Alumni Memorial Library

The library originated as a modest collection of predominantly religious books assembled by Father Joseph Dabrowski, founder and first rector of the seminary, and his associates. This unorganized collection became the responsibility of the students' Polish Literary society at its inception in 1895. The fledgling library was relocated in 1909, along with the seminary, to the present campus in the Village of Orchard Lake, where it was initially housed in what is known today as the Academic Center of St. Mary's Preparatory. Eventually, the collection grew to 50,000 volumes serving all three schools and merited the construction of a separate building.

In 1956 a modern library building was constructed as a gift from the Orchard Lake Schools Alumni Association. This new facility was named the Alumni Memorial Library. In the 1970's and 1980's the preparatory and archival collections were moved to other locations on campus. This provided additional space for collections supporting theologate and collegiate degree programs.

Historically, the library collection primarily served the graduate and undergraduate divinity programs. As a result the most extensive library holdings are in theology and philosophy. Other well-develoed collections include those in Polish language and culture, sociology, psychology, literature, history, political science, and art.