When Blount College was founded in 1794, it had a small collection of books courtesy of President Samuel Carrick (1794-1807), who allowed students to use his personal library of about 500 volumes. After Carrick's death in 1809, the college closed until the school's surviving trustees merged the institution with the Hampden-Sydney Academy in 1820. President David Sherman (1820-1825) arranged for students to borrow books from the Knoxville Library Company (of which he was a founding member) in addition to allowing students access to his own books. President Charles Coffin (1827-1832) continued to develop the library, forming a committee to solicit donations in 1829 and undertaking a trip to procure new volumes in 1831. A formal library was established in 1836 with Reverend W. J. Keith as librarian. Students were assessed $0.50 per session for library use and the library's holdings were distributed among several reading rooms. Numerous volumes were removed from the collection in the 1840s due to conflicts over religious education and sectarianism and the rest of the collection was all but destroyed during the Civil War.

East Tennessee University reopened in 1868 and used some of the monies allocated under the Morrill Act in addition to funds pledged by the City of Knoxville to rebuild the library. By 1880, the library held 3,326 volumes divided between a dilapidated reading room in Old College and a new reading room in the Agricultural Hall. President Charles Dabney (1887-1904) further developed the library, appointing the University's first professional librarian in 1892 and securing better quarters for the collection in the new Science Hall in 1894. He also began the campaign to procure money from Andrew Carnegie to build a new library. This library, named after its benefactor, opened on the Hill in 1911. Holdings continued to grow steadily and the library soon required a larger space. Central Library (renamed Hoskins Library in 1950) opened in 1931 with space for 200,000 volumes and 500 seats for patrons. Branch libraries for chemistry, music, biology, science, education, and business administration were added under President Brehm (1946-1959). An addition to Hoskins Library was completed in 1959, bringing the library's capacity to 700,000 volumes and 1,200 patrons. In the 1960s, the push for a separate undergraduate library led the University to construct Hodges Undergraduate Library, which opened on September 26, 1969. By 1979, however, the collection had once again outgrown its home. A closed stacks building was constructed in 1981 and an addition of 250,000 square feet to Hodges was completed in 1987. Shortly after the rededication, Hoskins Library became home to many specialized collections. Today, most services and volumes are still held at Hodges Library.