The library was named after Alexander Pushkin as a sign of perpetuation of the memory of the great Russian poet and in connection with the 100th anniversary of his death in February 1937.

Soon, the library became the largest in the region, the national book depository, the coordinating center for scientific, methodological and research work in the field of library science and the history of the Kazakh book, and the publication of the national bibliography.

The library served as the republican branch body of scientific information on culture and art.

The building housing the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan was built in 1970 according to the project of the Kazgorstroyproekt Institute (architects V. P. Ishchenko, K. N. Kalnoy, V. N. Kim, E. Kuznetsov, engineers V. Angelsky, A. Deev, G. Stulov).

The ramp leading to the central entrance lifts the building above its surroundings, emphasizing its monumentality.

In 1982, the library building was included in the List of Historical and Cultural Monuments of the Kazakh SSR of national significance and taken under state protection.