The library is housed next to the Lubavitch world headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, and is utilized by Chabad and general Judaic scholars.

[1][2] The library contains more than 100,000 letters, artifacts, and pictures belonging to, written by and for the rebbes of Chabad and their Hasidim complete the collection.

Little remains of the original collections, for almost all books and manuscripts were either destroyed in the frequent fires plaguing small towns in those days or were lost in various other upheavals and crisis situations over the generations.

The bulk of the existing collection began to form in the third generation of Chabad—during the mid-19th century—and progressively expanded over time to become one of the world's most prominent Judaic libraries.

During Chabad's third generation, under Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (1789–1866), known for his major Talmudic-Halachic work, Tzemach Tzedek, a more substantial collection took form.

During the years following, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak attempted through various means to seek the release of his original library, but was unsuccessful.

[7] When World War II began in 1939, Yosef Yitzchak escaped Nazi-occupied Poland and along with his family and some members of his secretariat, arrived in New York City.

[8] After his arrival to New York in 1941, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson established a library for the purpose of serving the needs of the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch.

He continued to expand his new library, and in 1967 acquired the building adjacent to his office, for the purpose of housing the sizable collection.

One illuminated Passover Haggadah dating back to 1757 was sold for $69,000 to a Swiss book dealer who soon found a private buyer to pay nearly $150,000 for it.

The Chabad movement argued that the library was the "communal property" of the Lubavitch Hasidim and not the "personal possessions" of the late Rebbe.