The Librarycycle program began October 22, 1980. Under an agreement with Tipton Distributing Company, 9 cents would be donated to the UT Libraries for every pound of aluminum cans brought to the collection point in the parking lot near the steam plant on Lake Loudoun Boulevard. (The actual donation was approximately 6 cents a pound because some of the money was used to operate the program.) Individuals and groups were, additionally, paid 23 cents a pound for each pound of aluminum cans brought to the site or could elect to have the funds go to the library. The project was initiated by Joe Thompson, president of Tipton Distributing and a UT alumnus, who proposed the idea to UT officials. Tipton provided a crusher and trailer, which UT leased for $1 per year.
Shortly after the project began, 80 red 30-gallon trash cans with signage indicating aluminum cans should be deposited to benefit the library were placed on campus, and 80 more were added soon thereafter. In the first three weeks of operation, the program recycled over three thousand pounds of aluminum cans.
On January 30, 1981, Homer Fisher, vice chancellor for business and finance, announced that over 50 million cans had been recycled through the program. Problems with the program were reported early in winter quarter 1981—trash was being thrown in the Librarycycle collection containers, and many of the cans were not 100 percent aluminum. The program was discontinued after its initial year.