Recognising the worth of UCT's Africana collections, Harry Oppenheimer donated funding for the establishment of the university's Centre for African Studies and the African Studies Library.
The library was located inside the new Centlivres Building on University Avenue. The building accommodated the growing number of architectural students, and architectural library materials.
The Brand van Zyl Law library moved with the Faculty of Law down the hill from Upper Campus to the Faculty’s current location on the Middle Campus in July 2000. At present, the Law Library is on the two lowest floors of the Wilfred and Jules Kramer Law School Building.
The Law Faculty, Brand van Zyl Law Library and the School of Librarianship moved from their original premises on Orange Street Campus to the new P.D Hahn Building.
This newly built state-of-the-art library complex became the centrepiece of Upper Campus. The Chancellor Oppenheimer Library was named after its benefactor, at an opening ceremony in October 2001.
While the foundation stone of Hiddingh Hall was laid in 1910, the completion and official opening of the University of Cape Town's first purpose-built library took place on 29 September 1911.
In 1916, the University of Cape Town was built, incorporating the South African College. UCT was officially founded by a private act of Parliament in 1918 and the College Library became known as the University Library.
The Groote Schuur campus began to take shape on the slopes of Devil's Peak, with the construction of many university buildings from 1928 into the 1930s. This necessitated the move of some of the Library books from Hiddingh Hall to the new campus.
Hiddingh Memorial Hall was built at the Orange street campus in 1910 and officially opened on 29 September 1911. The building was funded by the bequest of Dr W. Hiddingh, and its ground floor became the home of the College Library.
The Medical Library developed a specialist branch at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Rondebosch. The Institute of Child Health Library was established in 1974 to cater for the needs of paediatric specialists.
The J.W. Jagger building was built adjacent to Sarah Baartman Hall ( previously Jameson Hall) and became the centre of the University of Cape Town Libraries.
The library was created when a large collection of Jewish Studies books and journals were bought by the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research.
In 1928, the Library's collection of medical books and journals were able to be moved into three rooms on the top floor of the Pathology Block at the UCT Medical School, known today as the Faculty of Health Sciences.
The new Medical Library was built in 1953, despite construction delays due to World War II and other considerations. The official opening took place on 19 February 1954 and was located next to the Medical School.
When the music holdings of the South African College of Music and the University Libraries were amalgamated. The Library was initially housed in the dining room of Strubenholme.
Additional room extensions were added to the Music Library to house the growing music holdings. The extension consisted of a Reading Room, Control Room, Record and Score Room and a Listening Room.
A new chapter in the history of the University Libraries was heralded in by the appointment of the RFM Immelman in 1940. Over the next 30 years, Immelman became instrumental in the rapid expansion of the University Libraries. Many branch libraries were established during his tenure as University Librarian.
In 1939, Library staff member RFM Immelman established the School of Librarianship inside the J.W. Jagger building. The school remained there until the 1970s.
The donation of the Van Zyl Collection of Legal Antiquarian Materials necessitated an additional wing in Hiddingh Hall Library to house the collection. The official opening of the Van Zyl Seminar room took place in 1949, to house the collection.
