There are twenty-two libraries and numerous special collections in the Yale library system. From the Yale University Library homepage , go to Libraries and Collections for a list of links to the websites of these libraries, or go to Library Locations for a linked map. Overviews of the Area Studies Collections and Special Collections at Yale are also available.
Libraries gather together the tools that have been devised to identify and point to information.
The Yale University Library Research Workstation provides access to many of these tools. Traditionally, libraries have separated resources according to their formats - primary materials from secondary, print materials from microtext, electronic resources from print, visual materials from audio, and, in some cases, books from periodicals. These artificial separations by physical format are counteracted by the tools mentioned above. Libraries also utilize classification systems and subject headings to categorize content regardless of format. Yale libraries now use the Library of Congress Classification system and Library of Congress Subject Headings, but various other classification and subject heading systems have been used in the past.