The first dedicated facility of the Queens College Library, which opened in Klapper Hall in 1955, included an art gallery. Since the early 1960's, the Art Library has presented several hundred exhibitions, many complemented by gallery talks, lectures, or symposia.

Until 1980, the Art Library administered the collection of the present Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College. During this period many of the exhibitions were thematic, drawing on the museum's permanent collection, as well as loans. Since 1980, the Art Center complements the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, which is now an independently governed institution.

In 1988, the Art Center opened in the attractive gallery on the sixth floor of Rosenthal Library and to the date, has shown more than 200 exhibitions.