Public library has been taking active roles in the urban transformation strategies over the last twenty years. This paper researches origins and defines the public library and the city relation, systematizing those roles and strategies through literature review. The library and the city relation is confirmed as mutual and the public library is defined as the „place” in the city fabric in the accordance with its architectural attributes and location.; Javna knjižnica aktivno sudjeluje u strategijama urbane transformacije tijekom posljednjih dvadeset godina. Ovaj rad istražuje podrijetlo i definira odnose javne knjižnice i grada, te sistematizira uloge i strategije kroz pregled literature. Odnos knjižnice i grada sagledava se kao uzajaman, a javna knjižnica definira ‘mjestom’ u gradskom tkivu u skladu sa svojim arhitektonskim atributima i položajem.