[1] The library was founded in 1907 by the Public Library Society, which was formed by foremost Polish educators and intelligentsia, such as Stanisław Leszczyński, Samuel Dickstein, Ludwik Krzywicki and Stefan Żeromski.

Since 1914, the library had been located on Koszykowa Street in a building originally designed by Jan Fryderyk Heurich.

[2] At that time the institution was led by Faustyn Czerwijowski, the first chairman of the library, who served in this position till 1937.

Before the outbreak of World War II the library already contained 500,000 book volumes.

[3] Koszykowa Library was reconstructed after the war and further extended during the 1950s and 1960s to create additional reading rooms in the adjoining buildings.