Most of the library's general collection is shelved in the main book stacks, arranged by Library of Congress call number. The main stacks house most of the library's monographs (books published in a single volume), copies of most CSU Stanislaus theses, as well as many general series and sets (books published in multiple volumes).

Periodicals refer to publications that are published periodically, including newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals.

The print reference collection contains many scholarly encyclopedias, handbooks, statistical compilations and other reference books. Most of the library's article and research indexes are now available online.

The Library has a representative collection of literature written for children, primarily preschool to Grade 6. Intended for the use of students in teacher education and children's literature courses as well as those preparing for related careers, this collection consists of picture books, fiction, and non-fiction. Emphasis is placed on acquiring award-winning and special merit books, specifically Caldecott, Newberry, and Coretta Scott King award and honor books. In addition, significant secondary sources, such as best books, books about children's authors and illustrators, reviews, and selection aids are also included in the collection.

The Children's Collection, which is shelved according to the Dewey Decimal Classification system, is physically located on the third floor of the Library adjacent to the "L" classification (education). You can search for children's collection materials in the Library Catalog by author, title or subject. The designation "Juv" in the call number indicates that the item is part of the Children's Collection. Click here to see an online guide to children's literature.

The Library acquires musical recordings as needed to support the music curriculum. Audio compact discs (CDs) are cataloged in the Library Catalog, and housed in file cabinets in the Circulation Hall where they are arranged according to the ANSCR (Alpha-Numeric System for Classification of Recordings) system. You can locate compact discs in the Library Catalog , searching by name (of recording artist or composer), title or subject.

Materials placed on Reserve by instructors for use by their students in conjunction with specific classes are housed in the "Reserves" collection which is located behind the Circulation Desk. These materials range from photocopies of class notes to journal articles, and on rare occasions to course textbooks. Circulation periods for these materials are determined by the instructors and range from two hours to one week.

To find items in the Reserves collection, you can search the Library Catalog by title, course title or instructor's name.

The Stockton Library Access Center (Acacia 1049) houses a reference collection. Search the CSU Stanislaus-Stockton Collection in the Library Catalog to determine what materials are housed in Stockton.

Library services are available via the Stockton Library Services web page. Students may retrieve materials owned by the CSU Stanislaus Library in Turlock or held by other libraries via the online request form. Materials requested from the Turlock campus are usually available in the Stockton library within 2 business days.

The Library has been a selective depository of U.S. and California government documents in print form since 1965. Both the U.S. Government Documents and the California State Documents collections are physically located in the stack area behind the Reference Desk. The U.S. documents are shelved according to the Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) classification scheme which has the effect of grouping publications by issuing agency; the California state publications are shelved according to a similar scheme for the State of California. Federal and state documents which have been cataloged by the Library appear in the Library Catalog (where they are searchable by author (or agency name), title or subject), but the majority of these publications have not been cataloged so require the use of special finding aids. In the case of U.S. publications, GPO, the Government Printing Office's Catalog of Government Publications, is one such aid. For California state publications, the Melvyl catalog is often helpful. For assistance in finding and using government publications, please ask at the Reference Desk.

In recent years, many government publications are also being made available electronically. For more information as well as finding aids, consult the Library's subject guide to Government Information Resources.

The Library also collects materials produced by local government agencies from the University's six-county service area (Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties). The Local Documents collection is shelved in the stack area behind the Reference Desk and adjacent to the California State publications. For more information and for assistance using local documents, please ask at the Reference Desk.

The Library serves as a repository for all master's theses submitted by CSU Stanislaus students. To locate theses, you can search the Library Catalog by author, title or subject (as well as by the names of members of the student's committee). One copy of each thesis is shelved in the main circulating collection. A second copy, which is restricted to in-library use, is shelved in the University Archives.  Please contact the Reference Desk for further information and assistance. 

The Library collects films in the video format as needed to support the curriculum. Videos are fully cataloged in the Library Catalog and are housed on special shelving in the Circulation Hall. Video players are also available in the Circulation Hall.

You can search the Library Catalog for videos using the standard author, title and subject indexes.