The nucleus of the TUC Library was formed in 1915 with the establishment of the Labour Party Information Bureau. In 1922, a number of Joint Departments were set up by the Labour Party and the TUC, and Sidney Webb became the main advisor on the stock and organisation of the new library. In 1956, the TUC moved in Congress House in Bloomsbury, bringing the greater part of the stock with them.

The formation of the ILO in 1919 and contacts, particularly with the South African and Indian delegates, intensified the TUC's interest in labour conditions in British Protectorates. The new library began to gather material to service the Joint International Committee and the Joint Advisory Committee on Imperial Affairs. The formation in 1937 of a Colonial Advisory Committee led to a further organised attempt to collect African trade union literature.