Held in a temperature-controlled environment, the ancient books collection comprises fifty thousand books available for consultation on site only.

In addition to twenty-six incunabula, it has two renowned collections: a botany collection of two hundred and fifty volumes from the 18th century and another of travellers' accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Cherbourg Library has 115,000 documents for loan.

The Library also has a music department with twenty thousand documents (cassettes, records, CDs and sheet music).

The general public can also choose from a selection of 1,200 films on video, mainly cinema classics in their original version and documentaries.