Göttingen State and University Library intensively collects and catalogues German as well as foreign maps and atlases on all regions of the world and all topic areas. The Map Collection is divided into the holdings of older maps and atlases and those published after 1945.

It comprises around

• 300,000 map sheets
• 9,000 atlases
• 20,000 explanations
• topographical maps of around 120 states in various scales
• 65,000 old maps
• a reference section with the most important literature on cartography

Maps have been a specifically well-maintained collection subject since the founding of the Göttingen University Library.

In addition to continuous active procurement efforts, the library has received generous donations of many valuable collections over the years: the Johann Hinrich von Bülow Collection with valuable atlases by Blaew and Jansson, the Johann Michael Frantz Collection (Frantz having been a close friend of Johann Baptist Homann), the collection of Surgeon General Baron Georg Thomas von Asch with rare maps from Russia and Asia, the bequest from Johann Beckmann, and the donation from Arthur Breusing with valuable maps by Ortelius and Mercator.

The university's map collection was incorporated into the Geographical Institute in 1888. Since 1945, the University Library has been reconstructing its holdings of topographic and thematic maps with systematic acquisitions, which are still meticulously maintained today.

In 1988, the old map holdings were returned to the Göttingen State and University Library by the Geographical Institute, and were catalogued anew with considerable effort (IKAR-Database of old Maps) and carefully restored. All of these are once again available for public use.

Since 1975, Göttingen State and University Library has been maintaining the special subject collection (SSG) "Thematic Maps" in the supra-regional literature supply system for science and research funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

The distributed special subject programme of the DFG ensures that at least one copy of every academically relevant publication is available in Germany and can be made available for scholarly research by way of inter-library loan and copy services.

The special subject collection "Thematic Maps" focusses on the collection of scholarly relevant maps and atlases on all regions of the world and all topics areas with the exception of nautical charts and meteorological maps.