The library found a permanent home in 1890 on the second floor of City Hall, where the office of the Mayor of Halifax is now located.

[10] In 1948, Halifax had "a single over-crowded, under-equipped room at the end of a corridor" [11] located in the City Hall building.

The conditions and poor services of the Citizens' Free Library room even failed in comparison to much smaller towns in Nova Scotia, such as Amherst.

[12] The Halifax Memorial Library "was born out of a true spirit of collaboration and of steadfast persistence from a variety of service clubs and citizens' groups active" in 1945 immediately after World War II.

[17] The Thomas Raddall branch in Clayton Park closed was replaced with the Keshen Goodman Public Library in 2001.

Seven years later the Spring Garden branch closed permanently on 30 August 2014 and was replaced by the Halifax Central Library across the street.