In 1914, the collection, which had been managed by the Women's Christian Temperance Union and had grown to over 1100 books, was passed over to the city to form the Sunnyvale Public Library.

The library was housed within the Wright building and later within the Civic Auditorium of the old City Hall, on Murphy Avenue.

A branch library opened in 1975 in north Sunnyvale but closed in 1978 due to budget cuts as a result of Proposition 13.

In 2007, a bond measure for $108 million for construction of a new library building failed to pass, receiving only 59.08% of votes cast, short of the 2/3 majority needed for passage.

[1] The library has books, magazines, newspapers, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, audiobooks, SAMs Photofacts, eBooks, eMagazines, eAudio, streaming video, music, storytimes, and homework help.