At its January 10, 2013 meeting, the Library Board of Trustees appointed a Naming Committee to conduct a process to solicit public input regarding the name of the Library, in connection with construction of the new building. The Committee included trustees Sara Hudson, Committee Chair Bill Lamdin, Alex Martin, Board Chair Shari Nault, and Betty Richardson; Library Foundation Board members Doug James and Evelyn Noennig; and Community Historian Kevin Kooistra, of the Western Heritage Center. The Committee solicited input regarding the current name and potential new names for the Library through the Library's web site, social media and a press release.  Responses were due by February 21. The Committee met again on March 6 to consider suggestions and develop a recommendation to the Library Board. The Library Board considered the Committee's recommendation at its regular monthly meeting on March 14 and unanimously approved the recommendation, to be forwarded to the Billings City Council for consideration.

The Committee received 172 suggestions. Retaining the current name, "Parmly Billings Library", was suggested 29 times. Billings Public Library" was suggested 20 times. Of the 123 other suggestions, 100 were unique and none was suggested more than five times. The Committee thoroughly discussed the suggestions and unanimously recommended changing the name to "Billings Public Library".

In its memo to the Library Board of Trustees, the Committee noted that 143 of the 172 suggestions were in favor of a different name. In addition, the name "Billings Public Library" is simple. It is the name that most people new to the community or visiting would be looking for in the phone book or in online directories as it follows the widely-understood convention for naming public libraries, e.g. Bozeman Public Library, Great Falls Public Library, Laurel Public Library, Denver Public Library, Seattle Public Library, etc.

Finally, Billings Public Library honors both the Billings residents who voted for the bond issue that is paying for construction of the new building and the Billings family, including Frederick, for whom the City is named, and Parmly, whose name remains carved in stone at the entrance to the original Library building, now the Western Heritage Center."

If the recommended name change is implemented at this time, there will be no financial impact, as the signage for the new building and the redesign of Library graphic materials are underway.

The Library Board of Trustees recommends to the Billings City Council that the name of the Library be changed to "Billings Public Library" and that appropriate consultation with the Yellowstone County Board of Commissioners take place so that the Library Interlocal Agreement is amended to reflect the name change.