The University Library had its origin in the small collection of books that belonged to the College of California. In 1868 the College transferred its library numbering 1036 volumes to the University. Five years later, the collection was moved from Oakland to Berkeley and was located in the north end of South Hall. These quarters soon became too small and in 1876 Henry Douglass Bacon gave $25,000 toward the erection of a separate library building. The State of California in 1878 added an equal amount to this gift and in 1881 the Bacon Library was completed.

The bequest in 1904 by Charles Franklin Doe of twenty-four per cent of his estate made available approximately $750,000 for the present library building. In 1911 a little more than half the building was completed, and in May of that year the collection was moved from the Bacon Library to the new building. A state bond issue made possible its completion in 1917.

The University Library now numbers 375,000 volumes, the average annual increase for the last five years being about 25,000 volumes. This growth has been made possible by a University book appropriation, supplemented by special funds, in particular, the Michael Reese fund, available for purchases in any field, the Jane K. Sather funds for classics, history, and law, the Ernst A. Denicke fund for German philology, and the Eugene Meyer, Jr., fund for history.

Valuable gifts of books in special fields have also been made, such as the many contributions of Mr. J. C. Cebrian in Spanish literature, and the donations of Louis Sloss, Jacob Voorsanger, and Alfred Greenebaum toward a Semitic collection.