The library of the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics is currently in the process of building its collection by acquiring literature and scientific information for the institute’s scholars in the departments of music, language and literary studies as well as neuroscience.

The library’s core collection consists of contemporary and historical works – both monographs and journals – of philosophical and empirical writings on aesthetics. Broader aesthetic and empirical approaches in the humanities and the sciences add to the collection’s focus.
Further key areas of the collection include selected works in research methodology as well as supplementary literature from the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, art history, cultural studies and education.

In the institute's library, printed books are as significant as digital resources. Besides monographs and print journals, researchers are provided with access to a great number of databases, e-journals and e-books which are partly licensed in cooperation with other libraries within the Max Planck Society.