The majority of materials are in the Bookstacks, but many are in the Reference Room, the Rare Book and Special Collections Library, and the Undergraduate Library. Major, p. 59. Only selected items are acquired in Modern Icelandic and Faeroese. 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.
Materials have subject focus on some aspect of the Scandinavian languages and literatures.
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. New and revised editions or important works are purchased when new explanatory or primary material is introduced. In the case of 2 or more libraries listed, the collection intensity is comparable.