The continuously increasing book heritage of MAMbo is composed of more than 20000 volumes and it’s mainly constituted by monographs and catalogues of modern and contemporary art, national and international works mostly acquired thanks to a constant, continuing and always active book exchange with important Italian and foreign museums.
Part of this heritage, composed of ca. 9000 volumes and 3000 specialised magazines, composes the Library and the newspaper and periodical library of MAMbo, specialised in contemporary art and open to the public for free reference: a comfortable environment, not only a place where to study but also a meeting point dedicated to the presentation of books, meetings with the authors, artists and critics.

Beside the Museum activities linked to exhibitions, the Library offers to users bibliographic material to deepen the artists and the topics presented thanks to a particularly reach research campaign aimed at purchasing the publications, which enrich and increase the heritage.
The cataloguing and the inventory in SBN of this part of the book heritage has been completed; it’s available for online reference on the site of the general catalogue of Polo Bolognese (UBO) of the Sistema Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN) (National Library System).

The rest of the heritage, which is undergoing the cataloguing process, is kept in a deposit hall of the Museum and can be read only upon booking.
Inside the library a space dedicated to children and young children has been created with a wide choice of Italian and foreign books about the contemporary art available to the public and selected among the best proposals of the specialised publishing. The MAMbo Children Library is animated with educational paths and workshop activities organised by the Educational Department.