Artists' impressions for the new City Library have been revealed as work on the facility gets underway.
Builders have started converting the space previously occupied by the Bradford 1 Gallery in City Park and the large unit next to Starbucks into a contemporary library.
Construction is scheduled to be completed in around three months and the City Library is due to open in December.
It comes nearly two years after the Central Library was closed because of health and safety fears. The plans were unveiled earlier this year after it was revealed it would take too long to repair the existing Central Library space.
The overall project will cost £9m – £8m of which will be spent on the Central Library building.
That cash will be clawed back through savings on rents being paid for privately-owned office space when staff move to the Central Library building and eventual savings on maintenance costs.
The new City Library venue will hold 60,000 books, 40 computers, newspapers, journals and study space.
Through the IT system, users will have access to the whole of Bradford Council's stock plus the ability to source material held outside.
The temporary children's library, Park And Read which opened in June in City Park's pavilion, will also move to its new home in City Library in December.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: “The Park And Read facility has been hugely successful which demonstrates how much people are enjoying have such a service in City Park.
“We can't wait for the new City Library to open in time for Christmas and believe local people will be delighted with its new location.
“We expect an increased use of the new library which will lead to more people visiting the city centre and this should have a positive impact on local businesses.”
Self service kiosks will also be in place for customers to issue and return books and DVDs.
A full range of books for loan will be available as well as a programme of story times, rhyme times, events and activities for children, teens and families.
Meanwhile, West Yorkshire Archive Service and Bradford Libraries Local Studies library will re-open in a refurbished area of the ground floor of the former Central Library in December where users will have access to archives.
Bradford's new Local Studies floor area is designed to be bigger and better than before. It will offer over 6,000 lending books on public access movable shelving which can be moved to create temporary meeting/lecture space for local groups within the library.
The design brief includes 17 public PCs which can be used by customers and to deliver learning events in house or with external education providers.
Over 1700 volumes of original local newspapers from across the district will be housed in fire safe conditions.
Coun Hinchcliffe said: “I'd like to thank the users of Local History and West Yorkshire archives for their patience in waiting for their service to be restored. Local history is a vital part of Bradford's identity and I hope users of the new facility will feel the refurbishment makes their work much easier in the future.”