[5] It was designed by architects Robert B. O'Connor and Walter H. Kilham Jr.[6][7] Roughly 1.5 million volumes were moved during the summer of 1948 from East Pyne Hall, which until then had served as the University's main library.

Therefore, volumes relating to many academic subjects are no longer housed at Firestone, but at approximately a dozen other library buildings or spaces located around the campus.

It contains a small number of the original carrels (offices about the size of a large closet) reserved for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate seniors working on their theses.

[15] Since the 1970s, the library has collected Latin American and Spanish ephemera to document with non-governmental primary sources the political developments, a rare emphasis on systematically acquiring these materials.

[16] In early 2015, the Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera became available, thanks to a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

[19] Currently only registered students, alumni, university faculty, staff, their spouses, domestic partners and dependents, students of Princeton Theological Seminary, the Institute for Advanced Study, and visiting faculty are permitted open (free) access and borrowing privileges in the Princeton University library system.