The library of the Naval Academy was founded with the permission of the commandment in the academic 1898-1899 year. Library and reference centre were created at the beginning. Although there was not provided a special room, books were supplied by donations. The first books were donated by the student-motorman Manol Ivanov. The donations that followed were made by his colleagues, officers and teachers. It became a tradition the newly joined cadets to make donations of books. Later the school started to allocate funds, mainly for subscription to periodicals. In 1901 there were subscription funds only for three periodicals, in 1904 – for six, and in 1908 – for five. The library was headed by a student. After the war, thanks to the head of the school, Captain Ivan Mihailov, the library fund has increased considerably, and the service of the library was assigned to a teacher. At the time when the school was housed in the barracks of the Eighth Regiment, the books, arranged in sections of knowledge, occupied only four cabinets in the drawing room and in 1931 the library already had 2401 units and was subscribed to 27 periodicals, 7 of which were foreign journals – Russian, French and German. During the winter period there was a tradition teachers, and sometimes students, to give weekly lectures addressing the technical and general knowledge of students.
In 1906 Defence Minister Major General Savov approved a new program aiming at raising the level of all academic subjects. General and technical science textbooks were provided, but teachers of other subjects developed their own lectures as textbooks that students lithographed with personal funds by saving 25% of the bread for living (four people ate three loaves) to sell it to poor people of the city. They themselves did lithographing and binding, thus setting the library fund for training purposes.
Various funds arose as a form of assistance during this early period in which budget funds for maintenance were limited. In 1916 the fund ”General Kirkov” was established in order to supply its members with textbooks and technical journals. He published at his own expense in-house textbooks, maintained the library and opened a school bookstore.
In 1917 the factory owner in the town of Kazanlak, Ivan N. Hadzhienov, donated to the school 50 thousand levs for educational materials, thus the fund “Hadzhienov” was founded in 1919. In 1928 it was joined by the fund “School fees”. The objectives of the Fund were: “… the procurement of textbooks, paintings and objects of educational, custom and moral significance; acquisition and repair of equipment and purchase of materials for practical exercises; procurement of books and journals for the school library.”