In 1890 a group of women formed a lending library using books from their own private collection.  By 1919 the book collection found a home in the old Red Cross building at 5th and Montgomery.  In 1948 the city commission provided space for the library in the municipal building.  The Friends of the Sheffield Library was organized several years later in 1948.  They were organized as a non-profit corporation with the purpose of providing a suitable building for a public  library in the city of Sheffield.  Their mission was to help promote and develop a library program for Sheffield as well as to encourage the use of library facilities by the public.  Soon after the incorporation they purchased a building.  In 1963 the friends donated the building to the city as a public library.  This was on the corner of 5th and Nashville.  In 1974 Sheffield Library moved to a larger building thanks to a gift to the city.

In 1983 the Friends of the library purchased the building next door to the library  and donated it to the city.  The library then received a grant from the Alabama Pulic Libray Service for the project.  The building was renovated into a conference room and a local history room.