The most requested items included novels by George Eliot, works on sanitary engineering, yacht architecture and sailing, New Zealand Statutes, and science books.

[7] The most popular novelists in the circulating area of the library in its first six months of operation included Sarah Grand, Marie Corelli, Edna Lyall, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, Stanley Weyman, E. F. Benson, Thomas Hardy, Mrs Henry Wood, and Mrs Humphry Ward.

In March 2019, Wellington City Council announced that the Central Library was to be closed to the public, after receiving advice from engineers that the building has structural vulnerabilities which mean it might not perform well in the event of a significant earthquake.

[22] Wellington's first branch library opened in Newtown in 1902, stocking general literature and a range of newspapers and magazines.

[28] The library has offered a variety of services over the years to keep up with changes in technology, public taste and budget.

[30] As of 2025 Wellington City Libraries offers online remote access to databases, e-books and audiobooks, newspapers, magazines, films, music and language learning apps.

[31] Events held at the branch libraries include story times for young children, conversation groups for migrants, movie nights, and talks by authors.

[35] In 1996 the library introduced 'bestsellers': patrons could pay a small fee to jump the reserve queue for a bestselling book and borrow it immediately.

[40] In 2006 the New Zealand Music Board honoured the Library with an excellence award for its "Sing along with Stu" story-time programme.