The Central Library is part of the library system of the City of Ulm, which also encompasses four district libraries, a mobile library and a children's library. The City Library was founded in 1516 and is one of the city's oldest institutions.
Today the Central Library views itself as a modern information source and media center. The collection includes more than 540,000 media units, in addition to books, magazines, newspapers and CDs, CD-ROMs, DVDs, cassettes, games and much more.