[2] It is one of 29 sites on a National Park Service-recommended list of places to visit in Lexington, "Lexington, Kentucky: Athens of the West, a National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary.

[3] The building is a 1906-built Classical Revival-style Carnegie library, at the south end of Gratz Park, designed by architect Herman L. Rowe.

It was built in 1906 of Bedford limestone at cost of $75,000, of which $60,000 was funded by the Carnegie Foundation.

Its stated mission is "to empower people to explore and express their voices through imaginative learning and the literary arts.

[7] In 2013, the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning initiated the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame,[8] and inducted their inaugural class.