The first mention of the Institute of Literary Studies in the Faculty’s documents dates back to 1968, when it was called the Institute for Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Past heads of the Institute were, in chronological order: Stanko Lasić, Miroslav Beker, Viktor Žmegač, Aleksandar Flaker and Dubravka Oraić Tolić. Danijela Lugarić was appointed head on October 1st 2013. Up until the 90s the Institute engaged in two primary activities: coordinating scholarly work done by literature sections at different departments at the Faculty (scientific projects, conferences, international cooperation) and publishing.

Over the years, the Institute organized more than forty conferences, including annual conferences Pojmovnik ruske avangarde, and Zagrebački pojmovnik kulture 20. stoljeća (held from 1993) and Hrvatska književnost u evropskom kontekstu – Croatian literature in the European context (organized by Viktor Žmegač and Dubravka Oraić Tolić).

The majority of the Institute’s publications dates from the 70s, when Slavko Goldstein established the edition „Liber“. The first editorial board included university professors Miroslav Beker, Ivo Frangeš, Mladen Kuzmanović, Vladimir Vratović, Vice Zaninović, Mate Zorić and Viktor Žmegač. The Institute published facsimile editions of rare and significant books from Croatian cultural heritage, journal Croatica and other publications. Seven volumes of Povijest svjetske književnosti were published in cooperation with the publishing house „Mladost“, alongside with several proceedings of different symposiums and anthologies of contributions to several scientific projects (Hrvatska književnost u europskom kontekstu, Komparativno proučavanje južnoslavenskih književnosti, Hrvatsko-talijanski književni odnosi, etc.) and the edition Biblioteka L, dedicated  to literary theory. Many of the titles published by the Institute were awarded with renowned prizes, such as Sukob na književnoj ljevici by Stanko Lasić, Ideja i priča by Milivoj Solar, Stilske formacije by Aleksandar Flaker, Književno stvaralaštvo i povijest društva and Težišta modernizma by Viktor Žmegač, Hrvatska versifikacija by Ivan Slamnig, etc.

When „Liber“ became an independent publisher in the 80s, the Institute became a small university publisher specializing in editions from the field of literary theory. Alongside with special publications, the Institute issued another three independent editions: Enciklopedija hrvatske književnosti (a series of monographies on Croatian authors and Slavists), Zbornici (Književni barok, Suvremeno hrvatsko pjesništvo, Intertekstualnost & intermedijalnost, Tropi i figure, etc.) and a new series within the edition Biblioteka L. From 1991 to 2002 more than 23 titles were published in the edition Biblioteka L, among which are also two awarded titles: Duh secesije i impresionizma by Viktor Žmegač and Prostor pjesme by Branko Vuletić.

The university reform at the beginning of the 90s caused some significant changes in the structure of the Institute which now focused on individual approach to coordinating scientific projects and conferences with a reduced number of employees. Three doctoral candidates completed their theses working on scientific projects carried out by the Institute: Ana Lederer (2002), Dubravka Zima (2004) and Danijela Lugarić (2010). The Institute’s publishing activities were maintained until 2002, when the publication of titles from the field of literary theory became an integral part of general publishing activities at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. In the past ten years, the Institute has conceived, conducted and coordinated a project in cooperation with the Institute of Hungarian Literature and Cultural Studies at the Eötvös Loránd University from Budapest (project coordinator: Dubravka Oraić Tolić). Several acclaimed anthologies from the field of cultural studies, imagology and comparative literature were published within the framework of this project.