Trinity College Kandy has 3 libraries. The main library currently housed in the Milton Senanayake building is one of the utmost prides of the college. It was initiated as a reading room in 1875 by the Trinity College Literary Association. Then in 1882, the College took over its administration. In 1913, a special building was put up in these premises.
In 1925, Rev. J. Mcleod Campbell (The Principal in 1924), who was aso a Captain of the British Army during World War 1, wanted to bring up the standards of the Trinity College library to an undergraduate level. When hetook over College from Rev. A.G. Fraser, most of the ground work had being done by him in the period from 1904 to 1924.
Whenever the people then left to UK, they collected money from friends in the UK and brought books for the Trinity College Library collection. Even to date, these books are treasured and cherished in the College Library and Archives as most of these are 1st editions of the relevant publications.The library grew over the years to be one of the best for any school in the country.
In 1939, the Collins Hall which then housed the library was put down to put up the current College Main Hall. It was then that the Senanayake brothers donated the present Senior Library Building in the Fraser Block in memory of Milton Senanayake (an old boy who had a premature death). The Milton Senanayake Memorial building was completed in 1955 and the library was successfully moved there, where it stays put to date in a congenial and spacious place. At the time of shifting, Mr. Hugh Smith was the ambitious librarian who set plans to catalogue the books and to increase the number of volumes. Afterwards, Mr. Vernon Janze took charge, effecting many improvements. For the convenience of readers, he introduced the Devy Decimal System of re-cataloguing books. The 16,000 volumes he took charge of were properly classified to sections.
With more than 23,000 thousand valuable books and periodicals, Trinity College Kandy boasts the best school library in Sri Lanka. Many times have schools and institutions from Colombo and other areas contacted / browsed the Trinity Library to obtain information on the country’s history. In Trinity, it is not merely a place for books, magazine, periodicals and newspapers, but also the portrait gallery storehouse and a museum. The opening of the College Archives as an addition to the Library in 1997 at the 125th Year’s Prize Giving by Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar was prominent as Trinity boasts the first College Archive of its kind in Sri Lanka.
Possession of a Library well quipped with all the paraphernalia necessary to make education a wholesome experience and keep abreast of all the conceptual changes, makes the Trinity College Library a very most cornerstone institution of the school. The present Librarian, Mrs. S. Kuruwita, continues to maintain the true legacy of this prestigious place through noteworthy years of dedicated service towards the Trinity College Library, upholding the value of one of the prides of Trinity College Kandy.