Initially the Peace Library was established with a donation of about 2,000 books and periodicals from the Martin Luther King Peace Library Atlanta, USA. Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne donated his own library too to add to the collection and further donated the Sinhala translation of the Tripitaka printed with his personal funds. Books have been donated by Mr. Paul Fernando, Mrs. Neetha Ariyaratne and more books have been purchased with finances from the A. T. Ariyaratne Charitable Trust.
The Asia Foundation has provided funds to build the book racks. Currently the library has around 4,000 books and periodicals of a variety of genres covering philosophy, religion, autobiographies, social science and literature. The books are classified and documented in an index. A collection of books authored by Dr A. T. Ariyaratne and photographs are also available at the library.