The main collection consists of 902,521 items in multiple formats including books, reference, downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, music and movies, DVDs, CDs, large-print books, magazines, and newspapers.

[2] It was founded by Mary Irene Stanton, an El Paso area teacher.

[3] Stanton "single-handedly becomes founder of the El Paso Public Library" when in 1894, she donated her personal collection of 1,000 books for a boy's Reading Club which was housed in a room in the Sheldon Building.

[6] On December 4, 1899, 4,000 books that were collectively owned by both Mary I. Stanton and Fannie J. Clark were moved from their location in the Sheldon Hotel to El Paso City Hall.

In fact, many books were housed by operating "branches" in four different drug and grocery stores throughout El Paso starting in 1915.

In 1920, the library's book collection is moved temporarily to the courthouse so that construction could take place.

By 1951, a bond issue was approved by El Paso voters for $975,000 to build a new, larger library.

[17] Maud Sullivan taught herself Spanish in order to better select appropriate books for the library's collection.

[18] Maud Sullivan was an avid patron of the arts and also helped create an important Mining Resources Collection for the library.

These departments of the El Paso Public Library have a specific focus and/or serve a targeted group of patrons.

In addition to these collections, the Border Heritage department provides an online newspaper headline and obituary search for years 1997 through 2011.

All El Paso Public Library Branches share resources and are connected to the same database.