Our collections, the largest in the Rocky Mountain region, include over 15 million volumes. Six library locations on campus provide a variety of spaces and services to support learning and research. 

Collections

Art and Architecture Collection

The Art & Architecture Collection covers all aspects of the visual arts, as well as environmental design and other interdisciplinary areas. Located in Norlin Library, it contains approximately 100,000 volumes of reference works, monographs and exhibition catalogues, and 200 journals and magazines.

Asian Studies Collection

The Asian Studies Collection, located primarily in Norlin Library, holds more than 400,000 volumes of scholarly material in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu.. With an interdisciplinary emphasis on the humanities and social sciences, it focuses on disciplines such as literature, language, history and religious studies.
A young child pulls a colorful book from the shelves of the childrens and young adult collection

Children's and Young Adult Collection

The Children's and Young Adult Collection, located in Norlin Library, is a teaching and browsing collection supporting students in the School of Education as well as children and young adults in the CU and wider Boulder communities. Focuses of the collection include major award-winning titles and purchase additional fiction and non-fiction materials to support the teaching and research priorities of the School of Education, including books with racial and ethnic diversity, diverse gender and sexuality, disabilities or exceptionalities, and science and math books.

CU Digital Library

The University of Colorado Digital Library provides centralized access to 150,000+ digitized and digital collections for teaching, learning and research. Collections include images, audio and video files. Many of these resources are available to the general public.

CU GeoLibrary

The CU GeoLibrary is an ever-evolving digital collection of Colorado Geographic Information System (GIS) data, available for anyone to use for research and mapping projects.

CU Scholar

CU Scholar is a collaborative service of the University Libraries that provides free and worldwide access to research and scholarship created by the University of Colorado Boulder community.

Materials Collection

The Materials Collection, housed in Gemmill Library, is a growing collection of a wide-selection of samples of interesting materials centered on sustainable, innovative materials used in construction, architecture and design. The materials range from the frequently used, like concrete and types of wood, to the high-tech, such as geosynthetics.

Multimedia Equipment Lending Library

Through our Multimedia Equipment Lending Library (MELL), CU Boulder students, staff and faculty may borrow a variety of multimedia equipment, including cameras, tripods, smartphone accessories.

Popular Reading Collection

Our popular reading collection includes a variety of genres, such as biographies, Young Adult (YA), comics, fantasy, horror/thriller, popular fiction, and a variety of popular non-fiction titles covering all topical areas. Browse titles at the Business Library, Gemmill Library and Norlin Library.

Preservation & Collection Care

The Preservation and Collection Care Section supports the Libraries by providing preservation and conservation services for all University Libraries' physical collections.
Hand with a white fabric glove holding up a slide with the photograph of the Lock Vale with Taylor glacier

Rare and Distinctive Collections

Rare and Distinctive Collections (RaD) encompasses special collections in the archives, government information, the map collection and rare books and manuscripts, in addition to its close affiliation with the American Music Research Center (AMRC) and the CU Boulder Program in Jewish Studies. RaD also offers a full suite of services, including our in-person reading room, a robust instruction program and specialized research assistance.