The Library is affiliated with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress. The Library became a regional library for NLS in 1931 as a result of the passage of the Pratt-Smoot Act. Funding is through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Library services are provided through an agreement between the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and Perkins School for the Blind. The Library relies upon volunteers to inspect the thousands of cassettes returned to the Library each week.
Volunteers also record books, duplicate tapes, work on the computer, and perform clerical tasks.
There is usually a corps of approximately 35-50 volunteers, many of them blind or visually impaired, helping out at the Library. The Library is located in the historic Howe Building on the campus of Perkins School for the Blind, in the same space constructed for the school library in 1910.