Baker & Taylor (closed)

Older advice tells authors to get their book into Baker & Taylor, and following it now costs you time for nothing. The live question is which wholesaler each library uses today and whether your book is orderable there. Ask the library which wholesaler it uses now. Common current routes include Ingram, Brodart, and Bookazine, but the library's own answer controls. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask the publisher or distributor which library wholesalers now carry the book. A self-publisher normally checks that Ingram availability is in place, since that is the usual route into library wholesale. The useful answer now is the name of a wholesaler through which a library can actually order your book.

Baker & Taylor closed in early 2026. Advice or a listing that still names it as a way to reach libraries is out of date; ask a librarian which wholesaler they use now (NISO, October 2025 (opens in a new tab)).

Historical record. Baker & Taylor was, for most of two centuries, the largest wholesaler serving public libraries in the United States. Libraries ordered print books, ebooks, and shelf-ready processed copies through it, and a publisher's presence in the Baker & Taylor catalog was the standard answer to the question of whether public libraries could order a book.

That ended. A planned sale of the company to ReaderLink was cancelled in September 2025, and the National Information Standards Organization reported that the wholesaler would shut down operations in January 2026, leaving many libraries without a supplier in the short term. The company's own website no longer resolves, which is consistent with the closure.

Nothing on this page is a current ordering route. It exists so that older advice naming Baker & Taylor can be recognized for what it is: out of date.

Nothing, now. Historically it controlled whether public libraries could order your book through their usual wholesaler, and the metadata and processing options they saw. The practical question today is which wholesaler each library has moved to, and whether your book is orderable there.

Do not build a library plan around Baker & Taylor, and remove it from any information sheet, ordering note, or website page that still names it.

Ask the library which wholesaler it uses now. Common current routes include Ingram, Brodart, and Bookazine, but the library's own answer controls. For a traditionally or hybrid published book, ask the publisher or distributor which library wholesalers currently carry each ISBN. For a self-published book, IngramSpark is the usual route into library wholesale.

If you had a book in Baker & Taylor's system, the Authors Guild has suggested asking the publisher about delayed orders, returns, and unsold inventory tied to the closure.

1. Ask a librarian at a public library you have a relationship with which supplier they order from now, and whether your book shows there.
2. Ask the publisher or distributor to list the library wholesalers where each ISBN is currently orderable.
3. Confirm that Ingram availability is in place, since most libraries can order through it.
4. Record the answers on your identity sheet and revisit if the wholesale landscape changes again.

Baker & Taylor was a wholesaler, not a library and not a distributor in the exclusive-sales-representation sense. It is not Ingram, which continues to operate. A library not being able to order from Baker & Taylor no longer says anything about your book; it says the supplier is gone. Parts of the former company's business were reported sold separately around the closure, and none of that restores a library ordering route, so check current trade coverage before repeating any claim about who bought what.