Lugansk Gorky Republican Universal Scientific Library was founded in 1897 as Free library for the State employees. In the first years of its existence, the library had 2,502 publications, the completing did not occur systematically, mainly due to donations. Not having its own building, it was forced to change its address and only in 1945 moved to a new room at 34 Lenin Street, where it remained until 1965.

In 1919, with the creation of the Luhansk Uyezd, which was part of the Donetsk province, the central city library was created on the basis of the public state, its staff was increased as well as its functions as a methodological center for the libraries of the Luhansk Uyezd, which at that time consisted of 25 institutions.

In 1932, the library was named after M. Gorky. In 1938, on the basis of the central city library was created a regional library, which expanded the functions and scope of institution’s activities. The book fund for this period was 125 thousand copies.

At the end of 1965, a new special building was built for the library at 78 Sovetskaya Street, where it remains to this day.

Nowadays, the library has 17 departments and 4 resource and information centers. The library is the largest depository of local history publications. In order to systematize and acquire the archives of local writers and other famous figures, scientific and research work is carried out by the sector of the literary and historical archive, created under the Department of local history information.

Since the late 1990s, the library has moved to a brand new level of service for city residents: since 1997, library has provided readers free access to the Internet, since 2003 – it has moved to an automated system of library services, since 2008, the library provides readers open access to the active part of the stock.

The library has close ties with public and state organizations and institutions, and actively cooperates with donor organizations.

In the new XXI century, the library has always been and remains now the undisputed leader and innovator in the introduction of new technologies: an electronic reading room, an electronic remote-access catalogue, a Wi-Fi zone for all library visitors, free access to the world's Internet information resources, 32 electronic databases on various issues, and more.

Since 2008, the information and resource center "Dzherelo" for users with disabilities has been opened, equipped with modern computer equipment, Internet access, and electronic databases.

With the assistance from the Russkiy Mir Foundation in 2009 Russian Centre was created and successfully operates, which is a symbolic outpost for the study and promotion of the Russian language, literature, and art.

2014 became the turning point in the modern history of the library. The military events in the Luhansk region left an indelible mark on the fate of the Luhansk Gorkovka. Many residents of the city remembered the library of the summer-autumn of 2014, with a facade damaged by projectile fragments and a direct bomb hit, broken glass. The usual work routine was destroyed.
The employees did not leave the library even during the days of the worst shelling, and in September 2014 they organized themselves and began to restore the destroyed building. They cleared piles of rubbish, removed glass shards, and covered broken window openings with plastic wrap. With the help of volunteers, it was possible to lay a through hole in the facade of the library.

Since October 1, 2014, in wartime conditions, without heat, water, electricity, communications, Gorky's library has reopened its doors to readers. An important milestone of the new 2015 was the resumption of full access of the library to the Internet and the start of work on a new version of the library’s site. All this became possible thanks to the efforts of caring volunteers.

An important event was the receipt of a grant from the Russkiy Mir Foundation (RF) and the implementation of a large-scale cultural and humanitarian project “Immortal as a Word”, timed to coincide with the 215^th anniversary of V.I. Dahl, within the framework of which the International Creative Competition "The Art of Living by the Dal" was held, open student readings "The Great Word-Walker" and a series of videos about our fellow countryman were created.

The key date of 2017 was the celebration of the 120^th anniversary of the library. A number of major events and projects were held within its framework: an open literary competition "The Language I Think in", the publication of an anniversary booklet "Book Treasury of the Luhansk Territory. Way through the centuries", the release and cancellation by the LPR Post of a special series of postage stamps with the symbols of the library and the successful holding of the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Library: the status of special importance".

The publishing activity of the library was resumed. It was marked by the release of scientific and local history collections, indexes, and book miniatures.

7 basic draft legislative documents were prepared and submitted for approval. During this period, a number of new cultural and humanitarian projects were launched: "Property of the Republic", "Library and Power", "Documentary Memory of the Republic", "Republican Library - Accessible Environment", "Poetry. Personality. Epoch", "Gorkovka visiting...", cultural and humanitarian center "Territory of meanings" and others.

In December 2017, the Gorky library celebrated the 120^th anniversary of its foundation. This event was marked by a number of festive events, a visit of foreign guests and an open scientific and practical conference "Library. The status of special importance". The latter was marked by the participation of representatives from the DPR, Russia and Abkhazia.

2018 was marked by another major date – the 150^th anniversary of the birth of the writer Maxim Gorky, whose name our library bears. By this date, Gorkovka presented to the public the web project “Burevestnik is 150 years old”. Within its framework, a number of events and exhibitions were organized that highlight the issues of the life and work of the Russian writer. For example, one of the key meetings within the framework of the project was the literary reading "A word about the Burevestnik” held in March. Among other things, there were also a presentation and a procedure of cancellation of the stamp for the anniversary of the Russian writer.

Autumn 2018 was marked by a creative event – the Open Literary Competition “Territory of words”, held on the basis of the LRUSL named after M. Gorky. It was attended by amateur and professional writers from LPR, DPR, Ukraine and Russia. The festival was remembered by residents of Lugansk and guests of the city with lively literary discussions, interesting theatrical performances and performances by talented authors.

The central event of 2019 was the 10^th anniversary of the foundation of the Russian Centre in the Luhansk Republication Library. Its culmination was the holding in November 2019 of the Open Scientific and Practical Conference “The Right to the Word. Donbass.ru”. The meeting was marked by an extensive geography of participants, in addition to Luhansk residents, guests from Donetsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Kaliningrad and Orenburg took part in the event. As part of the celebration of the 10^th anniversary of the Russian Centre there was also an open literary competition “Live. Russian. Ours” and the presentation of miniature editions of the works of V. Garshin and A. Chekhov.

The library of Maxim Gorky spent 2020 under the banner of celebrating the 75^th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. A number of major events, exhibitions and historical lessons were held at the library of Maxim Gorky and institutions of the city. The COVID-19 virus pandemic made significant adjustments. The library was forced to suspend services to its readers, but continued to work actively. Some of the planned events were moved to online format. For example, during the months of April and June, Gorky librarians released several dozen videos with book reviews, exhibition presentations, educational and entertaining programs and performances. In November-December 2020, thanks to cooperation with the Russian World Foundation, Luhansk Gorkovka installed and wrote software for the information kiosk, which was presented in early 2021.