The main goal of the institution is full and prompt library and bibliographic services for the educational and scientific process at St. Petersburg State University in all areas of scientific and educational activities. Library services of the Scientific Library are used by both staff and students of Russian and foreign higher education institutions, and individual researchers.

The main collection of the library dates back to 1783, when Empress Catherine II donated 1,100 volumes from the collection of books by the 18th-century Russian bibliophile P.F. Zhukov to the first Teachers' Seminary in Russia. Throughout the history of the library, its collection has been formed from private donations: it contains over 200 personal libraries of university professors and outstanding figures in Russian science and culture. An important historical source of documentary value are the book collections of the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee (20 thousand volumes) and the Foreign Censorship Committee (10 thousand volumes), the archive and library of the Free Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, and the Library of the Higher Women's Bestuzhev Courses - the first higher education institution for women in Russia, which were received in the mid-19th century. The collection of rare books, numbering 100 thousand volumes, includes collections of publications from the 15th-20th centuries, including incunabula, paleotypes, and books in Cyrillic script. The collection of oriental manuscripts (over 50 thousand units) is unique.