Library book distributor Baker & Taylor shutdown

Baker & Taylor, which calls itself the largest library book distributor in the country, will shut down by the end of the year.

by Nate File
Published Nov. 12, 2025, 3:21 p.m. ET

A major source for library books nationwide is suddenly shutting down, leaving branches in the Philadelphia area and across the country in a bind.

Baker & Taylor, which called itself the largest library book distributor in the country, began shuttering its operations in early October. Its closure began so abruptly that many libraries are now dealing with canceled orders, interrupted services, and competition to onboard with new vendors as quickly as possible.

While many of the Philadelphia region’s library systems used B&T as a distributor, the systems varied in how much they relied on it.

“It’s a real disruption for us,” said Tierney Miller, library director of Cherry Hill Public Library, which used B&T as its vendor almost exclusively for books, audiobooks, DVDs, and other materials for about 30 years.

B&T is planning to wind down its business by the end of the year and has already laid off over 500 employees, as reported by 404 Media. The distributor, which has been operating for nearly 200 years, was the subject of several recent acquisitions, but a proposed September deal ultimately fell through.
Jude McSenn, 2, browses the books while his nanny Tarryn Pietersen looks on at the Philadelphia Free Library Parkway Central Branch in Philadelphia, Pa. on Wednesday, November 30, 2022. Libraries are increasingly filling the holes of the public safety net.
Jude McSenn, 2, browses the books while his nanny Tarryn Pietersen looks on at the Philadelphia Free Library Parkway Central Branch in Philadelphia, Pa. on Wednesday, November 30, 2022. Libraries are increasingly filling the holes of the public safety net.

Anny Laepple, director of Delaware County Libraries, learned about the closure through a Facebook group for librarians. Delco’s library system relied heavily on B&T overall, though its 28 library locations operate independently and used the distributor to different extents.

Even though some branches had already been transitioning to other distributors because they’d noticed a decline in B&T’s quality since the pandemic, she said, the timing was still shocking.

“Many of them have been using Baker & Taylor for years and years. So they are now scrambling to meet the demand for materials” she said.
‘Far-reaching ripples’

Onboarding with a new library distributor is not as simple as placing orders on one website versus another.

Cherry Hill librarians had orders with B&T that had yet to be filled, Miller said. But orders have gotten canceled and removed without warning. Miller likened it to filling an online shopping cart with 10 items, but then only seeing seven, and having to figure out what went missing.

“They’re limping along,” she said about the distributor.

B&T provided other services besides book purchases, too. Delaware County’s branches would often pay a little bit extra to B&T for mylar covers for new books that would protect them and extend their lifespan, Laepple said. Now, Delco’s librarians are doing that work themselves. Delco’s vendor behind its online catalogue subscribed to a B&T service that provided cover art, professional reviews, and other data for books.

“The closure definitely had far-reaching ripples, not just the books,” Laepple said.

The Free Library of Philadelphia used B&T to purchase a third of its new printed book inventory last year, or about 40,000 books, according to spokesperson Mark Graham. But he did not expect B&T’s closure to have a major impact on the Free Library’s inventory.

“With our multiple distributors, we are working with the other vendors to add capacity for future requests. The closure of B&T did not put the Free Library in a position where we were unable to purchase books,” Graham said via email.

The Bucks County Free Library system, though, is clear that they expect some disruption for patrons. In a new page published to its website on Monday, the library said B&T was its “main source for new books” and asked for patience as it looked for new distributors.

But not all local libraries used B&T. The Lower Merion Library System, for instance, said it did not use the distributor and would not be affected.
Overwhelming demand

Other library distributors left with B&T’s ex-clients were not prepared for the flood of demand. B&T had a major competitor in Ingram Content Group, and there are dozens of other smaller distributors in the industry.

The onboarding process with new vendors is taking longer than it normally would, Laepple said. A couple of branches in the Delco system are in a queue with their new distributors, she said, waiting until the distributor is ready to take their orders.

In the meantime, some libraries are working to fill the gaps with Amazon Business’ newly launched library hub, or Barnes & Noble.

Cherry Hill was lucky and doesn’t expect delays in getting new inventory. It was already a client of another distributor, Brodart, which the library used sporadically while B&T handled the bulk of its orders. Brodart told Cherry Hill it was otherwise not taking on new clients, since the demand in B&T’s wake has been overwhelming.

For those within the library and librarian community, B&T’s closure felt like a major loss and has left a “huge crater,” Miller said. Librarians had built long-term relationships with the company and its employees over the years.

B&T’s shutdown is likely to make library patrons appreciate the logistical work it takes to make books available to visitors for the first time, Miller said.

“A lot of people take for granted that there are books on the shelves of their libraries … I know I did,” she said.