A Shaker brother from New Lebanon, New York, visited it in November 1855 and marveled at the free access to books: "I went awhile to the state library, free for the public — looked round — and was much edified with the wonderful collection of books, maps, &c — much art & expense is displayed there.

[6] On March 29, 1911, a fire in the Assembly Chamber of the New York State Capitol, where the Library was located at the time, devastated its collections, destroying approximately 450,000 books and 270,000 manuscripts[7] including some of the historical records documenting New York's early Dutch and colonial history, translated by Francois Adriaan van der Kemp.

The collection is national in scope, but with an emphasis on families from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New England.

There are some reference works available for genealogical research outside of the U.S., but separate family histories are not collected for foreign countries.

The library's online catalog provides access to information about genealogical materials via author, title, and subject searches; card files are available on site provide access to additional resources such as the surname records, vital records, city directories, and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) collection.

TBBL lends braille and recorded books and magazines, and the necessary equipment to play recorded books, to New York State residents who are unable to read standard printed materials because of a visual or physical disability.