The old main library of Kaohsiung City was originally named Kaohsiung Public Education Center. It was located at the foot of Mt. Shoushan. During the Second World War, the building was bombed and most of the collections were burned to ashes. The Education Center reopened in 1945 when it was relocated to a rented building on Gushan 1st Road with a meager collection of roughly 400 Japanese books. When the Education Center was relocated again to Jhongjheng 4th Road in 1949, it was renamed as Kaohsiung City Sun Yat-sen Library. In April 1954, the name was officially changed to Kaohsiung Public Library when the new library building located at No. 39 Minsheng 2nd Road was completed and open to the public.

    Kaohsiung City became a Yuan-controlled municipality in July 1978. The library’s collections grew along with the City’s rapid development, its growing population and increasing number of patrons visiting the public library. The old library building was unable to accommodate the increasing number of collections. The newly built community center at No. 80 Minsheng 2nd Road was therefore chosen as the new site for the library and the library moved to the new location in August 1981.

     Kaohsiung City and County were merged on December 25, 2010. The greater Kaohsiung area now has 1 main library, 59 branches and 1 reading room, including the main library, Kaohsiung Literature Library, Gushan Branch, Cijin Branch, Youchang Branch, Zuoying Branch, Sanmin Branch, Sinsing Branch (including Sinsing Reading Room), Yancheng Branch, Cianjhen Branch, Baoju Branch, Nan Gushan Branch, Lingya Branch, Cueiping Branch, Yangming Branch, Caoya Branch, Heti Branch , Nanzikeng Branch, Zuoxin Branch, Siaogang Branch, Kaohsiung Cultural Center Branch, Lee-Ko-Yong Memorial Library, Gangshan Branch, Gangshan Cultural Center Branch, Yenchao Branch, Ciaotou Branch, Ziguan Branch, Ziguan Chidong Branch, Mituo Branch, Mituo Park Branch, Yongan Branch, Jiading Branch, Lujhu Branch, Hunei Branch, Alian Branch, Tianliao Branch, Jhonglun Branch, Fongshan 2nd Branch, Fongshan Caogong Branch, Dadong Arts Library, Dashu Branch, Dashu 2nd Branch, Dashu 3rd Branch,Renwu Branch, Chengguan Branch, Tashe Branch, Niaosong Branch, Daliao Branch, Linyuan Branch, Linyuan 2nd Branch, Jhongjhuang Branch, Cishan Branch, Meinong Branch, Jiasian Branch, Neimen Branch, Neimen Nei-Pu Branch, Neimen Mu-Za Branch, Neimen Gou-Ping Branch, Shanlin Branch, Liouguei Branch. In addition, we began planning the new main library in the “Asia New Bay Area” in 2011. The one-hundred-person ground-breaking ceremony took place on October 12, 2012. The main library was completed and started service on November 13, 2014. It has since become a new cultural landmark that makes Kaohsiung City proud.
　After the main library was established, the golden era of Kaohsiung Public Library began. In results, all local counties and cities began to build their own main libraries. In order to extend the pace of reformation, and to deal with the rapid information change in the Information Age with an administration framework featuring higher efficiency and greater flexibility, Kaohsiung City began planning the transformation of the public library into the Non-Departmental Public Bodies in 2016. When the Ministry of Education approved the proposal at the review meeting on April 26, 2017, the Kaohsiung City Council passed the “Kaohsiung Public Library Establishment Self-Governance Articles” at the 5th sittings of the second session on May 26, 2017. On September 1, 2017, Kaohsiung Public Library officially transformed into the Non-Departmental Public Bodies.