The largest book distributor to libraries, Baker & Taylor, suddenly closed its 197-year-old business in October. Along with libraries across the country, we are reeling. We had nearly 200 books on order with Baker & Taylor when they shut down without notice. Luckily, we already have an account with the other big book distributor, Ingram, and were able to move our orders there.  Ingram is now flooded with new library orders, and so there will be delays for us receiving the books as they scale up their staffing. These book distributors provide libraries with wholesale pricing as well as preparing the books for library shelves with mylar jackets and spine labels.

 

This market consolidation is concerning on several fronts. First, we have fewer choices of where to buy books. As a public library, we are obligated to pay no more than the NY State negotiated contract price for books, so we cannot pay retail and go support our local bookstores. Our choice is now Ingram, Brodart, or Amazon.  (Brodart requires libraries to have a book budget of at least $100,000 per year to become a customer. Our print book budget is $9,000 for 2025). Thus we have two choices now, and one of them is unsavory. The books I ordered from Ingram at the beginning of October when B & T shut down are still “in processing” weeks later. Meanwhile, books I order from “A” arrive the next day. But at what cost? Ingram sends books via UPS whose drivers are unionized, whereas “A” now has its own drivers and trucks. How quickly are we obligated to get books into the hands of our patrons?

 

Aside from the working conditions of the book distributors, should we also be concerned about further market consolidation? It is not inconceivable that libraries could end up with one place to buy books. This has happened with e-books. Libraries have no choice but to purchase from OverDrive where the price of an e-book license is 3-4 times higher than a printed book, and the digital license is only good for a year or two.

 

All of this is to say, if you are wondering where the latest books are that should be in our collection, we may have to take a breath and reach for a classic or an overlooked gem while we patiently wait for our books to be shipped via humane working conditions.

If you have comments or suggestions about this, my email is director@rosendalelibrary.org and I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

Please save the date for Frozendale, Saturday, December 6. There will be many fun activities and local shopping opportunities that we will share soon.