With more than 900,000 volumes, the Tarlton library is the fifth largest academic law library in the country. In addition to a comprehensive collection of primary and secondary legal materials, the library has a broad interdisciplinary collection from the social sciences and humanities as well as a number of special collections. Special collections include extensive foreign and international law resources, more than 890,000 pieces of microform materials in a media collection, the papers of former US Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark, films and fiction relating to law and the popular culture, and, in the library's Gavel Room, a special collection of recent winners of the American Bar Association's prestigious Silver Gavel Award. The library is a depository for US and European Union government documents. The library also provides access to CD-ROM databases and a variety of other legal and nonlegal electronic databases and information services.
Students also have access to worldwide computer networks through the Internet.
A World Wide Web site maintained by center staff offers a number of unique resources, including case materials for decisions rendered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Through this network, the library has immediate access to the collections of other major research libraries throughout the country. More than six hundred paintings, other objets d'art, prints, documents, antique quilts, rugs, and pieces of furniture from the Elton M. Hyder Jr. and Martha Rowan Hyder Collection enhance the ambiance of the library and create a culturally enriching environment for library patrons and staff. Because legal research can be technically demanding, members of the library's public services staff provide individual and classroom instruction in the use of the library's materials. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, located on the eastern edge of the campus, is operated by the National Archives and Records Administration.