The Wilks Branch is located in the north end of the city at the southeast corner of Brooklawn Park. It was built in 1958 with funds left in trust to the library by Sylvia Ann Howland Green Wilks whose mother was Hetty Green. The collection has approximately 35,000 items, including newspapers, magazines, DVDs, videos, and audio cassettes as well as public Internet access. There is a meeting room available for community use.

Woo Collection – This branch has materials on Chinese culture purchased with funds left in trust to the library in memory of Chuck Woo.

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Established in 1852 by a city ordinance, the New Bedford Free Public Library is among the earliest free municipal libraries in the United States. Beginning in 1857 and housed in the building now used as City Hall until 1910, the core of the library’s original holdings contained books, periodicals, and other materials purchased from the New Bedford Social Library (founded in 1807), which had assimilated the collections of the Encyclopedia Society, New Bedford Library Society, New Bedford Athenaeum and Lyceum.

Built as a City Hall in the 1830s, the present building was reconstructed after a fire in 1906. Once reconstruction was complete, the buildings switched permanently and are now home to significant historical holdings, including materials on Whaling, Quaker, and 19th-century Abolition Movement and a museum-quality collection of fine art.

The Library consists of the Main Library, four branches, and a Bookmobile.  The Wilks, Howland-Green, and Francis J. Lawler Branches were built with funds left in trust to the library by Sylvia Ann Howland-Green Wilks, whose mother was the famous financier Hetty Green. The Casa da Saudade Branch was built with a federal fund in 1971. The Main Library is open 64 hours per week and the branches are open 40 hours per week.  The Bookmobile is on the road 20 – 25 hours per week.

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The Howland-Green Branch is located in the south end of the city at the beginning of Route 18. It was built in 1964 with funds left in trust to the library by Sylvia Ann Howland Green Wilks, daughter of Hetty Green. The collection has approximately 33,000 books, DVDs, magazines, and music CDs as well as public internet access. Spanish language materials are available for kids and adults including citizenship guides, language learning books, and CDs, cookbooks, works of fiction, picture books, DVDs, and music CDs. There is a meeting room available for community use.

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The Lawler Branch is located at the northeast corner of Buttonwood Park. It was built in 1960 with funds left in trust to the library by Sylvia Ann Howland Green Wilks whose mother was Hetty Green. The collection has approximately 40,000 volumes, newspapers, magazines, DVDs, videos, and audio cassettes as well as public Internet access. The Roberta S. Barnet meeting room is available for community use.

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The Casa da Saudade Branch is located in the south end of the city in the Sister Aurora Avelar Community Center. Originally funded by a federal grant, it opened in 1971 in a small storefront on Rivet St with a collection of 3,000. In 1975, it moved to its present location. The collection is in English, Portuguese, and Crioulo. There are approximately 34,000 volumes, 92 subscriptions for newspapers and magazines, DVDs, videos, audio cassettes, and a special collection of materials acquired to assist Portuguese fishermen and their families.

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