As book orders kept getting cancelled and backlogs piled up, Milford Public Library Director Scott Brill knew he had to make a choice.
For years, public libraries trusted a company called Baker & Taylor to keep their shelves stocked with the latest titles. Loyalty ran especially deep in Connecticut for the book distributor, which was established in Hartford nearly two centuries ago.
But Brill started to see signs that made him worry the company was struggling. In 2022, its book ordering platform temporarily went down, a problem the company said was caused by a server outage.
Over the next few years, getting orders fulfilled became more of a struggle, Brill said. Shipping lagged. Items went in and out of stock. Baker & Taylor wasn't giving any explanation for the issues, he said.
Last summer, Milford began the tedious transition to another book vendor, Brodart.
“It was a lot that weighed on me,” Brill said. “What if this doesn’t work? What if this didn’t go the way we were hoping it would go?”
It proved to be a wise decision. Baker & Taylor was on the verge of a financial collapse, which disrupted libraries across Connecticut just a few months later.
Records filed in court show the company went into default. A planned sale to ReaderLink Distribution Services then fell through in September. Baker & Taylor began winding down its operations soon after, laying off employees, and sending libraries scrambling to find alternative distributors.
Brill said he recognizes now the company was in crisis. He feels lucky the library changed course before things unraveled last year.
"The whole reason why we kind of exist is that we can get you a book. … And if that mission isn't there, everybody goes into worry mode," he said.
Fallout in Connecticut
More than 4,000 public libraries, schools and colleges depended on Baker & Taylor for their supply of books, according to documents filed in court. Many are now struggling to meet the demands of their patrons.
Some libraries also took a financial hit, including those that signed leasing arrangements with Baker & Taylor. Some prepaid for books that were never delivered, according to library officials in Connecticut.
Bristol Public Library lost an estimated $40,000, according to a preliminary figure presented at the library board's December meeting. The library ordered 900 books from Amazon to fill the gap after Baker & Taylor's services were interrupted, according to the minutes of the meeting.
Bristol Public Library is a member of Library Connection, Inc., a cooperative of more than 30 public and academic libraries in central Connecticut. Laura Horn, its executive director, said the cooperative requested refunds from Baker & Taylor in October on behalf of its members, including Bristol. It hasn't received a response, Horn said.
The company didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.
Scramble for books
The Connecticut Library Consortium is also seeking a refund. Executive Director Ellen Paul said it's still waiting for a response. Paul said she isn't sure if the Baker & Taylor email address is being monitored.
Paul said the shake-up is putting a strain on two of the country's largest remaining distributors, Ingram and Brodart. Facing an influx of new clients, Brodart has temporarily stopped accepting new clients for its standard book ordering service until the third quarter of the year, though it's still leasing out books to libraries, according to a company representative.
“It’s just not possible for them to pick up that scale of business this quickly,” Paul said.
Brill said Milford Public Library is faring better than most, but new releases are still hard to get.
“It’s not that it’s painfully slow,” he said, “but sometimes things come in a little slower.”
As libraries prepare for spring, the second busiest season in publishing, concerns are growing. Paul said shipping delays of bestsellers put libraries at a real disadvantage.
“It’s one thing to get a book on knitting a week or two after it’s released. It’s quite another to not get the latest Elin Hilderbrand," she said, referring to the best-selling author known for her beach reads.
Paul said she expects Amazon to become a bigger player in the market. The company released a streamlined book buying platform for libraries last year.
Paul herself turned to Amazon for a new book to avoid the waitlist at her local library.
“Libraries are losing out on the opportunity to serve their patrons, their community,” she said. “They just can’t get the books in time, or in enough quantities.”
In Greenwich, acquisitions librarian Nicole Allen said she bought from several brick-and-mortar Barnes & Noble locations in the fall. Ingram is now Greenwich’s primary vendor, but Allen said libraries often come second to bookstores during busy seasons.
“Right now, I can get the books I need in 48 hours,” she said. “In the fall, it was taking sometimes up to a month to get books.”
Beyond the print world
Baker & Taylor, headquartered in Charlotte, was recognized globally as a leading book distributor. It previously supplied both hard copy and electronic editions, which were available through its Boundless app.
The Connecticut State Library utilized the service to create its eGo CT program, which provided more than 200 school library sites access to the state collection.
The state is now working with a nonprofit called Lyrasis to transfer 10,000 licenses for K-12 schools to The Palace Project App, which hosts eBooks for public libraries and colleges, said Bradley Bullis, the state library's digital content and innovation coordinator.
“We were very pleased with Lyrasis immediately jumping on board with ideas," he said.
The process is ongoing as the content has to be sorted by grade level, Bullis said.
“This is probably one of the biggest shocks, to have a whole vendor that everybody trusted just go away," Bullis said. "It wasn’t like they faded. They just went away.”
