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.

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-CBG library provides comprehensive literature and informations services to all MPI-CBG members and guests.

The special library maintained by the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology contains approximately 15,000 books and series of volumes and 25,900 bound journals covering the fields of biochemistry, organic chemistry, molecular and cell biology, protein chemistry and structural biology.

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

Gemeinsamer Katalog des Max-Planck-Instituts für Biogeochemie und des Max-Planck-Instituts für Chemische Ökologie, Jena.

The library of the MPIs Martinsried is a specialized reference library primarily rendering services to research staff and visiting scientists. Its collection of books and ejournals is mainly used on behalf of the Institute's research projects.

The Campus Library is a shared service unit for following neighboring Max Planck institutes: Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen and the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory

Various dictionaries are available.

The BSZ develops and maintains the SWB database in cooperation with 1,200 libraries in Baden-Württemberg, Pfalz, Saarland and Sachsen. The online catalog offers bibliographic data free of charge: Monographs, periodicals, articles, loose-leaf collections, off-prints, conference proceedings, university publications, reviews, abstracts, tables of contents, maps, music, audiovisual material, microforms, electronic resources (data media), online resources; scientific and popular literature from all subjects and in all languages from the 15th century to the present; scientific literature (according to the DFG special subject fields programme) from theology, ancient orient, art, music, archeology, law and criminology;

The vifabio portal offers rapid access to biological literature and information. It offers a parallel search in various biologically relevant library catalogues, bibliographic databases, and the internet guide (a collection of selected, quality controlled internet sources).

The ZDB is the world’s largest specialized database for serial titles (journals, annuals, newspapers etc., incl. e-journals). The ZDB contains more than 1 million bibliographic records of serials from the 16th century onwards, from all countries, in all languages, held in 4000 German (and some foreign) libraries, with holdings information. It does not index individual journal articles.