The Collection includes over 1,500 items, including long playing records, reel to reel audio tapes, audio cassette tapes, videotapes, compact discs and DVDs. Most of the recordings are listed in the catalog under the name of the writer.

Nearly 50% of the collection comprises recordings of the Visiting Poets and Writers Reading Series or readings presented under the auspices of the Poetry Center. The earliest of these was recorded in 1963 (Robert Creeley).  The Poetry Center is currently digitizing its collection of pre-1999 audio recordings. A significant number of these, as well as more current recordings, are available to the public on listening/viewing stations in the library reading room. Digitization is made possible, in part, through funding provided by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Southwestern Foundation.

The collection also includes commercially available materials such as the Lannan Literary Videos, the Visions and Voices Series from PBS and tapes from the San Francisco State Poetry Archive, among others.