It is situated on the west side of the city centre at Centenary Square, beside the Birmingham Rep (to which it connects, and with which it shares some facilities) and Baskerville House.

The original plan was to build a new library in the emerging Eastside district,[9] which had been opened up to the city centre following the demolition of Masshouse Circus.

In August 2006, the Council confirmed the area between the Rep Theatre and Baskerville House as the future site for the library.

[14] In early August 2008, Mecanoo and multi-discipline engineers, Buro Happold, were announced as the winner of the design competition.

[15] More detailed plans for the library were revealed by the council in conjunction with the architects at a launch event held on 2 April 2009.

Then-Poet Laureate Andrew Motion said that "These plans are properly ambitious to preserve the best traditional practice, while also opening the building to new ideas about what a library should be — the heart of the community, fulfilling all manner of social needs as well as scholarly, research-based and pleasurable ones."

Philip Pullman said "The new Library of Birmingham sounds as if it will be lovely and should attract even more users than the present one with its impressive visitor total of 5,000 a day."

Sir Alan Ayckbourn said "I wholeheartedly support the proposed exciting new plans to develop the new Birmingham library" and Irvine Welsh said "[It's] an audacious and compelling initiative which promises to redefine and modernise the entire notion of public library services, and in the process create the greatest public information resource in Europe ...

[21] Preparation of the ground for building, and archaeological work between Baskerville House and The Rep had begun before planning permission had been granted.

[25] The formal opening on 3 September 2013 was conducted by Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban assassination attempt, and who now lives in Birmingham.

[29] On 17 July 2014 the Library of Birmingham was nominated as one of the six short-listed buildings for the 2014 Stirling Prize, awarded for excellence in architecture.

[41] Also displayed in the Library are two large coade stone medallions, made in the 1770s and removed from the front of the city's Theatre Royal when it was demolished in 1956.

In early 2016 the library extended weekday opening hours to 9 am to 9 pm after an agreement was made with the Council run Brasshouse Language Centre to occupy space in the building.