[1] It serves the City of Lawrence, and, through its membership in the Merrimac Valley Library Consortium (MVLC), all of the citizens of the MVLC multi-municipality regional library system.

It is governed by a board of trustees consisting of seven members.

The original library building was designed by George G. Adams and is located at the corner of Hampshire and Haverill streets.

[2] The current Main Library Building, at the corner of Lawrence and Haverhill Streets, was completed in 1973.

It was designed by the Cambridge, Massachusetts architectural firm of Henneberg & Henneberg, and is considered a typical example of the Modernist Brutalist architecture style.