The American Philatelic Research Library was founded in 1968 to accumulate, organize, and preserve philatelic information including publications and other data relating to the stamp collecting hobby and to make it available to American Philatelic Society members, staff, and the public. Today it has one of the world's largest and most accessible collections of philatelic literature, with nearly four miles of shelving containing more than 23,000 book titles and 5,700 periodical titles, research materials and archival collections.

The American Philatelic Research Library’s mission is to gather a comprehensive collection of philatelic reference and resource materials, to organize it efficiently in useful and accessible ways, and to make it available to interested users both within the hobby and outside it, now and for generations to come.