{"id":71615,"date":"2025-10-10T11:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T11:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/71615\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T11:46:11","slug":"libraries-look-to-fill-the-gap-left-by-baker-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/71615\/","title":{"rendered":"Libraries Look to Fill the Gap Left by Baker & Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the announcement of Baker & Taylor\u2019s imminent closure<\/a>, different parts of the publishing ecosystem are moving as fast as they can to adjust to a world without the country\u2019s largest library wholesaler. While wholesalers Ingram Content Group and Bookazine are ramping up their operations to take over parts of B&T\u2019s business, librarians are scrambling to find new wholesaling partners.<\/p>\n

The swift collapse of B&T did not come as a complete surprise to librarians, who had been experiencing a growing number of issues with the company. Those problems were compounded when, as part of the agreement with ReaderLink, B&T canceled orders with publishers to prepare for a new ordering system with ReaderLink that never came.<\/p>\n

Lesley Caldwell, collections and technical services manager at Tacoma Public Library, told PW that while there were many aspects of B&T she liked, the company\u2019s delays had become a problem, with items that used to take two weeks taking as long as 16 weeks, including must-have frontlist titles. Caldwell said TPL already had cancelled about 7% of its orders from B&T, and \u201conce we heard that the ReaderLink deal was happening, we moved all of our future run of orders to Ingram.”<\/p>\n

Kate Sellers, technical and collection services manager at Seattle Public Library, had much the same B&T experience as her Tacoma colleague. \u201cIn 2025, we have ordered 5,500 items from Baker & Taylor,\u201d Sellers said. At the time the ReaderLink deal was announced, \u201cwe had 90 orders covering about 500 copies that we had to cancel, and we shifted some future planned orders as well. Almost 500 copies are still back-ordered.\u201d<\/p>\n

SPL had been somewhat shielded from the full impact of B&T\u2019s problems, Sellers said, because Ingram is its primary vendor. But B&T was the primary vendor for TPL. \u201cOur team loved the user interface,\u201d and often used B&T carts to organize all their purchases\u2014even those ultimately ordered through other vendors\u2014because the functionality was so efficient, Caldwell said.<\/p>\n

With B&T closing, TPL has decisions to make. \u201cWe like Ingram, but we don\u2019t want to have one monopolized vendor,\u201d said Caldwell. \u201cFolks are exploring Brodart, and we\u2019ve heard that Amazon has made visits to more than one Puget Sound library in the hopes of becoming a library materials vendor.\u201d She said that Amazon so far hasn\u2019t visited Tacoma, \u201cso I haven\u2019t heard the sales pitch.”<\/p>\n

Christopher Platt, a former B&T employee and now director of libraries at Santa Cruz Public Libraries in California, said B&T\u2019s Customized Library Services \u201chas defined many libraries’ workflows over the last couple of decades, allowing titles to arrive catalogued and processed according to local specifications.\u201d Even with some top-notch services, Platt said, service interruptions and prolonged delays such as those that plagued B&T are disruptive.<\/p>\n

Platt pointed out that since B&T had set the standard in such things as providing \u201cshelf-ready\u201d cataloging and processing, the process of setting up accounts with another vendor can be lengthy and complex. <\/p>\n

Alternative avenues<\/p>\n

The reports of Amazon representatives pitching services to libraries in the Northwest was not an aberration. In late June, <\/a>Amazon Business quietly published a blog post<\/a> introducing the launch of Amazon Business Books for Libraries. The company\u2019s approach to the library market is that since many libraries already use Amazon to buy a range of goods and service, it has now developed the capabilities to allow libraries to buy books.<\/p>\n

To that end, Amazon Business has created a dedicated Library Hub, which offers libraries a way to source new, upcoming titles and manage MARC record downloads in one place. And in true Amazon fashion, the company will offer discounts on selected new titles ranging from 30%-40% off of list price.<\/p>\n

Given the complicated nature of library wholesaling and its existing position in the market, Ingram is well positioned to pick up a sizable chunk of B&T\u2019s business. Carolyn Morris, VP of Ingram Library Services, noted that most large library systems already have at least one account with Ingram and that many libraries have increased the volume they do with Ingram since the pandemic. The company also has seen a steady increase in business with smaller libraries in recent years, and saw an uptick in orders ever since the collapse of the B&T-ReaderLink deal. Morris said Ingram has plenty of inventory on hand\u2014some 19 million titles\u2014to meet any increase in demand.<\/p>\n

To meet the expected increase in volume, Morris said, Ingram is rolling out its new cataloging and processing system this month, which will enable it to onboard new shelf-ready customers more quickly. And the company, Morris added, \u201cis hiring across the organization to make sure that we can effectively meet the needs of our library customers.\u201d The company expects to add as many as 50 new positions to its library business.<\/p>\n

Ingram has long had many library services in place, including collection development options, ordering tools, cataloging and processing capabilities, and training and resource services.<\/p>\n

Bookazine, the 100-year-old book wholesaler based in New Jersey, saw an immediate spike in interest from the school, academic, and library markets following the news of B&T\u2019s closing, said Richard Kallman, co-owner and COO of the company. In the past several days, Bookazine has \u201cworked with over 100 new accounts to fill this gap and serve this market\u201d Kallman said, noting that over its history, Bookazine has worked with many library systems providing librarians with access to millions of titles.<\/p>\n

The company is now adding more resources of its own in an effort to provide options to libraries seeking a reliable wholesaler to help meet their patrons\u2019 needs. Bookazine has already started to expand sales representation to the library channel and \u201cwill be actively upgrading processes to better meet the library community’s requirements.\u201d The additional measures will complement Bookazine\u2019s existing services, which include access to its title base via its website and customer service support options, Kallman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith today’s library needs, which now include fast delivery of popular titles, pre-ordering, rapid receipt of new releases, and access to deep backlist titles, Bookazine stands ready to serve this important channel and is excited to provide an alternative to librarians across the country,\u201d Kallman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the announcement of Baker & Taylor\u2019s imminent closure, different parts of the publishing ecosystem are moving as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[3468,10935,740,47917,288,47918,22782,7379,93,47919,47923,61,60,22781,22535,29791,47920,47921,47922],"class_list":{"0":"post-71615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-amazon","9":"tag-amazon-com","10":"tag-book","11":"tag-book-publishing","12":"tag-books","13":"tag-digital-books","14":"tag-e-books","15":"tag-ebooks","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-financial-reporting","18":"tag-houghton-mifflin-harcourt","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-kindle","22":"tag-penguin","23":"tag-publishers-weekly","24":"tag-random-house","25":"tag-simon-schuster","26":"tag-simon-and-schuster"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}