The collection contains comprehensive city plans, professional reports, and unconventional materials dating back to the early 1900s from the United States and Europe. More modern items include information from Africa, Asia, and Australia as well.
The reference collection contains core sources such as atlases, dictionaries and encyclopedias, bibliographies, periodical indexes and abstracts, statistical sources, legal sources, biographical sources, handbooks and aids to professional practice, and directories.
The landscape architecture component includes an unusually strong collection of pre-1900 landscape books, pamphlets, and periodicals.
The unit maintains an extensive vertical file containing planning reports and documents from city, county, state, and regional agencies as well as nursery catalogs.
A current collection of dissertations and masters' theses completed by students in the departments of Urban and Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture is maintained by the unit.
Patrons have access to electronic resources, including full Internet access and specialized products on CD-ROM.