The beginning of the library dates back to the year 1862 when Riga Polytechnic School was established and the formation of the first library was started. Already in 1872 the first printed library catalogue was published, but in 1882 its supplemented edition was put out. When Riga Polytechnic School was reorganized into Riga Polytechnic Institute in 1896, the library also became a part of the institute. In 1911 there were 57 953 documents in the collection of the library. During the First World War the Polytechnic Institute together with the library was evacuated to Russia. Only a small part of the library was returned.

The Library of the University of Latvia, founded in 1919, was to be structured almost from nothing. The University Council decided to organize a separate library for each faculty and to delegate the shaping of libraries to lecturers of the faculties, for example, professor Lejnieks organized the libraries of the faculties of Mathematics and Science, but associate professor Blesse the libraries of the faculties of Philology and Philosophy. Later, the Central Library was formed. The main aim of the Central Library was to prevent duplication in the subscription to foreign periodicals and to prepare a general catalogue for all the branch libraries. The curator of the Central Library was professor Lejnieks. At this time and for many years on the Central Library was situated in the main building of the University of Latvia (present Raina Boulevard 19).

Starting from 1924 till 1940 the library received a free copy of all the books and articles that were published in Latvia. The collection of the library was steadily growing. During the academic year 1939/40 in the collection of the library there were 340 000 documents.

During the years of the Second World War the collection of the library was only slightly damaged. Greater damage was caused by the censorship of the collection during the years after the war. Part of the collection was given away to the newly established institutions of higher education. In the 1950s the literature of medicine as well as the technical literature that was in the collection of the library was given away to the newly established libraries of Riga Technical Institute and Riga Medical Institute.

In Soviet times special attention was paid to the purchase of study literature in very great amounts.

In 1991 the library again started to receive the obligatory free-of-charge copy. In 1992 there were more than 2.1 million documents in the collections of the library. In the following years, after an active process of writing-off the outdated literature, the collection of the library diminished. At present audio and video recordings, digital materials, internet resources and full-text databases supplement the printed materials.

In the end of the eighties the process of automatization was started in the Library of the University of Latvia. From 1992 till 2000 the bibliographic information system ALISE (Advanced Library Information System) was used in the library and the specialists of the library continued to develop it. ALISE was introduced in many other libraries of Latvia as well as in the libraries of Lithuania.

Today the library operates the Library System ALEPH 500. Being one of the eight biggest libraries, the University Library is also a member of the State Union Catalogue.