Amongst these is a 1554 text by Pedro de Medina, entitled L'art de naviguer (The art of navigation), a study of navigation and the history of cartography, a 1551 work on discoveries in the Americas, and the 1647 Clarissimi philosophi, geometricorum, a work on the Dutch period in Brazil.

The library is part of the Diretoria do Patrimônio Histórico e Documentação da Marinha (DPHDM) (Board of the Historical Patrimony of Marine Documentation), which comprises the Complexo Cultural da Marinha (Marine Cultural Complex), receiving more than 120,000 visitors a year.

it is located at Rua Mayrink Veiga, 28, in Centro and can be contacted via Telephone on (021) 2516-0265 or the library's website.