First opened in 1914 in a Carnegie library building, the system provides services to a population area of 137,000 people.

[9] In 1998, a Books-by-Rail branch was opened at the Hillsboro Central MAX Light Rail station in a 168-square-foot (15.6 m2) space.

The first measure in 2002 received majority support at the voting booth, but lost due to low voter turnout and the state's double-majority law.

[11] The city purchased a two-story, 77,000-square-foot (7,200 m2) office building on Northeast Brookwood Parkway near the Hillsboro Airport for $6.8 million in September 2005.

In June 2013, the second floor opened to add 38,000 square feet (3,500 m2) of space and an art gallery to the library.

[16] The Shute Park location was closed in 2013 for renovations, and re-opened in March 2014 with the entrance moved to the west end of the building.

[18] The library added an automated kiosk, the Book-O-Mat, at the Hillsboro Civic Center in November 2015.

[19] The Hillsboro Brookwood Library is housed in a two-story, city owned building encompassing 76,000 square feet (7,100 m2).

[22] Story readings at the Brookwood Library are given in a variety of languages including Mandarin, Japanese, Bengali, and Spanish.

[24] This library includes a privately owned coffee shop with leased space in the building.

[3] Since being expanded in 2013–2014, Shute Park houses over 57,000 litems, ranging from books and videos to audio materials and periodicals.