The European Reading Room is the primary point of contact for researchers interested in materials from and about Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Reading Room maintains a reference collection of more than 150 volumes for Bosnia, with subject encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, language dictionaries, bibliographies, statistical data, books about the 1990s war, and other reference materials. In addition, older reference materials of interest may be held in the reference collection for former Yugoslavia.

Also available in the European Reading Room are most of the Bosnian newspapers on microfilm, issues of unbound periodicals and print newspapers from Bosnia, several election ephemera collections, and a pamphlet collection containing over 100 items from former Yugoslavia. In the European Reading Room cage a number of unique materials are kept on hand due to rarity or the need for displays. Cage materials include Bosnia and Herzegovina, some wayside wanderings, an early 20th century illustrated travelogue from Great Britain; Illustrierter führer durch Bosnien und die Herzegowina, a German-language travel guide from 1913; Bosnia Herzegovina: dagger and anemone, a collection of Bosnian War propaganda posters from Iran; and Ustav republike srpskog naroda Bosne i Hercegovine: nacrt, the first edition of the constitution of Republika Srpska from 1992. All cage materials are available upon request at the European Reading Room reference desk. Several special items available in the European Reading Room are described below.