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

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.

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

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.

PLOS (Public Library of Science) is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization founded to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. PLOS entered the publishing arena in October 2003 with the launch of PLOS Biology, followed in October 2004 by PLOS Medicine. Today, it publishes a suite of influential Open Access journals across all areas of science and medicine. The Max Planck Society covers article-processing charges for Max Planck authors centrally. Further details are available on the MPDL website.

The PrimateLit database provides bibliographic access to the scientific literature on nonhuman primates for the research and educational communities. Coverage of the database includes all publication categories (articles, books, abstracts, technical reports, dissertations, book chapters, etc.) and many subject areas (behavior, colony management, ecology, reproduction, field studies, disease models, veterinary science, psychology, physiology, pharmacology, evolution, taxonomy, developmental and molecular biology, genetics and zoogeography).

A digital archive of life sciences journal literature managed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).

The Rockefeller University Press publishes three journals with a good standing in the biomedical field: * The Journal of Experimental Medicine, * The Journal of General Physiology, * The Journal of Cell Biology (formerly: The Journal of Biophysical and Biochemical Cytology). The MPG subscription also covers article-processing charges for Max Planck authors in the three journals by RUP. Further details are available on the MPDL website.

SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) is a program of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation for the cooperative publishing of open access journals on the internet. Content includes regional journals from Latin American and the Caribbean as well as titles from Spain, Portugal and South Africa. The index covers approximately 650 titles (over 350 adding content to journals already covered in the Web of Science) and contains several million cited references.

ScienceOpen is a networking platform for scholars to enhance their research in the open, make an impact, and receive credit for it. The site provides advanced search and discovery functions, combined with post-publication peer review, recommendation, social sharing, and collection-building features. The Max Planck Society covers article-processing charges for ScienceOpen Research and ScienceOpen Poster centrally. Further details are available on the MPDL website.

The Umwelt-Online platform contains all relevant legal regulations on topics such as environmental protection, occupational safety, transport of dangerous goods, hazardous materials and systems engineering. The content is continuously updated. Die Plattform Umwelt-Online enthält alle relevanten rechtlichen Regelungen zu den Themen Umweltschutz, Arbeitssicherheit, Gefahrguttransporte, Gefahrstoffe, Anlagentechnik und Anlagensicherheit. Die Inhalte werden kontinuierlich entsprechend den Veröffentlichungen der Regelungsgeber aktualisiert.

Wiley Current Protocols contains a collection of updatable step-by-step, reproducible laboratory methods, covering a total of 20,000 protocols across 18 subjects in the life sciences. Each protocol is carefully selected by the editorial board members, written by experts, and rigorously edited to ensure repeated success.