It was created on March 25, 1867 as the Provincial Library of Ceara with around 1,700 books by the then president of the Province of Ceará João de Sousa Melo e Alvim. The institution also appears as a Public Archive. On February 6, 1975, President Ernesto Geisel inaugurated the current library building. By Decree 12.768 of May 22, 1978, Governor Waldemar Alcântara changes the name of the Public Library of the State to Public Library Governador Menezes Pimentel honoring former Governor Francisco de Meneses Pimentel. In 2002, the library underwent its last general renovation, where a complete renovation of the building's structure was carried out, with the modernization of the systems and structure, in addition to the physical integration with the Dragão do Mar Cultural Center.
The library occupies an area of 2,272m², spread over 5 floors. With a collection of approximately 100,000 volumes, it is largely computerized and available to the community that frequents it at an average of 10,000 users / month.
