Tarlok Singh Central State Library was established in the year 1955. The library was the 1st to be established in the city under the 1st five year plan and was named after Tarlok Singh, a member of the 1st Planning Commission of India after independence. Initially it was covered under the "Promotion of Art and Culture" scheme of the Govt. of India but after the reorganisation of the state of Punjab it came under the control of Chandigarh Administration.

The library was started at a Govt. School in Sector 23 and was shifted to its present location after the completion of the current building. Since then it is offering its services to the residents of the city beautiful.

The library is winner of the prestigious Best State Central Library of the year 2002 by Raja Rammohan Roy Library Foundation. The library is well known for many of the exclusive services it has on offer and has two branches. The first one is at a school in Sector 27. It opens after school hours at 2:00 pm and continues till evening. Second one is in Manimajra. Apart from this the library also has a Mobile Van Library that extends library lending services with selective titles to the farthest corners of the city. Another feather in its cap is the American Corner that it houses in collaboration with the American Library, Public Affairs Section and US Embassy, New Delhi.