The former library, a late 19th-century Grade II listed building, is now occupied by Swansea Metropolitan University's Welsh School of Architectural Glass.

The library was designed by Henry Holtom of Dewsbury in the Italian classical style and opened in 1887 by the former and future Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.

The Dylan Thomas Collection, established in the early 1950s, consisted of over 3,000 books and periodical articles written by, or about, the Swansea-born poet and author.

[5] The new Swansea Central Library, opened in March 2008, is housed in the Civic Centre alongside the West Glamorgan Archives Service.

A spokesman for the university stated that additional works were undertaken to meet revised requirements of the listed elements of the building, including the round reading room, the reinstatement of the cupola to the central tower (damaged by World War II bombing) and works to the party walls.