It has over 8 million volumes and 119,000 serial titles that are collected, maintained and made accessible.

Examples include the world's largest assembly of materials on Sherlock Holmes and his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle;[4][5] the Kerlan Collection of over 100,000 children's books;[6] the Hess Collection, one of North America's largest collections of dime novels, story papers and pulp fiction;[7][8] the James Ford Bell Library of rare maps, books and manuscripts,[9] and the seventh largest law library in the United States, including over 1 million volumes and personal papers such as those of Clarence Darrow.

Among research institutions, it maintains the second-largest collection of government documents in North America.

[11] The University of Minnesota was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2017.

[12] The library system makes various services available to faculty, staff and students such as: The system also offers services to citizens in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota through MINITEX, a publicly funded program that supports academic, state government, public, school and specialized libraries in the region.