The foundation of the library The two founding fathers of New Norcia - Dom Rosendo Salvado and Dom Joseph Serra - began work on the monastery buildings in 1846. From these humble origins has emerged a library of considerable variety and quality. The collections extend well beyond the religious and dates back five hundred years.

The Main Library was the original site of the entire collection, but it now contains only a fraction of the religious collection. In architectural terms this room is a masterpiece of sculpture. The ceilings are all pressed metal, formed into an intricate pattern, using long-forgotten techniques. The shelving is of a light grained wood carved in an complementary pattern. These bookcases cover the entire available wall space, from roof to floor. A sign of the carpenters' ingenuity is the shelf design which allows for full adjustability using a simple, yet stable, wedge support.

The collection
In 1992, the library was revitalised and the focus was fixed on the present and future needs of the monks. A library committee was created, a library policy was formulated and a development plan was put into action.

A room on the ground floor of the monastery has been set aside for use as a library. Known as the Reading Room, it is filled with the newest, and the most relevant and important books required by the monks for their ongoing monastic formation. However, the old wood-panelled library still contains many worthwhile books, particularly the Migne collection.

All the non-religious books, important because of the Australiana and art collections, have been moved outside the monastery to the old school library. Subsidiary collections of religious books have been established in the old school biology laboratory, and the old classroom block.

Priority has been given to the development of a comprehensive data base of the books and journals.

The monastery’s large book collection has been swollen by the generous donation of many thousands of books. When the schools here closed in 1991, buildings became available as book repositories. In a period when many organisations have insufficient space for their books and seek more and more information on-line , New Norcia sees itself as providing a heritage service of storing as many books as possible against the day when these books become very difficult to access elsewhere. As a consequence, it is expected that more and more people will come here for research purposes.

Thanks to a generous Heritage Grant, a classroom block has been refurbished as a purpose-built area for archival materials, works on paper, books and journals.

The New Norcia Library is more than a collection of rare imprints and historically interesting books. It is growing and adapting constantly to meet new needs inside and outside the monastery.