It was established in 1905 as Victoria Memorial Library and was renamed to its present name, Maharaja Harendra Kishore Public Library on Maharaja Sir Harendra Kishore Singh's birthday in 1955.

The District Education Officer (DEO) serves as the president of the library.

On 21 February 2013, Maharaja Harendra Kishore District Public Library Resource Center was established as an initiative of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Gates Global Library Project by the state government of Bihar with the help of Digital Empowerment Foundation.

In 1936, the library was shifted to the land of Bettiah Raj following the earth quake in 1934.

[5] It was promoted to the status of the library of sub-division by the state government of Bihar in 1958.