Library Technology Guides

Lakeside Book Company acquires Baker & Taylor Publisher Services. Lakeside Book Company announced that it has acquired Baker & Taylor Publisher Services, the retail division of Baker & Taylor. With this acquisition, Lakeside Book expands its service offering to include distribution and order-to-cash capabilities, providing publishers with streamlined and integrated solutions to sell, print, store, and distribute their books with Lakeside Book Company. In addition to the book distribution services, the acquisition includes the print-on-demand manufacturing solutions in Ashland, Ohio. This complements Lakeside Book's existing digital print platform and strengthens offerings to customers of both organizations. [Full Announcement].

Update on Baker & Taylor Business Operations. On Friday, September 26, we announced that ReaderLink and Baker & Taylor had terminated discussions regarding a proposed ReaderLink acquisition of Baker & Taylor assets. Since the unforeseen termination of the proposed acquisition, we have been working tirelessly with our advisors to determine the next steps for the business. Unfortunately, there are no sustainable pathways forward, and we have made the difficult decision to begin winding down our operations over the coming months. [Full Announcement].

ReaderLink Distribution Services to acquire Baker & Taylor. ReaderLink Distribution Services and Baker & Taylor have entered a Letter of Intent whereby ReaderLink will acquire the business and substantially all the assets of Baker & Taylor. The transaction, which is subject to remaining due diligence and customary conditions to closing, is expected to close on or about September 26, 2025. ReaderLink, the largest full-service book distributor in the world, is well-capitalized and maintains over $250 million in inventory across its six geographically optimized distribution centers, which will soon augment Baker & Taylor's existing operations centers. The transaction brings additional resources for Baker & Taylor's customers, clients, publisher partners and employees. Aman Kochar will continue to lead the Baker & Taylor business, reporting to Dennis E. Abboud, CEO of ReaderLink. [Full Announcement].

Shortlisted applicants for IFLA/Baker and Taylor Public Library of the Year Award 2025. The “Public Library of the Year” award is presented by IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) with the aim of honouring new public libraries. Baker & Taylor is proud main sponsor of the award. The award is presented to a library somewhere in the world, that has best managed to combine open and functional architecture with sustainable and creative IT solutions and has included both digital developments and local culture. [Full Announcement].

Baker & Taylor partners with Innovative to help public libraries simplify eBook access and maximize digital budgets. In response to the unprecedented challenges facing libraries, including the proposed wind down of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and widespread budget cuts, Baker & Taylor and Innovative, from Clarivate, are reaffirming their shared commitment to supporting and empowering libraries nationwide. At the 2025 Innovative User Group Conference, both organizations announced new steps in their partnership, united by a joint determination to help libraries navigate these difficult times. Baker & Taylor and Innovative are focused on delivering solutions that enhance eBook lending visibility, streamline library workflows, and help manage the rising costs of digital content. [Full Announcement].

A Message to Baker & Taylor Customers and Partners in Response to OCLC's Lawsuit. Baker & Taylor has been a proud leader in the library market seeking to offer its customers an excellent service at a competitive price through its BTCat cataloging utility. Baker & Taylor, and its subsidiary Bridgeall Libraries, remain committed to partnering with libraries to serve their communities and inspire literacy. Regrettably, OCLC, while claiming to “welcome competition,” has filed a lawsuit containing false and damaging allegations that appear intended to suppress competition. If the lawsuit is not dismissed, Baker & Taylor intends to vigorously defend against these claims and seek all available legal remedies. OCLC did not make a good faith effort to seek any reasonable resolution with Baker & Taylor about its concerns before rushing to court, but instead precipitously filed its lawsuit, which Baker & Taylor is confident will fail. Now unfortunately, OCLC is revealing its true motivations by immediately publishing a self-serving, inaccurate statement besmirching Baker & Taylor. Make no mistake, in this dispute, Baker & Taylor is the one who is on the side of fair and healthy competition. Baker & Taylor respects OCLC's right to fairly compete in the market, but the same cannot be said for OCLC. [Full Announcement].

Baker & Taylor, Library Ideas enter agreement to bring VOX Books to libraries, schools and the US military. Baker & Taylor, the leading library books, services and software supplier, and Library Ideas, an innovative media publisher, announce a comprehensive distribution partnership for the innovative VOX and IR Books read-along product line for libraries and schools. VOX Books are hardcover picture books, chapter books, and nonfiction books that include a permanently attached reader preloaded with high-quality narration. This combination of print book and audio book allows the user to listen as they read along, helping them engage with books and develop the literacy skills needed for success in school and in life. The agreement between Baker & Taylor and Library Ideas will streamline ordering for libraries and K12 schools to source VOX Books worldwide. [Full Announcement].

Ground News partners with Baker & Taylor to bring media literacy platform to libraries. Ground News announced a partnership with Baker & Taylor, the world's premier distributor of books and digital content. This new partnership will enable academic and public libraries to access the Ground News platform, empowering patrons and students to evaluate news sources, understand #mediabias, and think critically about current events. [Full Announcement].

