Library book distributor Baker & Taylor (B&T) is DEAD TO ME !
Despite measures to continue operations and preserve pending contracts with libraries, the book distributor Baker & Taylor (B&T), a longtime fixture in the library technology industry, will shutter.
B&T, founded in 1828, was considered one of the largest distributors of print and audiovisual materials for libraries, serving more than 4,000 institutional customers and employing more than 900 people. In addition to its role as a distributor of materials, the company offered Customized Library Services for shelf-ready materials, the BTCat cataloging utility, and a variety of other products and services for libraries and publishers. After changing hands a handful of times since 1970, B&T had been owned since 2021 by an investment group led by Kochar.
The company’s recent challenges included a major cyberattack in 2022 that interrupted B&T’s services, as well as downturns in library orders because of the pandemic. Earlier this year, the company’s main creditor, CIT Northbridge Credit LLC, declared the loans that supported the company’s operations in default. When the sale to ReaderLink was announced last month, the deal included only B&T’s assets, not its outstanding debts. Publishers Weekly spoke to several publishers and suppliers who said they had unsettled invoices with B&T, and were not sure how those debts might be repaid.
This business closure represents an extraordinarily disruptive event for public libraries, which will have lost one of their major channels for acquiring materials. Many publishers will also have to scramble to establish arrangements with other distributors and risk losses of inventory held in B&T warehouses.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | October 9, 2025 11:52 AM
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Roughly 500 out of 800 employees were laid off Monday after the work day ended, and many employees found out about the layoffs on Facebook and by word of mouth.
The company stopped the severance pay policy on October 1st, and employee medical insurance stopped on Monday. The balance of the employees will be laid off by early to mid January.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | October 8, 2025 11:41 PM
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Wait- so right before they laid off all those people, they ended severance pay?
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | October 8, 2025 11:50 PM
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Whoa. I retired from libraries last year, and my old library used B&T. We were already having issues with them and had thought about switching vendors, but the “powers that be” thought it would be too much trouble to switch. This is going to be a shitshow..glad I’m retired.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | October 9, 2025 12:17 AM
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Writing was on the wall. Sorry for the employees
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | October 9, 2025 12:19 AM
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The problem with a lot of libraries is the administration is run by… librarians. Many, if not most, have little or no experience in running an operation or knowing how to be supervisors. For example, take a look at the CVs of library directors, deans, associate directors, etc. Many of them jump around from job to job using each library or institution as a stepping stone. R3 is right: this is going to be a shit show for libraries, especially larger institutions.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | October 9, 2025 12:29 AM
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R5..correct. In the last 10-20 years, many big library systems have shifted to hiring actual experienced business professionals to direct the library operations. A lot of “old school” librarians I worked with were appalled—they thought only “certified” librarians should be directors. I certainly believe libraries need ACTUAL librarians, but I agree that it’s not a bad idea to have someone with more financial and organizational experience at the top.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | October 9, 2025 12:59 AM
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R5 I worked at two college libraries and one public library over the past 12 years, and you are 100% correct. None of the directors or department managers I worked under had any managerial experience at all - they had no sense in balancing a budget, no idea how to hire, no idea how to staff and schedule, and no idea how to 'manage' a staff of fifteen to twenty people. None whatsoever - which is why the libraries were run like a circus. What qualified them to get these positions was their MLS degree, their rainbow hair and neck tattoos, and the fact that their pronouns were fluid. They presented the college library as a 'safe space', rather than a place to learn and do research.
In the meantime, I had 25 years of managerial experience doing all the above when I owned my own retail store. A number of times I offered 'suggestions' on how to do things differently - they didn't want to hear from me since I didn't have an MLS degree, so how could I possibly know anything about running a library ? So I enjoyed watching the shit show until I couldn't take the crazy any longer and left two years ago.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | October 9, 2025 11:44 AM
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Yes, R2. Severance packages were terminated before the layoffs. It’s a shame for employees especially those who worked there for 20+ years.
That’s what happens more often than not when a company is owned by a private equity firm.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | October 9, 2025 11:52 AM
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