The Central University Library is a beautifully ornated building located opposite the Royal Palace in the Revolution Square. The library was founded by king Carol I and the building was designed by the French architect Paul Gottereau, who also designed the National Savings Bank (CEC) building. The building was heavily damaged during the December 1989 movement but was later restored and now it looks really pretty.

When the University of Bucharest was created in 1864, there was no central university library; this role was played by the Central State Library of Bucharest until 1895. That institution was moved to and housed in the university building, and in 1867 was specially reorganised for the university's needs by the scholar August Treboniu Laurian. It had an unmistakable university quality, being governed by a special university committee (including the rector, the faculties' deans, the school ephor and the chief librarian as secretary), and the deans were always consulted for selection and purchasing. Nevertheless, the need for a proper central university library became increasingly apparent.

The present Central University Library was founded in 1895 as the Carol I Library of the University Foundation. It was built on land bought by King Carol I of Romania for the "Carol I University Foundation" (Fundaţia Universitară Carol I) and designed by French architect Paul Gottereau. The building was completed in 1893 and opened on 14 March 1895. In 1911, the building was extended by the same architect and the new wing was opened on 9 May 1914. It began with an initial stock of 3,400 volumes of books and periodicals. The collection grew to 7,264 volumes in 1899, 31,080 volumes in 1914, and 91,000 volumes in 1944. In 1949 (after its reorganisation on 12 July 1948 as the Central Library of Bucharest University), the collection contained 516,916 volumes; in 1960, about a million; and over 2 million in 1970.

During the Romanian Revolution of 1989, a fire was started in the building and over 500,000 books, along with 3,700 manuscripts, were burnt. Starting in April 1990, the building was repaired and modernized, being reopened on 20 November 2001.

In parallel with the development of the central library, a more complex network of specialised library branches was developed. For example, the Library of the Law Faculty was founded in 1873-76 (based on Professor Alexandru Lahovary's donation of books); in 1884 the Archaeological Seminary's Library was established through Professor Grigore Tocilescu's grant; and in 1892 the Library of the Slavic Languages Seminary began, based on Ion Bogdan's donation. These libraries functioned within the Faculty of Letters. Specialised libraries were also founded in the Sciences Faculty, such as the Mathematical Seminary's Library (after 1890), the Laboratory for Animal Physiology Library (1892, on the basis of Professor Alexandru Vitzu's grant); and the Laboratory for Plant Morphology Library (1893, using Professor D. Voinov's book donation). Until 1869, the Faculty of Medicine had only the customary collection, but by 1884 had a well-organised, specialised library.

In general, these libraries were founded and developed using teachers' donations, state grants and, after 1890, a percentage (usually 10%) of student-paid tuition.

Established in 1891 and inaugurated in 1895 by King Carol I of Romania, with the explicit aim of providing a gateway to knowledge mainly for students, the "Carol I" Central University Library of Bucharest, formerly known as The University Foundation "Carol I", has been a radiant source of knowledge throughout its existence. Despite several harmful historical and natural events, the Library carried on its mission, being now among the most modern libraries in Europe.

The first building of the library was designed by the French architect Paul Gottereau, according to the neoclassical style of the time. Soon, the existing space proved to be insufficient, both for the increasing number of students and for the growing collections, so that in May 1914 a new wing, designed by the same arhitect, was added. The library´s prestige grew rapidly, not only due to its modern endowment and highly specialised staff, but also to the lectures of famous Romanian and foreign scholars. Additionally meetings of important cultural associations and learned societies were hosted by the Foundation.

After the Second World War, the library included all the existing faculty libraries at the University of Bucharest. Though the collections grew rapidly according to the new educational needs, the way of accessing the information continued to be traditional, in spite of some projects that aimed at the automation of the library. A complex and rapid development in this respect only occured after 1989.

December 1989 was a dramatic episode in the history of the library, with disastrous consequences. Canons and machine guns distroyed a great deal of the building, setting it on fire. The flames turned to ashes over 500.000 volumes, including all the collections of rare books, manuscripts and correspondence. Other valuable library material was lost in that fire.

Currently, The Central University Library of Bucharest is an integrated librarianship structure, consisting of a central encyclopaedic unit, 12 specialized branches of the library, functioning by the faculties of the University of Bucharest, two libraries of student hostels, a library branch within the Ministry of National Education and a library within the Museum of National History "Grigore Antipa".

The current organizational structure is based on Decree no. 83/1976 adapting to the level of the branches and the structural evolution of the University of Bucharest.

Administratively speaking, The Central University Library of Bucharest is a legal entity and it is directly subordinated to the Ministry of Education and Research. The entire librarianship complex provides through its branches specialized services to the University of Bucharest and is, at the same time, accessible to all students, teachers, researchers from the capital city.

The activity of the branches is based on a close collaboration with the deanships of the faculties that approve the functioning programs, the structure of the collections, the services provided in accordance with the regulation of the libraries from the university.

The collections of the Central University Library of Bucharest totalize 2,063,103 registration units including a diversified documentary typology (books, serials, manuscripts, microcopies, audiovisual materials, other categories of collections).

The Central Unit Collection has an encyclopaedic structure and includes representative documents from all fields of Romanian and foreign knowledge. The collections of the branch libraries by the faculties are specialized on the profile of the faculties and of the related fields. The international exchange of publications occupies a special place in the development of the collections of publications of the Central University Library. The activity of documentary information of the Central University Library of Bucharest is determined by the development of research in different fields of science and culture, of orientation and of scientific content of higher education.

The library develops magazine indexes, bibliographic guides, bibliographies on request. The Library issues annually the methodologic breviary “Information and formation” and the Central University Library brochure which is handed out to each student involved in the complex action known under the generic title "Library Days", specially organized for beginners. In order to develop certain unitary activities, the library functions as a methodology, training and improvement centre in the librarianship domain, providing professional assistance and specialized guidance to other university libraries.