Northwest Indiana libraries are scrambling to find new ways to procure books because of the pending closure of Baker & Taylor, a nearly 200-year-old distributor that's the largest supplier of library materials and services in the country.
Calumet Region libraries have long gotten most of their new books, DVDs and other circulating materials from Baker & Taylor, which was founded in 1828. The Charlotte-based company ran a warehouse in Momence, Illinois, that supplied local libraries.
"The whole company is closing," Crown Point Community Library Director Julie Wendorf said. "They've had some disruptions in service since the pandemic. They had a buyout deal that fell through last week. That didn't work out. As a result, they're shuttering entirely."
Northwest Indiana libraries have faced delays in obtaining new books. Some have warned patrons that there could be a delay in getting newly published titles on the shelves.
Comic book shops faced a similar issue when their main distributor, Diamond Comic Distributors, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
"The book business is a difficult business to be in," said Wendorf, who is also president of the Indiana Library Federation. "They're selling at a discounted rate to libraries and have some distribution to bookstores. They were the No. 1 supplier to libraries across the United States."
ReaderLink Distribution Services had signed a letter of intent to buy Baker & Taylor and keep its operations going in September. But the deal fell apart on the day it was scheduled to close. Libraries were left in the lurch.
"It's a real challenge for most libraries, as we have to look at all the items that were back-ordered but not sent, and then reorder them from another source," Wendorf said. "We'll have to set up accounts and get everything up and running. That takes time with new vendors."
Libraries handle such large volumes of books that they cannot deal directly with publishers and have to order through distributors, she said.
The hope is that other distributors will step up to fill the void. Amazon, for instance, launched a library wholesale business in June.
"They will probably fill some of the void in the long run," Wendorf said. "But book distributors that are dedicated to libraries do book processing, the mylar covers, do some of the processing and do the labels for the spines and stuff. That's a challenge for some libraries that outsourced the work and might not have the staff to do it in-house."
Baker & Taylor employed more than 900 workers and served more than 4,000 institutional customers across the country, including both public and academic libraries.
The closure has been a disruption, Gary Public Library Director Diana Morrow said.
"We bought a lot of books from Baker & Taylor, but also had other vendors," Morrow said. "Now we'll have to buy more from the other vendors. I've been getting emails all day from vendors that they can fill that void."
The Gary Public Library bought more than 70% of its books from Baker & Taylor. It has used the company as its main supplier for at least 20 or 30 years.
It will not turn to companies like Ingram, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, which all offer wholesale services.
"We've been picking up more vendors so we can spread it more easily and use other vendors," Morrow said.
Patrons have noticed delays in deliveries of best-selling authors like James Patterson, Janet Evanovich, Nora Roberts and Stephen King.
"Most libraries have books that are on back order," Wendorf said. "Overall, lots of our deliveries haven't been coming for the last month or so. There's been a delay in materials already."
Libraries have been turning to short-term solutions like Amazon to ensure the availability of popular bestselling authors.
"The biggest issue is getting up to speed with a new vendor is going to be a delay for any library," Wendorf said. "Then these new vendors have an in-rush in business and have to get up to speed. So their logistics are being challenged as well, because they have so many new customers at a time they may not have been expecting that."
The Hammond Public Library was also using Baker & Taylor to handle its cataloging.
"It had just taken us four months to transition from having a cataloger in the building to having someone (at Baker & Taylor) do the catalog for us," interim executive director Cornell White said. "They would be catalogued and shelf-ready with the covers and everything else on them. They were totally ready. Now, from what I understand, there's only one company that does that."
Most library districts spend at least 8% of their budgets on materials, so they're sizable purchasers of books, White said.
Amazon would have the muscle to pick up much of the business. But White said it's more of a challenge since Amazon demands payment up front instead of allowing invoices.
"The buzz among library directors is, 'What do we do about Baker & Taylor?' But I think if you speak to us in a year, this will be past tense," he said. "Books are our business. We will find them one way or another."
It will take some time to set up a new vendor. In the meantime, Hammond has been ordering from Amazon and cataloging the books in-house.
"It's a slower process. I can only order so many books," White said. "We had a 2,000-book backorder going back to 2024. We're now trying to get those books in through Amazon."
Many libraries may start using multiple vendors so future disruptions don't occur if any of them run into financial trouble, face logistical challenges or otherwise can't keep up, Wendorf said.
She urged library patrons to be patient while the logistics were worked out.
"Our job is to get you the books," Wendorf said. "We're doing our best to ensure there's as little disruption as possible in the materials you're looking for."
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