The library began operating on 1st October 1993, when UTHM was known as Pusat Latihan Staf Politeknik (PLSP). With a collection of 5,000 copies of book inherited from the Politeknik Batu Pahat, the PLSP Library occupied a small two-storey building that could accommodate about 120 users. Its mission was to support academic staff and students in learning, teaching and research.

To support the increasing number of users, the library building has been extended to provide more reading area in year 2000. The extension has increased the floor space for reading to 200 seats. With the opening of a branch library at the Town Campus in 2004, and B5 Library (above the Bursary Office) in 2006, the seating capacity has been increased to 500 seats. Collections in the B5 Library consist of journals, magazines, thesis, audio visuals, novels, maps, prospectuses, examination papers and references. In July 2008, the Town Campus Library was transferred to a new premise, to support more collections, provide more reading area consequently give better services. The collections in the Town Campus Library cater the needs of the Faculty of Technology Management, Business and Enterpreneurship, Faculty of Technical Education, Faculty of Information Technology and Multimedia.

The development of library collection in various fields, especially in science and technology, has been intensified to support the learning, teaching and research activities. Currently the library has acquired about 150,000 copies of books, 6,000 titles of thesis, 300 titles of journal, 40 titles of magazine and 16,000 copies of audio-visual materials. The library has also subscribed 26 online databases and 4 e-books services.

Beginning May 2010, UTHM Library has moved to new building. This building has 16,000 square meters of floor area and can fill as many as 300,000 volumes of collections. The new library building has a seating capacity of 2,400 users and it provides a spacious and condusive study environment with 100 carrel rooms, a post graduate researched room, 40 discussion rooms, 2 seminar rooms, an auditorium and a 24 hours reading room. With the libray transferred to the new building, the Town Campus Library will be closing its operation and alla collections will be transferred to the new UTHM Library.

In terms of technology improvement, the library automation project has begun since 1997 to provide better and faster services.