Baker & Taylor ransomware incident. As Baker & Taylor has previously announced, we detected a ransomware incident that is affecting several B&T services. Our IT staff and others are working incredibly hard to restore our systems to allow us to continue serving our customers, and we are pleased to report that we are making good progress on these efforts. Our phone systems are operational, and our value-added services are being brought back online in our service centers. As we continue our recovery efforts, we understand that you may be concerned about whether it is safe for you to interact with Baker & Taylor electronically. We want to assure you that confirming the security of our environment has been, and remains, a top priority for us as we work through the recovery process. In fact, the methodical pace of our restoration is in part a reflection of our efforts to recover safely and thoughtfully, with guidance from industry experts. We expect additional systems to come online shortly. But consistent with our approach, we will not bring them up until we are confident in their security. [Full Announcement].

Baker & Taylor ransomware incident. Thank you again for your patience, kind words, and partnership as we recover from last week's ransomware attack. Our team has been working around the clock to return to normal operations. Our priority has been remediating our systems and ensuring they are sanitized. As that work is completed, our focus is transitioning to restoration, bringing our systems online, and returning to operations in a phased approach. We expect disruptions to continue this week but are hopeful we can provide timelines for individual systems and applications as the week progresses. Thank you for your understanding, [Full Announcement].

Baker & Taylor ransomware incident. Yesterday, we advised that over the weekend, a server outage impacted systems and applications across Baker & Taylor. Currently, Title Source 360, EDI, and the phone systems at our offices and service centers remain offline. We have engaged a technical team that is working around the clock to restore business critical systems and to determine how this occurred. We are working tirelessly to bring our systems back online. At this time, we believe disruptions may persist through this week. We will continue to provide status updates via email and this website. [Full Announcement].

The Drucker Institute partners With Baker & Taylor to bring Bendable to libraries across the US. The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University and Baker & Taylor announced today that they were partnering to bring Bendable, the Institute's lifelong learning platform, to public libraries across the United States. A robust learning marketplace, Bendable allows residents of all ages and backgrounds to easily discover content that is just right for them and then acquire new knowledge and skills through online courses as well as local, in-person learning opportunities. It is an especially valuable tool for libraries as they are being increasingly called upon to play an important role in workforce development. [Full Announcement].

collectionHQ Receives Platinum in 2022 Modern Library Awards from LibraryWorks. collectionHQ, the leading library analytics solution, is pleased to announce it has received a platinum award in LibraryWorks' eighth annual Modern Library Awards (MLAs). [Full Announcement].

CIT Northbridge provides financing for Baker & Taylor acquisition. CIT Group announced that CIT Northbridge Credit, as advised by CIT Asset Management LLC, served as sole lead arranger on a senior secured credit facility to support the acquisition of Baker & Taylor LLC, a premier provider of books, digital content and technology solutions to public and academic libraries. [Full Announcement].

Private Investor Group, led by President and CEO, to acquire business. Follett Corporation announced a change in ownership of its Baker & Taylor division. Baker & Taylor, the world's premier distributor of physical and digital books and services to public and academic libraries will now operate as an independent, privately-owned entity after a divestiture to a private investment group led by President and CEO Aman Kochar. [Full Announcement].

Baker & Taylor Re-emerges as Major Service Provider for academic libraries with Sustainable Shelves Program; nearly two million books saved from landfills. Baker & Taylor, the world's largest supplier to libraries of print books and digital content and services, today announced results from the first year of their popular weeding service, Sustainable Shelves. After evaluating more than 15,000 lists of discarded titles through its user-friendly portal, Baker & Taylor has processed 1.8 million discards and weeded books. [Full Announcement].

Baker & Taylor to unveil Diversity Analysis tool. Baker & Taylor, the world's largest distributor of physical and digital books and entertainment, announced it will offer an analysis solution for libraries to help them discover, manage, and report on diversity-related topics. Backed by collectionHQ's powerful technology, Baker & Taylor's Diversity Analysis will offer insight and identify opportunities by analyzing a library's collection against industry-accepted diversity subjects. [Full Announcement].

Baker and Taylor PawPrints transitioning to FollettBound. Baker and Taylor’s PawPrints prebinds, available to both the public library and school markets, will have a new look starting next week when the books begin transitioning to the FollettBound brand. The move joins together the top prebind brands for customers in both markets. [Full Announcement].

Artifacts Access from Unbound Concepts live in Baker and Taylor's Title Source 360 ordering platform. Baker and Taylor, the premier worldwide distributor of digital and print books and Unbound Concepts, creator of the Artifact platform announced today that artifacts are now live in Title Source 360, Baker & Taylor's premier collection development and ordering platform. [Full Announcement].

collectionHQ Dashboard available now. collectionHQ, the world’s leading collection performance improvement solution has today announced the release of its new Dashboard that enables users to monitor the progress of collection management tasks and identify changes in circulation and turnover over time. [Full Announcement].