliothek mit Sammelschwerpunkten in den jeweiligen Arbeitsgebieten des Instituts: biomedizinische Optik, Biophysik, molekulare Biomechanismen, molekulare Neurobiologie und Zellphysiologie.

The Library and Information Service (BIS) is the joint library for the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) and five institutes of the Center for Earth System Science and Sustainability. The cooperation with some university institutes regarding the library exists since the foundation of the MPI-M in 1975.

The Otto Hahn Library is a special scientific library which provides the institutes on the Max Planck Campus at Göttingen-Nikolausberg with literature and information. Its holdings primarily consist of literature covering the fields of research of the institutes Multidisciplinary Sciences and Dynamics & Self-Organization.

The library of the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics specializes in particle physics, cosmology, field and string theory and mathematical physics. Furthermore, selected books on topics in pure and applied mathematics complete the portfolio.

The scientific research library provides literature and information for both the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. The main focus of the collection is set by the research priorities of the departments and is developed according to the research profile.

Gemeinsame Bibliothek beider Stuttgarter MPIs

The database Music Online Reference of Alexander Street Press comprises four parts * Classical Scores Library, Volume I - collection of musical prints, manuscripts and up to now unpublished material from the 15th to the 20th century. Please note that Boosey & Hawkes Scores are not included. * Classical Music Reference Library - collection of relevant reference works of approx. 55,000 pages about the history of western classical music from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. * African American Reference Library - comprehensive reference work and collection of rare and up to now unpublished materials about the history of Afro-American music from the beginnings until the 1970s, with a complete coverage of more than 45,000 pages. * The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online - comprehensive standard reference work with more than 1,200 elaborate articles about subjects or persons, and approx. 9,200 pages about traditional ethno music worldwide, edited by James Porter and Timothy Rice.

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases, and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine. The MPG subscription also covers article-processing charges for Max Planck authors in Nature journals. Further details are available on the MPDL website.

Nomos eLibrary provides access to academic books and journals in the subject areas of law, political sciences, economics, media and communication sciences, history, sociology, education and cultural studies, European Union, health sciences. The book selection has been continuously extended through the acquisition of individual eBook packages by MPG libraries. From volume 2022 onwards, access is given to the complete Nomos eBook portfolio. Max Planck researchers can publish their scientific work with Nomos as a print and in parallel as an Open Access eBook in the Nomos eLibrary. Further details are available on the MPDL website.

The database OLC Physics is a subject oriented selection of bibliographic data from the Online Contents database that is regularly enhanced by table of contents data from additional periodicals out of the special collections of the TIB Hannover, the central subject library of Germany for technology and their related subjects, especially chemistry, computer sciences, mathematics and physics.

The Online Contents service of the Special Subject Collection Political Science and Peace Research is part of the Online Contents database. It offers access to tables of contents of more than 870 journals relevant for study and research. New journals were added until December 2013 by the Special Subject Collection. Thus the database contains approximately 1.478,600 records of journal articles and reviews.