The origins and mainstay of the library has been donations of personal and private collections of books, documents, photographs and more to the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM).

[3] Under Del Hoyo the nascent library continued to receive donations, but this accelerated under the second director, Elregio.

[4][5] Under his term, the library's holdings tripled in size and began specialized archives for photography, maps and even archeological pieces.

It also began a long and continuing process of cataloging privately held donations which has uncovered and consolidated rare and one-of-a-kind books from the 16th century and even some dating before 1501.

[4] In addition to increasing the library's physical holdings, Elizondo worked to promote knowledge and access to the collections.

[2] Elizondo became a member of Mexico's committee for UNESCO's Memory of the World program, with the purpose of proposing collections for their inclusion.

Under his watch, a second collection of the library was accepted into the Memory of the World program, a photographic archive of works by architect Mario Pani Darqui.

These include the Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Virtual Library Foundation (of the University of Aliante in Spain), the Virtual Library of Mexican Letters, SINAFO, RABID and it is a member of the Asociación Mexicana de Archivos y Bibliotecas Privadas.

[10][11] About half of the library's collection is related to Mexican history and culture, a quarter to language and literature and the rest to various disciplines such as medicine, travel logs, architecture and art.

[10] The library's holding are a series of special collections, donated by private individuals and entities and include old and rare books, documents, photographs, microfilm, maps, archeological pieces and colonial ironwork.

[1][12] The eight incunables are History of Florence (1476), Book of Psalms (1478), Sermones Roberti de Licio de Laudibus Sanctorum (1490), Comentarios a Santo Tomás (1492), Columbus’ Second Letter (1494), Adagios by Erasmus (1500), and Comienca la Contienda del Cuerpo y Alma (1500).

[14] Other important elements in the collection include the first missal published in the Americas (1576), a book on the Passion of Christ in the Purhepecha language (pre-1800) which was saved from the local parish during the eruption of the Paracutin volcano, one related to the presidential election of 1910 signed by author Francisco I. Madero and 80 original works by Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, the second most important collection of such works after the Palafoxiana Library in Puebla.

[16] The Conway Collection was one of the first donations to the library, containing over 5,000 volumes in Spanish and English, along with over 20,000 manuscripts dating from the 16th to 18th centuries.

English language items include The Americas and the Annual Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology along with writings by Irishman Guillen de Lampart, who led a colorful life in Mexico ending with his execution there in 1659.

It consists of over 1,000 copies of Don Quixote in various languages and from various eras donated by Monterrey businessman Carlos Prieto.

[16][21] Language versions include those in English, French, German, Italian, Catalan, Portuguese, Dutch, Hebrew, Latin, Korean and Mongolian.

This collection of works on Mexican history and culture made the Cervantine Library the second most important in the Americas in these areas.

[10][16][23] The Agustin Basave collection contains about 2,000 historical documents and 700 photographs, including autographs of celebrities such as Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor.

[16] Photographic collections include Agustin Basave, Conde-Zambano, Alberto Flores, Desiderio Lagrange, Jesus R. Sandoval, Aureliano Tapia, Tecnológico, Campus Monterrey, Isauro Villarreal and Mario Pani.

[24] The Agustin Basave Collection consists of 750 prints taken and developed by photographers from around the world related to celebrities of the 20th century.

[32] The Mario Pani Darqui Collection is related to one of Mexico's most famous architects and is registered in UNESCO's Memory of the World.

[1][16] The rise of the Internet prompted this effort as the library noticed a decline in visitors and it needed a way to make the collection more accessible to more people.

[40] Digitalized works include many of the library's oldest documents, a collection of Mexican marriage licenses, baptism and criminal records for genealogy purposes and many of the holdings in or related to Mexico's indigenous languages.