Palmer was the primary library building and built in 1958. The 85,000 square foot, four-story, concrete, Post-War building is rectangular in plan, features aluminum ribbon windows, and is clad with brick at the north and south facades and stucco at the east and west facades.

In 1969, the library expanded with the construction of the JFK Memorial Library. It is a nearly 250,000 square-foot, four-story, concrete building constructed as a rectangle on an irregularly shaped plinth and includes two basements. The second and third stories feature alternating 8-foot projected bays of concrete panels. The two buildings are connected by a glazed, three-story pedestrian bridge on Palmer's north facade and Library North's south facade. Generally, the buildings have not had significant alterations, with exception to seismic upgrades to both building s in the 1990s and in Library North's A Level which was renovated due to a 2015 flood.