Special subject collection:
The Thomas J. Watson Library and departmental libraries serve the research needs and educational program of the Museum.  The libraries' holdings reflect the Museum's encyclopedic collections, which range from prehistory to the present, with particular emphasis on European and American art, architecture and decorative arts, and substantial holdings in ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, Greek and Roman, Asian, Islamic art, and indigenous art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas.

The Thomas J. Watson Library, the Museum's central research library, and twenty-seven departmental libraries and archives contain approximately 675,000  titles, including over 15,000 periodical titles, more than 125,000 auction and sale catalogs, as well as an extensive collection of electronic resources, autograph letters, and ephemera files relating to individual artists and to the history of the Museum.  Relevant materials are acquired in all languages. (As of 4/2010)

Searchable holdings:  bibliographic records may be searched, including scholarly monographs and exhibition catalogs, rare books, auction/sale catalogs, microforms, periodicals titles and an extensive collection of electronic resources, autograph letters, and ephemera files relating to individual artists and to the history of the Museum.

Interlibrary loan: The Watson Library is a participant in the SHARES program of RLG-Programs/OCLC.