[1][2] The library began as the Mechanics' Institute in 1859, when 100 subscribers leased temporary premises in the then Town Hall.

By 1863, with the help of a grant from the Provincial Government, the Mechanics' Institute opened a building on a half-acre of freehold land on the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Hereford Street, purchased the year before at a cost of £262.10.0.

Debt, dwindling subscribers and other problems forced the institute to hand over the building to the Provincial Government in 1873.

By this time the collection numbered some 5,000 volumes, and was placed by the Province under the control of the new Canterbury College (later University).

Francis Stedman was the first official librarian (1876–1891), although he divided his time between the library and the college, where he was also registrar.

This dramatic growth was partly due to the gift of James Gammack, who donated the income and rents from some 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of land to the library in his will in 1896.

This enabled the college to demolish the original wooden Mechanics' Institute building in 1901 and replace it with a permanent material structure.

Bell classified the entire collection under the new Dewey Decimal system (still in use) by 1914, and opened a children's section that same year.

SATIS, a technical information service for business firms, was begun in 1977 as a cooperative venture between Government and city.

By the late 1960s it was obvious that site on the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Hereford Street could not cope with the library's growth, although some temporary accommodation was achieved with the addition of a mezzanine floor in 1970 and a prefabricated annex in 1975.

Canterbury Public Library celebrated 50 years of unity with the Christchurch City Council in October 1998.

To mark the occasion, the library held a number of events, including a parade for information literacy in which over 700 people from various organisations, schools and community groups participated.

The Gloucester Street central library building was extensively damaged during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake,[1][2] and was demolished to make way for a new convention centre.