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Celebrate Lexington, Kentucky’s 250th anniversary all year long. Join us for programs, galleries, podcasts, and more highlighting our city’s history, heritage, and legacy.

Content from over 80 Kentucky newspapers and news sources, including the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Search, view, and download digitized historical Lexington, KY Newspapers covering the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Celebrate Black History Month at LPL
Throughout February, join us as we celebrate Black history with programs, materials, podcasts, and more.
This is your gateway to our most popular resources. Search for books and eBooks, access tools for research and learning, and discover our unique collection of genealogy and local history materials.
Description coming soon.
The Lexington Public Library has made an effort to ensure that all of our digital collections are public domain, or that we have gotten approval from the copyright holders to display their work. Most - but not all - of these collections, to the best of our knowledge, have no known US copyright restrictions. Some items in the collection are under copyright but qualify for online display by libraries under Section 108(h) of United States Copyright Law. Some of the collections provided in the Library's Digital Archives are made available under an assertion of fair use, which does not necessarily apply to an individual's use of them.

The Publications Collection contains runs of historical Kentucky newspapers, almanacs, and magazines.
All databases are available from this page.
Throughout the fall of 2023 and into the winter for 2023, the Lexington Public Library will be embarking on a strategic visioning process that will guide library programs and services for the next three years.
Lexington Public Library Donations Received January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Fayette County, Kentucky, has changed enormously since it was created in 1792. This collection contains government documents for the city of Lexington, for Fayette County, and for the merged Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, as well as funeral notices, club directories, scrapbooks, image collections and a history of Lexington Public Library.
Wonderful podcasts and walking tours have been created by our staff. Please enjoy!
Read the latest news from Lexington Public Library.
Discover everything that's happening this summer at the Library!
The Lexington Public Library offers an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service which allows cardholders in good standing to borrow books and magazine articles we do not own and cannot purchase. The Lexington Public Library also lends our books to libraries both inside and outside the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
These tours are guided audio walking tours with a variety of topics focused on Downtown Lexington, KY. Music will play in between each stop, and the listener can pause the track while walking between stops.
Want to learn about new tours as they become available? Subscribe to our Genealogy & Local History newsletter.
The Lexington Public Library receives most of its operating funds from an Ad Valorem property tax. By State law, the Library receives five cents for every $100 of assessed property value in Lexington and Fayette County.
We are working to raise $5 million to build the library our community deserves — and we are over 80% of the way there! We need you to help us cross the finish line. Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a lasting positive impact on our community.
Your donation will support the spaces and programs the new library will bring to the community. Gifts are tax deductible and can be made over a five-year pledge period.
Thank you for investing in your public library.
