The library initially opened on Monday afternoons to the blind readers who were in a position to call in person.
During the library's first five years, the number of readers increased to about one hundred and the stock to 750 volumes (600 in braille, 130 in Moon type, and 20 in Lucas systems of printing for the blind).
The poorest readers were allowed to pay less – in the hardest cases very substantially less – but only after the committee had considered individual applications for remission.
The new officers appointed to replace them proved unsatisfactory, and in 1906, "Ethel" Winifred Austin took up the new combined post of Secretary and Librarian.
[3] Despite postage rates for embossed volumes for the blind being reduced by the Postmaster General in 1906,[2] financial problems continued, and after World War I began, it became very difficult to retain staff.
Its change of name to the National Library for the Blind was approved by the Board of Trade, and it obtained exemption from the payment of rates under the Scientific and Literary Societies Act 1843.
Ethel Austin's earliest proposals of 1911 for the amalgamation of small libraries for the blind into one centralised system proved abortive.
The rebuilding of the Tufton Street portion of the Westminster premises was undertaken in 1935, reflecting a more healthy financial position.
The Northern Branch proposal of the same period to move into premises on the fourth floor of the then newly completed Manchester Central Library came to nothing.
[citation needed] The Library's experience between 1939 and 1945 did not differ significantly from that of other large organisations with buildings in vulnerable areas.
However, the service continued throughout the war years, albeit with severe restrictions in the supply of books to readers overseas.
In 1958, work was completed to reconstruct the Northern Branch building to enable it to function effectively as an efficient modern library.
After a period of relative prosperity, the Library again hit financial problems in the early to mid-1970s as spiralling inflation overtook a fairly static income.
The Library's essential needs were for warehouse space suitable for conversion into a book-stack providing 20,000 metres of easily accessible shelving and a large circulation and dispatch department, with offices immediately adjoining, all preferably on one floor.
The move freed up resources, reduced costs and increased efficiency as all the Library's book-stock was now shelved under one roof.
Some former NLB staff were re-located to an office in Stockport town centre where they continue to provide advice and support to readers.