A new stellar library developed for stellar population synthesis modelling is presented. The library consists of 985 stars spanning a large range in atmospheric parameters. The spectra were obtained at the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope and cover the range λλ 3525-7500 Å at 2.3 Å (full width at half-maximum) spectral resolution. The spectral resolution, spectral-type coverage, flux-calibration accuracy and number of stars represent a substantial improvement over previous libraries used in population-synthesis models.