The collections in the University at Buffalo’s Libraries include materials in many formats, including: books, journals, videos, DVDs, reports, and dissertations. The University at Buffalo’s Libraries are an open stack library system-- you must find an item's call number in the Libraries' Catalog, and then go into book shelves to find the book yourself.

The University at Buffalo uses the Library of Congress Classification System to organize its collection. The first letter of a book's call number tells you on which floor the book is located. The books are organized by their subject matter, so if you find one book on your research topic, others should be nearby.

For example, you are looking for the book Frost: A literary life reconsidered by William Pritchard.  A search of the catalog shows it is in the Lockwood Library Book Collection with the call number of PS3511.R94 Z89 1984.  The floor guides for Lockwood show call numbers beginning with P on the 5th floor.