The library's materials cover mainly contemporary dance and ballet, but other subjects are also covered, including anatomy, art, cultural studies, gender studies, theatre, media, music, fiction/literature and film.

The library collection includes books, DVDs videos, CDs, cd-roms, magazines, journals and theses. The library houses a variety of printed reference works such as bibliographies, catalogues and indexes, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, directories and other resource guides. The library is arranged under the Dewey classification scheme, and access to the library catalogue is available in the library.

Electronic Resources

The International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA) – an index covering a comprehensive range of journals related to the performing arts. The library provides access to this index via Athens, an access management system which provides access to electronic resources. Further information on IIPA and Athens is available from the library.

Dance on Disc 2004 – a cd-rom that contains the catalogue of the New York Public Library Dance collection. It includes dance journals, books videos, films, music scores, etc. from 1974-2004, and can be used in the library.

Facilities

Computers: the library has 10 computers with internet access and printing. In addition there are three dedicated computers with specialist software for dyslexic students. Pre-booking on these computers is necessary, and all other computers can be booked at busy times. Scanning is available on some computers.

Free wireless internet connection is available in the library.

Photocopying and printing is a charged service at 3p per copy. Cards for this service can be purchased from the library desk.

Videos, compact discs and DVDs can be viewed in the library; one TV with a video and DVD player is available - pre-booking is advisable during busy periods. Some computers also have CD and DVD players installed.