The Corfu Public Library is one of the oldest Public Libraries in Greece and was established at the beginning of the 17th century. Today, it is housed in the English Barracks of the Old Fortress and functions as a lending library. It holds around 75,000 volumes, and for those wishing to study old, rare volumes that cannot be lent out, there are also reading rooms available. 

The first books were donated by the bibliophile Jacob Francis Xaverio Canal, the deputy Archbishop of Corfu of the time. On his death in 1758, he left the Corfiot community his rich, personal library in his will, as well as a substantial amount of money for the maintenance and upkeep of the existing books and the purchase of new ones. At that time, the books were kept in the convent of Santa Giustina in the area of Garitsa, Corfu Town. However, during the French rule, when convents were abolished, the books were transferred to the Virgin Mary monastery in the area of Tenedos in town. 

In the early 19th century, the Library became part of the Ionian Academy, the first university of modern Greece. The Philhellene Frederic North, 5^th Earl of Guildford, the founder of the Ionian Academy, enriched the Library even more with 25,000 volumes from his own library, even donating his personal collection of valuable manuscripts.

During the hostilities that took place on 13 and 14 September 1943 the public library was tragically destroyed by German incendiary bombs. Thanks however to the support of the Greek State and to the generosity of foreign and local Corfiot donations of private, personal collections, Corfu library today remains one of the most important public libraries and well worth a visit!