First librarian

Emma Belle Roos served as Waterloo's librarian from 1905 to 1949.^[4] Roos began her career as librarian in 1905 when the city's Carnegie library opened.^[5] She had previously worked as part-time librarian of the free library that had been housed at city hall, a position she began at the age of 21.^[5] By 1948 the library holdings at grown to 17,000 books and Roos, who spent many years working alone, had a full-time assistant.^[6] She retired on August 1, 1949, and was honoured during a dinner held at the Walper Hotel and attended by Waterloo mayor Vernon Bauman.^[7]

Eastside Branch

Since 2015, plans for the Eastside Branch Library have been underway. In September 2020, the tender for constructing the library was awarded to Fortis Construction Group at $7 million.^[8] The library's design was created by John MacDonald Architect and Ward 99 Architects.^[9] The library is built into the existing RIM Park Manulife Sportsplex, located in East Waterloo.^[9][10] The Record estimated that "a typical Waterloo household will pay $19 annually to operate the new library".^[10] The library is includes computers, 3D printers, recording rooms, a gamerspace, a program room, two study rooms, a makerspace, and an outdoor naturespace.^[11] Architect David Warne stated:

In the old days you would go into a library and you would hear the librarian go 'Shhh.' They don't want that now. Now there's collaborative group study and noisy activities and gaming rooms and 3D printers. This is a trend that kind of came from the tech industry.^[10]

The Eastside Branch opened May 7, 2022.^[12]