The Joliet Public Library was founded on March 7, 1876, with 750 donated books and Charlotte Akin was the first librarian.

[1] Today the majority of the 300,000 item collection resides in downtown Joliet at the Main Library, in a historic limestone building designed in by Daniel H. Burnham.

Among other things the collection contains a nearly complete collection of Joliet newspapers dating back to the 1860s on microfilm, city directories for the city of Joliet dating back to the 1870s, and high school yearbooks for Joliet Township High School dating back to the early 1900s.

The collection is often visited by genealogists from around the world who are researching family from Joliet or Will County.

On April 19, 1989, the Joliet Public Library was firebombed, destroying the non-fiction section of the children's area, closing the entire library for 9 days, and closing the children's section for several months.