North York Central Library is located in northern Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the intersection of Yonge Street and Empress Avenue, north of Sheppard Avenue. The library is located on the west side of Yonge Street beside Mel Lastman Square in the mall of the North York Civic Centre, which until 1998 was North York's City Hall.

North York Central Library is served by the North York Centre subway station, which is adjacent to the mall containing the library (which is officially called the City Centre North York but almost always referred to as the North York Centre). North York Central Library is one of the two libraries in Toronto considered to be "Research and Reference Libraries", the other being the Toronto Reference Library downtown. In contrast to the Toronto Reference Library, however, most of the items in the North York Central Library can be signed out.

Research and Reference Libraries are the largest libraries in Toronto, are open the longest hours, and have the most extensive collections.