English: It was established by order No. 2798 dated 8 November 1884 of the lieutenant governor of the Punjab. It has been registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860.

Facts 1. The library began operations in the Baradari Wazir Khan, an imperial building built by Nawab Wazir Khan, the governor of Lahore, during Emperor Shahjahan’s reign. 2. Other library blocks were built in 1939, a block housing the auditorium & Bait-ul-Quran section was constructed in 1968. 3. Lies in the heart of the city of Lahore, surrounded by Punjab University (Old Campus). 4. The library holds a collection of books in all fields of knowledge in English, Urdu, Persian, Arabic & Punjabi. Its total collection is about 0.3 million volumes which includes books, magazines / newspapers, reports, the old gazettes of Punjab, Pakistan & undivided India & more than 1500 manuscripts. 5. Aims and objectives are to provide a public library for the use of all classes of people in the provincemakereading room open to the public, free of charge, to contribute to the intellectual advancement of the country & to make information accessible to the masses.

6. At current, it is under the administrative control of the Punjab Education Department.