Prior to its destruction by Indian troops, the library hosted a vast collection of an estimated 20,000 literary works, including 11,107 books (another estimate puts the number of books having been 12,613), 2,500 manuscripts, 20–25 handwritten edicts (''[[hukamnama]]'') signed and issued by the [[Sikh gurus|Sikh Gurus]], newspaper archives, historical letters, and documents/ or files.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2018-06-06 |title=The missing chapter of 1984: Book by book, Sikh Reference Library struggles to restore glory |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/the-missing-chapter-of-1984-book-by-book-sikh-library-struggles-to-restore-glory/story-UR8vtp08NrjVpE8eK4ag0N.html |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> It also contained handwritten manuscripts (''[[Sikh scriptures|bir]]'') of the [[Guru Granth Sahib]], the primary and central [[Sikh scriptures|Sikh scripture]].<ref name="tribune_fire_2003" /><ref name="SmokingGunUnitedSikhs">"The Smoking Gun Recovered, United Sikhs documentary" | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6AFP1NiF-U</ref> The library also held documents related to the [[Indian Independence Movement]]. Most of the literature was written in the Punjabi-language and related to Sikhism, but there were also [[Hindi]], [[Assamese language|Assamese]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Arabic]], [[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]], [[English language|English]], and [[French language|French]] works touching upon various topics.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
