It is published six times yearly in print, plus a digital-only July/August issue and occasional digital supplements, such as the annual State of America’s Libraries report.
American Libraries' Newsmaker feature, which appears in each issue, has included interviews with Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Dolly Parton, Emilio Estevez, Al Gore, Stan Lee, George Takei, Alice Walker, Pharrell Williams, Jacqueline Woodson, Debbie Harry, and others.
Since its first episode in 2016, the podcast has covered subjects ranging from banned books and fake news to disaster response and artificial intelligence in libraries.
Past guests have included Kwame Alexander, Ken Burns, Michael Eric Dyson, Sally Field, Brad Meltzer, Bill Nye, Marjane Satrapi, and Rick Steves.
American Libraries is active on Facebook and Twitter, where staffers share content from the magazine, breaking news, and coverage from ALA conferences and meetings.
In the 2016 “Special Report: Digital Humanities in Libraries” article, the contractors expressed concerns about the editors inserting quotes that were "grossly inappropriate" for the magazine after they believed a final version was approved.