The Binghamton University Libraries offer resources to support instruction and research at the University. Since 1950, the Libraries' goal has been to support scholarship, teach information literacy, and help connect the university community to research resources. While the Libraries originally focussed on collecting books and microfilm, over the years the collection has grown to include rare materials, data, and digital resources.

The Libraries are made up of several smaller branches across campus. The Glenn G. Bartle Library, named after the University's first president, houses collections in the humanities, social sciences, government documents, mathematical and computer sciences, and Special Collections and University Archives. The Science Library contains materials in all science and engineering disciplines, as well as an extensive map collection. The University Downtown Center (UDC) Library supports the College of Community and Public Affairs. The UDC Library collection contains books, reference materials and regional government documents in the areas of community research, public administration, human development, social work, education and student affairs. The Collection Management Facility (CMF), located off campus, houses important, uncommon materials in the Libraries’ collections. The items include print journals and infrequently used book and book sets. The CMF ensures space on campus for newer and more heavily used materials.

The history of the Libraries begins in 1950, when Triple Cities College (a branch of Syracuse University) became SUNY-affiliated Harpur College. From the 1989 "The SUNY-Binghamton Library: A Brief History," in the collection:

"In 1950, the small Triple Cities collection went back to Syracuse, and the library began again. For approximately 10 years it had a staff of 8 (4 librarians, 4 clerks), and an acquisitions budget of about $25,000 annually... In 1953 the Harpur library underwent its first move, from a college-owned mansion into larger pre-fab quarters, when it added to its 20,000 volumes the 20,000 acquired on the closing of Champlain College, a defunct sister unit.

"In 1960 a library of about 80,000 volumes moved to the present campus [in Vestal] into quarters designed for a capacity of 300,000 volumes and 600 readers. Students complaining of the barrenness were informed in the campus paper it would not reach its planned book capacity for 50 years. By 1965... a library plan to build its collection to one million volumes within a ten years had been accepted in principle, and the book budget rose to $500,000. The library abandoned Dewey classification for LC and began comprehensive efforts in automation as a way of coping with the enlarged scale of operations. Collection strategy during this period was [focussed on creating] a fairly evenly developing collection without any specialized pockets of great depth. As part of a conciousness of a new level of relationships, FAUL (Five Associated University Libraries- SUNY Binghamton, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Cornell) came into being, and proved vital to the development of the library over the next decade.

In the 1970s,"the library was charged to support the activities of a selective, not comprehensive, university... The Science Library was opened in 1973. The Music Library space was tabled and the core collection plan collapsed, leaving the 'graduate' library to open as a general purpose humanities and social sciences complex. With the collections almost totally rehoused in new quarters, the library faced the problems of making them workable, and of reshaping services around them and the new programs. An ambitious public services program was launched that included diverse forms of orientation. Audio equipment was added to the science and reserve reading areas. The financial retrenchments overtaking many colleges and universities in the United States during this decade first affected the library in the 1977/78 academic year. To cope with both staff cuts and a shortage of seats resulting from cancelled building plans, the library reorganized and relocated several departments to create expanded study areas.

"Following the university's new emphasis on community service, the library developed services for new clienteles. To the clinical campus it offered interlibrary loan and local materials delivery service; to the musical arts groups, it offered borrowing privileges from its extensive music collection; to industry, it offered the use of its computerized literature searching capability; to community friends who regarded the library as a cultural preservation center, it offered the opportunity to promote specialized resources through the Associates and their featured displays of unusual materials in the collection.

In the 1980s, "Library automation, in the form of GEAC circulation and cataloging, was installed and supported to provide routine access to the collection for conventional library patrons, as well as for users from remote terminals on or off campus. Membership in the Research Libraries Group, and a faculty circulation privilege agreement with Cornell, assured continuing access to other major and complementary collections, while participation in New York State's 3Rs network, SCRLC, continued on a modest basis. In 1988/89 the Libraries and the Computer Center pushed hard to implement ELIXIR, the new online catalog and circulation system and this was accomplished on May 22, 1989."

In 1993, the Internet-1 System was installed in both the Bartle and Science Libraries and reference began offering e-mail services. In 1994, the Library participated with other SUNY campuses on a project to share indexes to journals and newspapers, using linked online systems across the internet. In 1995, the library moved materials to an offsite storage facility. In 1998-2002, Bartle Library went through a major renovation of its building and acquired the Remote Library Storage Facility in Conklin. In 1998, the Library web team formalized – it was responsible for implementing the Libraries’ access to web-based electronic records and services.

In 2003, the Library began participating in the annual Association of Research Libraries’ LibQUAL+TM survey. In 2005, the Library began social networking by creating several blogs and facebook pages. In 2006, the Information Commons, a space with information and technology resources, opened in the Bartle and then at the Science Library. In 2007-2008, a University Downtown Center Library opened and an Information Commons was created there. New circulations policies created that year included self-checkout machines, electronic reserves, laptop check-out, and wireless networking.

The offsite storage moved to the Collection Managment Facility in 2023. As of 2024, the collections include 3.2 million books and journal volumes, over 225 electronic databases and immediate access to thousands of journals digitally.

Herbert L. Leet

1950-1953

Josiah T. Newcomb

1953-1971

Willis Bridegam

1972-1975

Ina C. Brownridge

1975-1987

Eleanor Heishman

1988-2002

John Meador

2003-2013

Curtis Kendrick

2015-2022

Andrea Falcone

2023-current (as of 2025)