It’s been a tough year for public libraries.
In March, President Trump issued an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the only federal agency devoted to funding public libraries (a decision reversed in November by a Rhode Island District Court judge). Then, in May, the president also delivered a blow to the nation’s leading library when he fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. At the same time, libraries across the country have continued to face challenges to what books should and should not be available on their shelves – and pressure to remove certain titles – culminating in lawsuits in states like Texas and Florida.
Now, the nation’s largest distributor of print books to public libraries – Baker & Taylor – is set for imminent closure.
For nearly 200 years, Baker & Taylor has played a key role in getting books from manufacturers to warehouses to library patrons’ hands. Partnering with more than 5,000 U.S. libraries, the company has been a staple in the industry, selling books at wholesale prices and providing them with labels and lamination so libraries don’t have to.
The closure comes as a surprise but not a shock to many in the industry, as the company faced several challenges in recent years, including a data breach in 2022 – after the company was acquired by a private investment group in 2021 – that put it in what independent library consultant Marshall Breeding called “a weak financial position.”
Librarians including Kelly Emory, lead cataloguer at Greensboro Public Library in rural Maryland, had been hearing rumors of trouble after Baker & Taylor’s planned merger with ReaderLink, a distributor to booksellers, fell through in late September. But many learned the first solid news of the closure from an employee’s post on Reddit last fall.
NPR reached out to Baker & Taylor for comment, but received no response.
Emory said part of her job is to work with distributors to get the books patrons want; Baker & Taylor was the primary vendor she partnered with. Now, she said, the Greensboro branch library is one of many libraries scrambling to find another way to get books on their shelves, particularly the newest releases from household names like James Patterson and Danielle Steel.
When NPR spoke with Emory in December, she said that while her library had releases from 2025 on the shelves, the newest book had come out over three months before, in early September – All the Way to the River, the memoir from Elizabeth Gilbert. “They’re new releases, but not the newest releases, unfortunately,” she said. It was unclear, she added, when they’d get any newer titles.
“Baker & Taylor ceased shipping everything to us,” she explained. “We stopped ordering from them in October. We have standing orders with them to get the new and popular titles from certain authors, but they haven’t been shipping them to us.”
Now, like thousands of other libraries around the country, Greensboro Public Library is in the process of setting up a new account with Ingram Content Group, Baker & Taylor’s main competitor. And though Carolyn Morris, vice president of library services at Ingram, said that the company is “well positioned” to work with the libraries that Baker & Taylor serviced, she also acknowledged that the process will take time and a lot of resources on Ingram’s part.
“It’s not a flip of a switch. We still have to… hire people, make sure we have enough inventory to meet the new demand and get people trained,” she said. Since Baker & Taylor began winding down, around 2,000 libraries have set up new accounts with Ingram.
Both Morris and Emory said they are cautiously optimistic that libraries can get back on track in the new year. Breeding, the library consultant, agreed – but added that this could have long-term ramifications. He pointed out that if patrons aren’t able to get print books in time, they may begin to turn to e-books. Leasing e-books is much more expensive for libraries, and the contracts generally only allow for a set number of checkouts, according to Emory. So libraries would need to find a way to manage this new demand and associated cost.
It’s one of many strains that libraries will have to shoulder in the near future. “This comes at a really bad time for public libraries,” Breeding said. “And now they have to deal with [finding] new ways to buy their books. So, yeah, this is a hard time to be a public librarian.”
Transcript:
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Librarians have spent this past year fighting battles over book bans, government funding, AI. Now, some are struggling simply to acquire the latest books after one company that supplies libraries announced it was going out of business. NPR’s Andrew Limbong reports.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Greensboro is a small town in rural Maryland over on the Eastern Shore. The library there is actually inside the community center, but otherwise, it’s a library like any other. There’s a corner for kids’ stuff, a row of computers and a shelf of new releases, or on this day, new-ish releases.
KELLY EMERY: It’s a little not up to date since we haven’t been getting as many new titles.
LIMBONG: Kelly Emery is the lead cataloger here.
EMERY: They are new releases, but they’re not the newest releases.
LIMBONG: There are a few books that came out in the summer and early fall. But if you’re looking for the latest John Grisham or James Patterson, you are out of luck.
EMERY: So Baker & Taylor ceased shipping everything to us.
LIMBONG: Baker & Taylor is one of the very few companies that do book distribution for libraries. So there are companies that act as the middleman between libraries and publishers. But a few months ago, the company abruptly announced it was shutting down.
EMERY: I found out through Reddit (laughter), funny enough. And then I think either later that day or the next day, I got the official email from them.
LIMBONG: NPR has reached out to Baker & Taylor for an interview, but they haven’t gotten back. Marshall Breeding is a library consultant specializing in library technology and distribution services. And he says Baker & Taylor closing hamstrings libraries’ ability to get new releases.
MARSHALL BREEDING: Public libraries really depend on, you know, having a fresh, vital collection of materials that are current, you know, bestsellers and all of that. So If they have trouble buying new materials, it means their collections will be a little less vital.
LIMBONG: According to Baker & Taylor’s website, they serviced about 5,000 libraries. Breeding estimates that they had half the market share. And the company is expected to fully end operations at the end of the year. And many libraries adrift without a distributor have turned to Baker & Taylor’s rival, Ingram Library Services.
CAROLYN MORRIS: We were already in a really good position to be able to scale up our infrastructure and be able to take on the new volume.
LIMBONG: Carolyn Morris is the vice president there.
MORRIS: Though, it’s not a flip of the switch. We still have to do that scaling up, hire people, make sure we have enough inventory to meet the new demand and get people trained.
LIMBONG: Marshall Breeding, the library consultant, said that it’s likely patrons tired of waiting for physical books could opt for e-books or audiobooks. But those have their own wait times and are exponentially more expensive for libraries. But he’s optimistic that the new physical books will start to come back eventually.
BREEDING: This comes at a really bad time for public libraries anyway. Think of all of the book banning and First Amendment and all these other issues that have really come to a head in the last year. And now they have to deal with being able to find new ways to buy their books. So, yeah, this is a hard time to be a public librarian.
EMERY: We’ve been very fortunate. Our patrons have been very understanding.
LIMBONG: Back at the library in Greensboro, librarian Kelly Emery said she had people clamoring for the new Dan Brown book, “Secret Of Secrets.”
EMERY: There were over a hundred holds on it. And when someone asked me, hey, how long will it be before I get this book? I said, truthfully, I don’t know.
LIMBONG: Librarians are known for finding the answers to things, but sometimes there just aren’t any good ones.
Andrew Limbong, NPR News.
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