English is the dominant language of the collection. Materials in Western Europe languages are also collected in varying degrees of intensity. Materials in Slavic and Eastern European languages and materials in Asian and Middle Eastern languages are collected only in cooperation with the Slavic and Eastern European Library and the Asian Library, respectively. In the fields of regional geology, stratigraphy, paleontology, and the history of geology special efforts are made to collect in all languages. From the origin of the earth to the present.
Emphasis is on scholarly treatment rather than popularization, textbooks, and children's literature.
The Undergraduate Library normally collects more popular treatments and the Education and Social Sciences Library collects children's literature for its School Collection. Since geology is interdisciplinary, there is close cooperation in acquisitions with the Engineering Library in such areas as rock mechanics and environmental geology and physical geography with the Map and Geography Library. It is nearly impossible to distinguish which aspects of these designated subjects are collected by each of the libraries, but duplication is generally avoided. Appropriate primary and secondary works, and bibliographic, and reference materials are acquired. Ordinarily, dissertations, theses and translations are selectively collected.