As one of the leading private research libraries in the United States, Northwestern University Library serves the educational and information needs of its students and faculty as well as scholars around the world.

Its collection of 5 million volumes and 52 terabytes of unique digital content includes a portfolio of distinguished special collections, notably the internationally recognized Africana, Music, and Transportation libraries. It connects users to hundreds of scholarly databases with the most comprehensive, specialized, and up-to-date information in their fields, and pursues an active role in educating faculty and students in how to make the best use of these resources. Increasingly, it is prioritizing the digitization of unique materials and collections in order to make them available to any user, any time.