The new Library of Birmingham will be built on two sites in the city centre.
Leaders of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat city council coalition are close to finalising plans that would involve using separate buildings - one for the archives and reference section and one for a lending library.
The sites are being kept under wraps for the time being, but The Birmingham Post understands that both locations are within walking distance of each other.
The council has applied to the Government for a private finance initiative to help meet the cost of the new libraries.
Regeneration grants are also expected to be available.
The existing Central Library would be demolished as part of the Paradise Circus redevelopment plan.
News of the latest proposal emerged as Tory council leader Mike Whitby faced further criticism for dropping a #200 million scheme for a library at Eastside.
Coun Whitby hit back at claims that the coalition was dominated by "small town politicians" who had axed the Rogers scheme for political reasons because it was promoted by the council's former Labour leadership.
He said Labour failed to cost the Eastside library and made no attempt to apply to the Government for funding.
He released a letter written by cabinet regeneration member Ken Hardeman to Lord Rogers when the coalition came to power: "We are all extremely excited by the concept design for the library building which you and your team have produced. it has received widespread acclaim, with a good reaction from the people of Birmingham.
"If we can find the funds necessary to build it, I am sure it will be seen as a great civic building."
A meeting between Coun Hardeman and Lord Rogers failed to produce any way of paying for the Eastside library.
Council acting chief executive Stephen Hughes confirmed that the Rogers plan was economically unworkable. A co-locator building surrounding the main library, supposedly to be paid for through private sector investment, was not an attractive commercial proposition, Mr Hughes said.
Coun Whitby first promoted the split-site idea in March 2004, three months before becoming council leader. He said then that the reference library should go to Millennium Point, in Eastside, and the lending library to Paradise Circus.
Yesterday Coun Whitby said: "The idea that we are against the Rogers' plan on the grounds of political dogma is nonsense. We inherited a mess from Labour with a scheme that, although desirable, had never been properly thought through.
"The people of Birmingham have been telling us they want a library close to the city centre. There has been an overwhelming response on that point. Far from dithering on this we have taken 12 months to come up with a workable scheme, which we shall announce shortly, while Labour spent four years getting nowhere.
"We have applied to the Government for funding, which is something Labour never did. At the end of the day what people want from a library are good facilities, good books, warmth and security. It is people who make a library, not the building."
