The US National Section of IBBY, USBBY, was established in the early 1960s by the American Library Association and the Children’s Book Council. It was incorporated as “Friends of IBBY” in 1979 and was headquartered at the Children’s Book Council in New York City at that time. The name was changed soon thereafter, and USBBY was hosted by the International Reading Association in Newark, Delaware from 1985 until the end of 2008. From 2009 the USBBY Secretariat is located at the Center for Teaching through Children's Books in Skokie, Illinois.

USBBY is chartered as a non-profit corporation, and any person, organization, institution, or corporation within the U.S. interested in international cooperation to promote and develop excellence in books for children and young people is eligible for membership. Membership categories range from individual at different levels, to organizational, and patron membership (currently American Library Association, Children’s Book Council, International Literacy Association, National Council of Teachers of English, Highlights for Children, and Boyds Mills Press). All members pay annual dues, the major source of income for the section. The structure of USBBY consists of a board of directors, with a president, president-elect, past president, treasurer, secretary, and 12 directors, plus the executive director. Members include librarians, teachers, teacher educators/children’s literature specialists, authors, illustrators, publishers, and some students.

USBBY’s regular activities include: a biannual USBBY Newsletter (digital), a biennial regional conference to which at least one international speaker is invited, three annual sessions with international speakers at the annual conferences of the patron member organizations (ALA, ILA, and NCTE). USBBY committees recommend US nominees for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award, and Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities, as well as for USBBY’s own Outstanding International Children's Book List.

USBBY organized the 1990 IBBY Congress in Williamsburg, Virginia, and was responsible for International Children’s Book Day in 1972, 1994, 2013 and 2021. USBBY is a partner in the Reading Promotion campaign of the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book in Washington, DC. USBBY participates in IBBY activities and represents IBBY on the UNICEF’s NGO Committee in New York City. USBBY members also contribute to a “Hands across the Sea” program which helps pay partial IBBY dues of underfunded national sections and IBBY's Children in Crisis projects.