In 1924, the Booker T. Washington Branch of the Albertson Library was opened to serve the African American community.

A plaque now hangs at the 528 West Jackson St. location in honor of the Booker T. Washington Library and its librarian Gloria Riley Merriett.

[9] In 1962, construction of a new Main Library was approved by the Orlando voters, and the City acquired adjacent land.

In 1964, the library moved to temporary headquarters at 905 North Orange Avenue until the Albertson building was demolished and construction began.

Funding has been approved for the construction of two additional branches in Horizon West and Lake Nona.

The Southeast Branch opened in January 1986 before moving in 1994 to its current location just a couple miles from the Orlando International Airport.

The Washington Shores branch, beginning as a library station in 1963, moved to the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in 1965 and to the Southwest Boys Club in 1981.

Windermere's library opened in 1959 to replace a book exchange located in John Luff's Country Store.

The current branch, which was added in August 1991, is housed with a wrap-around porch located in the Town Square.

In the western part of Orange County, Winter Garden's first branch opened in November 1964 to replace a bookmobile station.

Shortly after, the City of Winter Garden purchased two lots as the site of a future branch, which was dedicated on April 20, 1969.

Dorothy Lumley Melrose helped raise money to rebuild what is now the Orlando Public Library, taught at Memorial Middle School, and later in life became the first female stockbroker in the city.

[17] In 2017, the library received a Dollar General Literacy Foundation Award for $10,000 to expand its ESL classes.

[20] OCLS curates three special collections housed on the fourth floor of the Orlando Public Library.

In October 2022, Orange County Library System staff members presented the board of trustees with a recommendation to eliminate fines on overdue materials.

[24] Effective on October 16, the Orange County Library System stopped collecting fines on overdue materials.