The Alfred T. Brauer Library is a unit of the Main Library System, receiving operations and facilities support from the departments of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, and Statistics and Operations Research. The Library's fundamental responsibility is to serve as a campus-wide information resource for those doing research in the mathematical, physical, and computing sciences. Given the interdisciplinary nature of these areas, the Library's collection is also of interest to researchers in the fields of the social sciences, business, medicine, biostatistics, biomedical engineering, environmental sciences and engineering, and information and library science. As part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Brauer Library has an obligation to fulfill the information needs of the entire University community, while as a public institution it also recognizes broader local, regional, and state-wide commitments.

The Brauer Library holdings total over 120,000 volumes (1/4 in storage), over 750 active print journal subscriptions, and many more journals accessible online. The collection includes copies of Ph.D. dissertations and Master's theses from the four principal departments served by this Library. Special collections include astronomy atlases and sky charts housed in the Morehead Observatory and a number of rare books stored on site. The Library maintains a non-circulating collection of reference materials, including subject area tables, handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.