The City Library (also known as the Léoville L’Homme City Library) was set up in 1851. It is the oldest public library in Mauritius. It was set up initially as a reference library for the municipal staff and developed into a public reference library.

As from 1935, it became accessible to the public through its lending facilities. Attempts to modernise the City Library really started in the 1960s.

Events that stand out as landmarks in its modernisation process are:

• Open access to its collections.

• Modernisation of the furniture, especially shelving.

• Introduction of the catalogue card cabinet and the Dewey Decimal Classification for non-fiction books.

• Setting up of a children’s library.

• Creation of Reading Rooms and Branch Libraries in suburban areas of Port Louis, offering facilities such as reference books, on-spot consultation of magazines and newspapers, lending of children’s books.

• Launching of a mobile library service with two vehicles for the different localities of the city.

• Computerisation of the library service in 1992.

• Recomputerisation projects in 2000 and 2010.

• Renovation of the Lending and Internet Section during the period of 2010-2011.

On 31st August 2011, the City Library was renamed as Léoville L’Homme Municipal Library. Léoville L’Homme (1857-1928), writer and famous Mauritian poet, was in charge of the Municipal Library in 1902.