The original Streamwood Village Library was created after a successful referendum in 1966. On March 18, 1967 the Streamwood Village Library opened its doors in the Hillside Shopping Center at 20 Streamwood Blvd. Marlene Deuel served as the Head Librarian from 1967-1988. Originally located in a storefront, the Streamwood Village Library increased to four storefronts between the years of 1969 and 1975 and increased the number of hours it was open to 66 hours per week. On June 22, 1971 a library district was formed and in June of 1973, the Poplar Creek Public Library District boundaries became official; including most of Streamwood, 2/3 of Hanover Park, and portions of Hoffman Estates, Bartlett, Schaumburg and Bloomingdale.
One year later, construction began for a new building located at 1405 S. Park Avenue, which opened on June 1, 1978. Pat Hogan followed Marlene Duel with the title, Administrative Librarian from 1989-2015. In 1980, the Library became a government depository for federal and state documents.
In 1991, it was determined that a branch was needed to better meet the needs of Hanover Park residents and a modular unit became the Hanover Park Branch. In 2006, it was renamed the Sonya Crawshaw Branch in honor of the late President of Hanover Park, and in 2015 the Branch was renovated to provide for a larger collection and computer usage.
In 1994, the Library purchased a home adjacent to the Park Avenue main library facility to use for storage. This home was later razed and an addition was added to the building, as well as needed parking. In 2009, the main library facility reopened after a referendum and remodeling project that more than doubled the size, with a beautiful new addition making the building approximately 98,000 square feet. The new building was featured in Library Journal as one fo the first libraries to win an architectural award. Debra Stombres became the third head librarian when she became the Executive Director in March of 2016.
