When the college began in 1872, V.E. Shepherd was appointed as librarian (as well as treasurer, secretary of the faculty and Board of Visitors, and to teach foreign languages). The library started with 500 volumes, which were primarily gifts from congressmen, publishers, and government agencies. Students supervised the library from 1875 until Mary Lacy was appointed as the first full-time librarian in 1903. She was followed by her sister, Ethel Lacy, from 1910-13, and then Eleanor Jones, 1913-23. After two years of acting librarians, Ralph M. Brown was appointed in 1925 and served until 1946. He was succeeded as director by Seymour Robb (1947-61), Frank Shirk (1961-70), Gerald Rudolph (1970-74), Gordon Bechanan (1974-84), Paul Gherman (1985-92), and Joanne Eustis (interim, 1992-94). Eileen Hitchingham began her term as Dean of Libraries in 1995.

The first branch library was established in 1907 in Agriculture Hall (now Price). In 1955, a new building was opened and named for Carol M. Newman, a professor of English at Virginia Tech for 38 years. At that time, two branch libraries (Agriculture and Engineering) and about twenty departmental collections closed and were integrated into the main collection. During Rudolph's tenure, two new branches were created: Geology (1972) and one in Reston, Virginia, for the Northern Virginia Graduate Program.