The predecessor of Shandong University Library is the libliotheca of Shandong Metropolitan University founded in 1901. It is one of the earliest new-style libraries in modern China（1840-1919）

Shandong University, under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, is a key comprehensive university with a long history, a variety of disciplines, strong academic strength, and distinctive characteristics, which has great influence both at home and abroad. Shandong University is a member university of Project 211 and Project 985, two national key construction projects to support the development of high-quality universities. Shandong University is one of the initiative universities of modern Chinese higher education. Its medical school, established in 1864, signified the beginning of modern Chinese higher education. Its main body, Shandong Imperial College (Shandong Da Xue Tang) established in 1901, was the second national university in China, only after the Imperial University of Peking. Moreover, it was the first university to be established and run in accordance with a chartered constitution. As the former Shandong University, Shandong Medical University and Shandong University of Technology amalgamated into the new Shandong University in July 2000, the three libraries emerged into a new one too.

Shandong University Library now consists of Central Campus Library, Chiang Chen Library, Hongjialou Campus Library, Baotuquan Campus Library, Qianfoshan Campus Library, Xinglongshan Campus Library, Software Park Campus Library and Qingdao Campus Library, with an overall area of 146,000 square meters. Departments like Literature Resources Construction Center, Network Information Technology Center, Information Consulting Service Center, the Research Institute of Special Collections, Information Research Institute and General Office are set up with 249 staff members in total. By December 2017, the library holds more than 5.58 million volumes of paper documents, over 10,000 electronic books and 243 databases, covering the fields of literature, science, engineering and medicine, and more than 310,000 pieces of ancient books, including 36,000 precious collections such as rare editions, epigraphs and rubbings.

The library is one of the key ancient book protection units of the nation and Shandong province, Document Information Service Center of China Academic Library & Information System (CALIS), Subject Center of China Academic Humanities and Social Sciences Library (CASHL), and the Sci-Tech Novelty Retrieval Station of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health.