MIAD's Learning Commons combines the resources of the library with the personnel of the learning resource center to give students comprehensive services in one convenient location.

Situated on the River Level, at the far west end of the building, the Learning Commons is a comfortable oasis where students can study, get help with research and writing, read, or just relax and enjoy the river view. In the library, students, faculty, staff and alumni have on-site access to 20,000 books, videos and DVDs, 125 current periodicals, research databases, reserve items, and an impressive and up-to-date collection of career materials. In general, library materials circulate for 3-week periods, with the possibility of 2 renewals. The MIAD I.D. serves as a library card. Computers in the library offer access to the online catalog, research databases, electronic reserves, the Internet, and word processing programs.

The library is a member of SWITCH, a consortium of eight area colleges sharing their library resources. Using the online catalog, TOPCAT, students are just a mouse-click away from more than 600,000 additional books, videos and DVDs that can be requested online and delivered to MIAD the next school day. Library services are also available to Milwaukee County residents through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. Students registered for classes at Marquette University have borrowing privileges at MU Libraries. Information on the hours, addresses and phone numbers of these libraries is available on TOPCAT.