As part of its ongoing development plan, the community at Glenstal has recently built a new library building to house its collection of books, manuscripts and archives. The new facility means that these resources are now more readily available to the wider community. In recent years the Limerick area has witnessed a remarkable cultural and intellectual renaissance and the new library allows the monks to exercise their traditional activities of hospitality, scholarship and evangelisation in a new manner. The new library is fully equipped with conference facilities and information resources. A series of distance learning and adult education courses will start this autumn.

The collection has grown steadily from its humble origins in 1927 and is now one of the most important private libraries in Ireland holding approximately 58,000 volumes and nearly 100 journal runs. The focus of the library is primarily theological but it contains substantial holdings in the areas of Irish history, Irish literature, biography and art. It also has a collection of antiquarian books ranging in date from the 15th to the 19th centuries and a restoration programme will shortly be undertaken to restore some of the more important of these.

The library welcomes visiting scholars. Details of opening hours may be obtained from the Librarian