The collection consists of analog and digital audiovisual recordings documenting the National Book Awards finalists readings, held each year in mid-November. The majority of the recordings are sound only; a small number of years are documented in moving images as well.

There is no recording of a reading in 2001. The New School Archives staff does not know if that year's reading was canceled, held elsewhere, or recorded and subsequently lost. The National Book Foundation did not answer an inquiry by Archives staff.

Although The New School's MFA in Creative Writing Program continued to co-sponsor the National Book Awards finalist readings until 2019, the absence of recordings beyond 2010 is likely indicative of a change in audiovisual recording technologies and formats, as consumers shifted from storing sound and video on removal media, such as tapes and discs, to cloud-based storage or the Internet.

Based on inscriptions, the finalist readings were held in The New School's Tishman Auditorium, located in the university's flagship building designed by Joseph Urban. Where inscriptions identify a moderator, Robert Polito, a faculty member and founder of The New School's MFA in Creative Writing Program, serves in that role.