The Youngstown Free Library opened it's doors with an open house on November 12, 1949. The Library was started as a project of the Youngstown Civic Guild. The Youngstown Free Library Association was established at the first meeting on February 28, 1949. The Library was originally located at 120 Lockport Street. It is currently located at 240 Lockport Street. The Library moved into its current quarters in 1973.

The library service population is officially 3972. The square footage for the library at 120 Lockport St. was 925 sq. feet. The current square footage at 240 Lockport St. is 2,798 sq. feet. Upon opening there were about 1700 books on the shelves. Currently the library has about 20,000 books. In 1949 the library subscribed to 6 magazines. In 2000 the library subscribed to 57 magazines. In 1949 the library was open 3 days a week totaling 13.5 hours a week. Currently the library is open 36 hours a week, 6 days per week.