The UCLA CSRC Library was founded in 1969 and was the first library of its kind anywhere. Its mission was to serve the research needs of students and faculty who did not find adequate resources and subject expertise on the Chicano experience in college and university libraries. Chicano Studies libraries were soon established at a number of other universities in California and the Southwest.

Early UCLA CSRC librarians like Roberto Cabello Argandoña, Richard Chabran, and Francisco Garcia made significant contributions to the bibliographic control of what was then the emerging field of Chicano Studies. They identified materials for the first bibliographies on the subject and several of them later helped to develop the Chicano Database.

Today, the UCLA CSRC Library and its Special Collections unit continues to serve the needs of students, faculty, and researchers in the United States and internationally. The presence of the library also highlights the heritage of a diverse and rich culture and serves as a source of pride to people of Mexican descent in the United States. It is the last freestanding Chicano studies library in the United States.

The research collection at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Library is considered among the most important national and international research collections on the Chicano experience. Its holdings consist of monographs; periodicals; subject files; dissertations and theses; as well as original prints by Chicana/o artists, films, videotapes, audio recordings, slides, and over 80 archival and manuscript collections. Of special note are holdings of a number of monolingual and bilingual English and Spanish newspapers and journals published throughout the southwestern United States from the nineteenth century onward.