Many departmental libraries such as the Biology, Agriculture, and City Planning and Landscape Architecture Libraries collect in overlapping subject areas. The majority of materials are in the Natural History Survey Library with other related materials in the Bookstacks, Agriculture, Biology, and City Planning and Landscape Architecture Libraries. English is the dominant language of the collection. German, Spanish, French, Russian and other Slavic languages, Japanese, Chinese, Scandinavian, Portuguese, Italian and other minor language materials are all collected, mainly through exchange agreements. Special interest in the historical perspective.
Emphasis is on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.
Special emphasis on Illinois but collect internationally. Coverage includes life histories, ecology, reproduction, and environmental aspects of natural resources along with their allocation and use. Appropriate primary and secondary works, and bibliographic, and reference materials are acquired. Ordinarily, dissertations, theses and translations are selectively collected. Audio-visual materials are normally collected selectively.