More than 200 peoples and ethnic groups are indexed on the basis of different sources. Underlying data are results of field research published as ethnographic monographies, essays or manuscripts which are used as "primary data" and subject-indexed by applying a highly complex and differentiated system down to the level of single paragraphs. The indexing is done according to the "Outline of Cultural Materials" (OCM) that contains over 700 different classification elements. Additionally, a keyword search at full text level is possible. The database is updated on a regular basis.

A comprehensive online resource for the visual study of human culture and behavior and the largest, most affordable streaming video collection of its kind, Ethnographic Video Online contains more than 500 hours of classic and contemporary documentaries produced by leading video producers in the discipline; previously unpublished footage from working anthropologists and ethnographers in the field; and select feature films. Wherever possible, videos include accompanying field notes, liner notes, filmmaker biographies, related articles, study guides, and other context-enhancing, full-text materials. Publishing partners include Documentary Educational Resources (DER) and other leading video content providers in the discipline. Global in scope, Ethnographic Video Online contains footage from every continent and hundreds of unique cultures, and is particularly rich in its coverage of the developing world.

Frontiers is a community-oriented open-access academic publisher and research network. It was launched in 2007 by scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and aims to provide better tools and services to researchers in the Internet age. Since then, Frontiers has become one of the fastest-growing open-access scholarly publishers: over 400,000 high-quality, peer-reviewed articles have been published in about 200 community-driven journals across more than 300 specialty niches in science, medicine and technology. The Max Planck Society covers article-processing charges for Max Planck authors centrally. Further details are available on the MPDL website.

GeoReM is a Max Planck Institute database for reference materials of geological and environmental interest, such as rock powders, synthetic and natural glasses as well as mineral, isotopic, biological, river water and seawater reference materials. It contains published analytical data and compilation values (major and trace element concentrations and mass fractions, radiogenic and stable isotope ratios). GeoReM covers all important metadata about the analytical values such as uncertainty, analytical method and laboratory. Sample information and references are also included. GeoReM contains almost 3,400 reference materials, about 46,200 analyses from almost 10,000 papers, and preferred analytical values (State: November 2017).

GeoScienceWorld (GSW) is a nonprofit collaborative and comprehensive resource for research and communications in the earth sciences, which is built on a core database of peer-reviewed journals and is integrated with the GeoRef index. The platforms offers a single point of access to more than 40 full text scholarly journals from leading geoscientific organizations, plus specialized searching capabilities and links to millions of relevant resources hosted elsewhere on the Web. Though access to current volumes is no longer licensed, perpetual access rights have been granted to the content published until August 2018.

Henry Stewart Talks publish state of the art audio visual presentations by leading world authorities. Biomedical & Life Sciences is a collection of specially prepared animated audio visual presentations with synchronized narration by world leading scientists, organized into comprehensive series, regularly updated and growing to over 2,000 talks.

The International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences offers a source of social and behavioral sciences reference material. It comprises over 3,900 articles, commissioned by 71 Section Editors, and includes 90,000 bibliographic references as well as comprehensive name and subject indexes.

JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, is the world's first peer reviewed scientific video journal. Established in 2006, JoVE is devoted to publishing scientific research in a visual format to help researchers overcome two of the biggest challenges facing the scientific research community today; poor reproducibility and the time and labor intensive nature of learning new experimental techniques. Though access to current volumes is no longer licensed, perpetual access rights have been granted to the content published until August 2014 in following sections: JoVE Bioengineering, JoVE Biology, JoVE Neuroscience, JoVE Clinical and Translational Medicine. In addition, articles from JoVe are usually available free of charge after a 24-month delay.

JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Users from the Max Planck Society have access to selected archival collections of scholarly journals and more than 3,000 Open Access ebooks. The book selection is continuously extended by single e-book acquisitions by MPG libraries. For the archival collections, JSTOR's agreements with publishers include an updating provision referred to as a "moving wall". The moving wall is a fixed period of time ranging, in most cases, from two to five years, that defines the gap between the most recently published issue and the date of the most recent issues available in JSTOR.

LIVIVO bundles scientifically relevant resources from the subjects fields medicine, health, nutrition, environmental and agricultural sciences. It provides a common search interface over various data sources, such as library catalogs, specialist bibliographic databases, full texts from journals, and quality-controlled web content. LIVIVO combines the former ZB MED search portals MEDPILOT (2003 to 2015) and GREENPILOT (2009 to 2015).

Founded in 1980, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a leading company in the Scientific, Technical, and Medical knowledge and information industry. The publisher is known for authoritative international publications in cutting-edge basic and translational biomedical research, with expanding scope in engineering, business, environment, and legal publications. The MPG subscription also covers article-processing charges for Max Planck authors in MAL journals. Further details are available on the MPDL website

The MPI EVA Library Catalogue provides information on books and journals available from the Institute's library.

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 MPI-MP opened its reference library in 1995. The library houses over 2000 books and 120 prominent molecular biology-related journals.

The Library of the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity is a specialized library with a focus on religious studies, anthropology, political science and sociology. The library does not participate in interlibrary loans but serves as a reference library to provide literature and information, mainly to the members of the Institute.