The Richmond Hill Library Association formed in 1852 under the provisions of the previous year's provincialAn Act respecting Library Associations and Mechanics Institutes. The Library Association merged itself with the local Mechanics Institute in 1858. In 1870, the two organizations split over a disagreement about the user fees, which the Library Association did not support but the Mechanics Institute did. By the end of the 19th century, it was transformed to an organization that did not require membership fees. The New Richmond Hill District Public Library, with a collection of 5,000 books, was established in the new Masonic Hall on Yonge Street.
The Central Library opened in 1993. It was designed by A.J. Diamond, Donald Schmitt and Company, and won an Award of Merit in the 1994 Governor General’s Medals for Architecture. The building consists of four storeys: on the first is the circulation desk, children's department, and music and video materials; on the second are meeting rooms; on the third are reference materials, magazines, newspapers, and general stacks; and on the fourth library administration and local history archives.
In June 1971, a librarian at Richmond Hill Public Library drove to the community of Oak Ridges with a carload of books, which she signed out to residents of the area. She also "conducted story time sessions" at two schools near Lake Wilcox. By December 1971, the Richmond Hill Public Library had leased a portable classroom at Lake Wilcox Public School, establishing the Wildwood Branch of the library. A local man donated land for the construction of a fire station and the community's first permanent library, and on June 22, 1975, the Charles Connor Memorial Branch was opened and named in his honour. The Oak Ridges Moraine Library, opened in 1990 in a strip mall, is a facility designed by Phillip Carter. It replaced the Charles Connor Memorial Library located on King Road. It will be replaced by a building on the northwest corner of Yonge Street and Regatta Avenue. The building was designed by Perkins + Will Canada Inc.. Construction of the library began in 2016, and was expected to be completed by November 2017. Rain and contractual issues delayed the opening until March 2018. In October 2018, with the library about 90% complete, the town of Richmond Hill terminated the contract of Bondfield Construction Company Limited, stating that the contractor had made little progress in completing the final 10% of the project. It then exercised a performance bond with Zurich Insurance to arrange for the completion of construction, which hired construction company Buttcon Limited to complete the work by late 2019. The library will open on 12 November 2019. The capital costs for construction of the new library were $11,863,000. The library is a two-storey structure that will include meeting rooms, children's programming room, a computer room, a maker space, audio-video equipment, and a "memory lab" to convert photographs to digital formats.
The Richmond Green Library is located in Richmond Green Park, adjacent to the Richmond Green Secondary School, for which it is also the school library.
Richvale Library
The Richvale Library was also designed by Philip Carter and opened in 1983 in the Richvale neighbourhood of Richmond Hill north of Highway 7 and west of Yonge Street.
Membership
Library cards are issued without charge to individuals who live, work, study or pay land taxes in the town of Richmond Hill, or in the communities within the York Public Libraries Network, which includes Aurora, Markham, Newmarket, and Vaughan. Replacement cards are issued at the cost of $2. If the card is damaged or worn out, the card will be replaced for free. To obtain an adult library card, a valid piece of I.D. with name and current address is required. However, RHPL does accept student card and Transit I.D. for students aged 13 to 17. Memberships expire annually. However, members are required to verify their information and pay any outstanding fees.
