The University Library of Rijeka was founded in 1626 when the Jesuits, who came from Judenburg in Austria upon invitation of the Town Council of Rijeka, set up a Collegium and Gymnasium with a library that was inaugurated on the 23rd November 1627. With the introduction of lectures in theology in 1632 this collegium and gymnasium reached the hallmarks of an institution of higher learning, as was confirmed by king Ferdinand II in his charter of the 31st July 1633. Upon request of the Town Council, Emperor Charles VI on 4th February 1724 gave his consent that the institution be a permanent venue for the study of philosophy. After the abolishment of the Jesuit Order in 1773, the city of Rijeka assumed control of the gymnasium and the studies of theology and philosophy; and soon thereafter, in 1780, the library was enhanced with the arrival of books of the Nautical Academy of Trieste as soon as the Academy moved to Rijeka. The patrician families of Rijeka, Benzoni and Marotti, donated their rich family libraries to the city of Rijeka, under the condition that their books be accessible to the public. In 1782 these libraries were integrated into the combined gymnasium and city library, the first public library of Rijeka that was headed by a librarian salaried by the city. By 1828 this library already had a systemized catalog, and as of 1840 the library received an obligation copy of printed materials issued in Rijeka. In 1882 this library became the City Library. Due to adverse political circumstances, the Croatian Gymnasium with a smaller part of the library holdings was forced to move to Sušak. Thereupon an autonomous city library was formed, and its holdings were amassed thanks to the donations of numerous respectable citizens of Rijeka (Gelletich, Ricci, de Horhy, Bedini and others). From 1892 to 1945 the library functioned as the City Library (Biblioteca civica). In 1912 the library is modernized, and within the organization a collection called "Fluminensia" was formed for bringing together domicile sources and documents. After 1918 the library was further enriched with books in the Hungarian and German language of the K.u.K. Marine Akademie, numerous Hungarian secondary schools and the Hungarian Royal Exporting Academy, that had until then been active in Rijeka. After the of World War II, the Rijeka Library of Science was founded in 1948 and its base was composed of the holdings of the "Biblioteca civica". From then on and to this day the library holdings are being amassed through obligation copy of the total printed materials produced on the territory of Croatia; sources are obtained for the scientific, cultural and general development of the city of Rijeka and this part of Croatia. As of 1979 the Library of Scinece became an associate member, and since 1994 and full member of the University in Rijeka.
    The library holdings are divided into several collections of which the most important are: the old holdings, rare books and manuscripts, respectively the collections "Biblioteca civica" and "Fluminensia" (40,000 volumes of books and periodicals), thereafter "Adriatica" (15,000 volumes of books and periodicals), Glagolitica, Prints and Drawings collections and Musical collections. Thus the total holdings of the University Library of Rijeka consists of 305,000 volumes of books, 70,000 annual files of periodicals and 7,000 annual files of newspapers. The library is the repository for 21 incunables as well as of 600 volumes of sources from the 16th century, and numerous other rare documents that refer to the city of Rijeka and this part of Europe.