Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Public libraries struggle to get new books on shelves after distributor shuts down Libraries are struggling to source materials following the closure of the nation's largest book distributor earlier this year. National Public libraries struggle to get new books on shelves after distributor shuts down May 21, 20264:43 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Hosts Public libraries struggle to get new books on shelves after distributor shuts down Listen · 2:03 2:03 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5807947/nx-s1-9779535" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Libraries are struggling to source materials following the closure of the nation's largest book distributor earlier this year. Sponsor Message
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Libraries across the country are having a hard time buying new books. That's because earlier this year, Baker & Taylor, the nation's largest library book distributor, stopped selling them.
KIP ROBERSON: I think a lot of people weren't prepared for the shutdown.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Kip Roberson is director of library services for Teton County Library in Wyoming. His library uses Ingram Content Group, another book distributor. Baker & Taylor faced several financial challenges leading up to its closure. Roberson says that after the shutdown...
ROBERSON: If you wanted to order materials for your library, Ingram was the only game in town, for the most part. Libraries were scrambling to set up accounts, learn the software.
MARTÍNEZ: Regular shipments for new books now take longer to get to libraries.
ROBERSON: Everything slowed down. Three days was the norm for getting books to us, and it would be 10 days, two weeks.
MARTÍNEZ: So if you're sitting on a long waitlist at your local library for the latest John Grisham or Nora Roberts book, be patient. Kate Laughlin is executive director of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries.
KATE LAUGHLIN: If you put in your request for 20 copies of the latest title in the series that everybody's waiting for, but they'll only send you 10 instead of 20 because they've got this huge demand suddenly that they didn't have before, we're going to feel it in those wait lines.
FADEL: She says Baker & Taylor provided more than just the books themselves.
LAUGHLIN: You could get the books already wrapped in Mylar and with a barcode or an RFID tag already inserted in it. It served a number of purposes for libraries where they didn't have the capacity nor the staffing.
FADEL: Now libraries are working to fill the gaps. That includes turning to Amazon to fill book orders.
LAUGHLIN: The libraries do what they need to do to meet the needs of their collection and their community.
FADEL: Because, she says, libraries' No. 1 priority is getting books and other materials to the people who rely on them.
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