Als historisch-biographische Lexika sind die ADB (55 Bände und ein Register, 1875-1912) und die NDB (23 Bände, seit 1953) erstrangige Informationsmittel zu ca. 90.000 Personen, die im deutschsprachigen Raum in herausragender Weise wirksam waren. Vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart werden alle Bereiche des öffentlichen, wissenschaftlichen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Lebens berücksichtigt.

With more than 700.000 items, the BBF is today Europe's second largest library specialised in education. Like the Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, it belongs to the association of German cultural research libraries fulfilling a national role.

The SpringerLink platform provides MPG staff with access to a huge collection of English and German eBooks from 2005 onwards, as well as the English and the German collection of the Springer Book Archive (1842-2004). In addition, the content of selected book series is available. Includes major reference works and dictionaries. Max Planck researchers who publish a monograph or edited volume with Springer Nature as an Open Access eBook receive a discount on the standard Book Publishing Charge. MPDL covers the costs remaining on a pro rata basis. Further details are available on the MPDL website.