The University of Washington Libraries is a member of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, a consortium of academic institutions in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Materials can be borrowed across the consortium. Collaboration among members of this regional consortium expands the print resources available to UW scholars through Summit, the Alliance joint catalog. The Orbis Cascade e-book program allows UW patrons to view electronic books that are accessible to and jointly owned by all member libraries.
Local public libraries including the Seattle Public Library and the King County Library System have strong collections of popular works.
The Libraries actively participates in regional and national cooperative collection development efforts which enhance the range of resources available to UW students, faculty, and staff while conserving precious funds for local acquisitions.