The history of the library of Karaganda University named after Е.A. Buketov dates back to the opening of the Teacher Training Institute in Karaganda (1938). The library received books on literature, linguistics, history and philosophy from the funds of Leningrad State University. Books were also donated from other university libraries of the Soviet Union. The total number of books was 1500. The staff consisted of two librarians.

     In 1952, on the eve of reorganization of the Teacher Training Institute into the Pedagogical Institute, the book fund consisted of 37,000 copies of textbooks, monographs , fiction texts. The library developed together with the Institute: it opened reading rooms and lounges in the dormitories and academic buildings, started to develop its reference service. Service and readers’ catalogs were created.

     In 1972, the Karaganda State University was created on the basis of the Pedagogical Institute. Departments of acquisition, cataloging, main book storage were opened n the library. The development of science at the university influenced the inclusion of the library in the system of interlibrary service (IBA). In the 80-ies there was a book exchange with the libraries of the majority of the Soviet Union universities: Irkutsk, Petrozavodsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kazan and others.

     The library received books from the university publishing house, gifts of teachers, new books from all major publishing houses of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, whole collections from the historical library of Tomsk University. Later these collections  formed a fund of rare books.

    In 1978, most of the books (human sciences) were housed in the new building at Southeast. For the first time students began to study in large, bright reading rooms,  specialized catalog room.

     In the future there was a systematic acquisition of funds for all specialties, began to create educational libraries at the faculties. Gradually, book collections were moved to specialized departments. The collections of periodicals were put in order, and a reference and retrieval system (index of periodicals and continuing editions) was created for them.

    In the 90’s the work of the university library was influenced by two factors: the violation of  book trade and interlibrary relations with the former Soviet republics, for political reasons and the involvement of our society in the global information process.

     Since February 1996, the library maintains an electronic catalog. Since 1999 it has been available to students and professors.

     Since 1998, thanks to a grant from the Foundation Soros-Kazakhstan in the reading room for teachers opened access to the Internet from 3 computers, and on the 1-st of  October , 1999, an Internet room was opened on the basis of the same reading room. Thus, the resources of the university for access to global networks were united.

     In 1999, the Department of Scientific and Technical Information joined the library.

     In 1997 the library received the status of Scientific and by the order of the Ministry of Education and Science was appointed as the methodical center for the libraries, higher educational institutions and colleges of Karaganda region.

     In 1996 the library of Karaganda Pedagogical Institute was joined to our library. The funds of the University library were enriched by fiction, textbooks and monographs on pedagogy. The library structure includes two reading rooms and three loans. In 2004, the first multimedia room was created in the library (main building, 206 aud.) to expand the range of information and service to its users. In 2005, two more multimedia rooms were opened in the academic libraries in buildings №8 and №9.

     In 2003 the reading room for the students of the preparatory department for 24 seats was opened (38 Gogol St., Bldg. 4).

    The reading-room of the professional art faculty (building № 11) was opened on September 1, 2005. The number of seats was 30.

     Since 2004 the library creates the University Electronic Library (LEL). The electronic library includes thematic full-text databases created by the library staff, electronic versions of works and teaching materials of the university teaching staff, “Bulletin of the Karaganda University”, as well as materials from the library’s electronic documents archive.

     Since 2004, the IRBIS system has been implemented, thanks to which the EC is presented on the Internet. All DB of EC was converted to the new system, students and staff were trained to work in IRBIS. The “Cataloguer”, “Selector” and “Administrator” workstations were implemented.

     According to the results of work in 2005 the library became the best subdivision of the university.

    In May, 2006 the library received the certificate of SGS (Switzerland) about introducing the Quality Management System into the work of E.A. Buketov KSU.

     On September 1 there was a presentation of the modernized reading room, which was equipped with seating for 20 computers.

     On the same day, the KSU College Library was opened.

     On November 1, 2007 the Electronic Resources Room was opened, which provides access to INTERNET from 75 computers, electronic library, full-text databases, satellite TV; services are provided.

     On December 1, 2008, authorized access to the full-text digital library was opened via the Internet.

     In August 2009 a reading room was opened in the college library for 30 seats.

     In March 2010 the library along with other departments of the university successfully passed institutional accreditation.

     In November 2010 the library switched to IRBIS-64 software.

     March 2011 marked the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the library EC.

     In May 2011 we opened an electronic resources room in Building № 3, where information can be accessed from 30 computers.

    On September 1, 2011, electronic resource rooms in Building № 8 (35 computers) and Building № 10 (80 computers) started serving users.

     The rooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards, projectors, binders and other office equipment.

     Internet resources and more than 20 subscription and university-wide full-text and bibliographic databases are available to users.

     In 2012, for the first time 70 electronic journals were checked out, which are provided by the Russian Scientific Electronic Library (RUNEB) through the portal eLIBRARY.ru.

     In December 2012, the equipment was received, began to implement the transition to electronic book issue in the general reading room (main building).

     In January 2013 introduced an electronic service system (RFID technology) in the general reading room (main building). 2359 electronic library cards were issued to users.

     In April 2013 the library took part in the state certification of the university. During the attestation check there were no comments.

     In September 2013 opened a hall of electronic resources for undergraduates for 40 seats (Bldg.4).

     In February 2015 the biobibliographical literature index “Yevney Arystanovich Buketov” was published (for the 90th anniversary of his birth).

     In March 2015 the books of academician E. A. Buketov were republished:

Buketov E. Facets of Creation: Essays / Evnei Buketov. – Ed. 2nd. – Karaganda: Publishing house of Karaganda State University, 2015. – 125 с.. – (Dedicated to the 90th anniversary of E. Buketov).

Buketov E. Six letters to a friend: a scientific publication / Evnei Buketov. – Ed. 2nd. – Karaganda: Publishing house of Karaganda State University, 2015. – 344 p.: ill. – (Dedicated to the 90th anniversary of E. A. Buketov).

     In May 2015 5 employees of the library successfully graduated from the Chelyabinsk Academy of Culture Master’s program “Information and library activities” (G.K.Abdigulova, K.T.Amanbaeva, S.A.Mukanova, Z.A.Nurlanova, O.N.Shafeeva).

     In April 2016 opened a hall of electronic resources in Building 11 (for students and faculty of the Faculty of Education).

     In July 2016 opened a subscription of educational and scientific literature for students and faculty of the Faculty of Education (Bldg. 11).

      In August 2016 the reference volume to the Collected Works of academician E.A. Buketov was published.

      In October 2016 the institutional repository of the university was created – an electronic repository of publications of E.A. Buketov KSU. An application for its registration in OpenDOAR – an open international catalog of free access repositories was submitted.

      In February 2017, the University repository was registered in the open international catalog of free access repositories – OpenDOAR and is available at: http://opendoar.org

      In January 2019, the law reading room in the main building is closed.

      In the summer of 2020, the reading rooms and subscriptions of the Biology and Geography, Foreign Language, Mathematics, Education, Chemistry, and Physics and Technology Departments were consolidated due to space optimization. Duplicate copies were moved to a detached building (SBC).

In 2022 the educational library of the Faculty of Biology and Geography was modernized, as a result of which was organized open access to educational, methodological and scientific literature in all branches of knowledge. Also was created a recreation area for students, where students can spend their free time in comfortable conditions.