bankstown was one of the first metropolitan councils to establish a free public library, with the opening of a children's library in 1946. the library was originally known as bankstown municipal library, and when sir roden cutler, the governor of nsw, declared bankstown a city in 1980 the library officially became known as bankstown city library. the original children's library was replaced by a full library service and the current building was opened in may 1983. in 2010, plans for a new library building were confirmed on the existing bankstown town hall site and construction of a new library to be completed early 2014.