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What we collect

We collect resources that support our mission as a research institution and our commitment to preserving knowledge and contributing to a global network of information repositories.

We collect resources in various formats that support the NYU community, particularly, though not exclusively, in their academic pursuits. We define support as meeting the needs of our current students, teachers, and researchers.

We are not limited by past or current policies and practices as our community, needs, and world evolves. We adapt to changing contexts to determine our collection.

Read more about our collection process for more information about who is collecting and how we collect.

Read more about the availability of resources for more information about what is available in our collections and for whom.

When collecting, we consider:

  • Availability of resource to the broadest range of people within our community
  • Relevance of resource to our community
  • How often the resource may be used
  • Our ability to share the resource

When collecting, we may not select:

  • Resources without context in our local collections or community
  • Resources that are not available to our entire community
  • Duplicative content or formats at the expense of the breadth and inclusivity of our collections
  • Resources solely to support an individual researcher
  • Resources that don’t take into consideration the impact that our decisions have on the larger scholarly communications landscape

Types of Resources

Types of resources we may collect:

  • Books/e-books
  • Journals/e-journals
  • Music Scores
  • Physical and Streaming audio/video
  • Newspapers
  • Government documents
  • Databases/data sets
  • Maps
  • Images
  • Materials to support NYU community teaching, learning, and research

Types of resources we may not collect:

  • Resources we do not have the rights to share with our community, such as:
  • Electronic materials without licenses to libraries (e.g. Netflix, Spotify, some digital textbooks, etc.)
  • Resources we are not prepared to process or steward due to language, format, etc.
  • Multiple copies of individual books (e.g. textbook)
  • Paintings, sculptures, and other fragile artistic works

For more information about rare books, archival materials and unpublished materials, read more about our Special Collections.