Baker & Taylor to Cease Operations

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 is in the process of closing following financial difficulties experienced over the last two years, according to Publishers Weekly; Shaw Local, a media group in northern Illinois; and a handful of individuals who reported being laid off on Reddit and other social media. While B&T has not yet issued a public statement and did not immediately respond to an interview request, it has reportedly begun to close parts of the business, including its distribution center in Momence, Illinois, and some of its operations at its Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters. Employees were told that the company plans to wind down all its business activities by the end of 2025, per Publishers Weekly.

The closure follows a failed acquisition by publisher and distributor ReaderLink Distribution Services, which had signed a letter of intent September 6 to acquire B&T’s assets and continue its operations. The purchase, scheduled to close on September 26, fell apart that day.

According to Publishers Weekly, B&T CEO and owner Aman Kochar told employees in a meeting on Monday that without a buyer and with ongoing pressure from its primary creditor, B&T was forced to wind down its business and begin layoffs.

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.

Though the sale of the company to ReaderLink was not successful, individual business divisions and other assets within B&T could be sold to other buyers as the company liquidates.

B&T’s troubles illustrate the fragility of the library book industry. The profit margins on sales tend to be small, while costs for distribution centers and business infrastructure tend to be high. Demand for ebooks from providers like OverDrive continues to increase and take up larger portions of library collection budgets, in turn causing a decrease in print-materials spending. B&T’s Boundless ebooks service, launched in 2023, had not gained a substantial market share.

The slate of suppliers of library materials has narrowed, with Ingram Library Services and Brodart Library Services remaining as major players. Follett Content recently expanded its focus beyond pre-K–12 schools to also market children’s and young adult materials to public libraries. Over the next year, we can expect more activity to fill the void left by the departure of B&T.

Financial distress

Details surrounding the aborted sale and financial difficulties of Baker & Tayor were revealed in court filings in the lawsuit OCLC initiated against B&T and Bridgeall Libraries (See page 2 for an overview and page 17 for a detailed statement from Kochar) in March involving the BTCat cataloging service. In the lawsuit, OCLC alleged misuse of WorldCat records by BTCat and violations of OCLC contracts and policies. This lawsuit remains pending.

B&T experienced a deterioration of its cash liquidity throughout 2025, with many libraries noting disruptions in the processing of orders. According to statements recounted in court documents, a planned sale was driven by the foreclosure of its leading credit holder.

The financial position of B&T reached a critical point in mid-2025 when CIT deemed the loans that supported the company’s operations in default.

Recent divestment of collectionHQ

In June, B&T sold collectionHQ to Valsoft Corporation, which operates software companies across several vertical markets. Edelweiss and collectionHQ form Valsoft’s book industry software vertical. Valsoft follows a buy-and-hold strategy where it makes long-term commitments to its acquisitions.

Bridgeall Libraries, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, developed collectionHQ, and was acquired by B&T in December 2011. The service provides analytics tools for collection development and inventory management. Since the divestment transpired prior to the closure of B&T, Bridgeall Libraries and its collectionHQ service are not directly impacted, though it loses its main distribution and support channel in North America. Bridgeall Libraries and its collectionHQ service were also named as codefendants in the OCLC lawsuit.

B&T and ReaderLink history

B&T had persisted through a long business history of acquisitions, divestments, and changes in ownership, including W. R. Grace (1970–1992), Carlyle Group (1992–2003), Willis Stein & Partners (2003–2006), Castle Harlan Partners (2006–2016), Follett Corporation (2016–2021), and finally, an investment group led by CEO Amandeep Kochar (2021–present).

ReaderLink can trace its roots to the Chas. Levy Company, founded in 1883. Over the course of its 127-year business history, the company operated divisions to distribute newspapers, magazines, books, videos, and computer software. The Levy Home Entertainment division established in 1962 distributed books to large-scale retail outlets. That company was acquired by Dennis Abboud in 2011 and transitioned its branding to ReaderLink. The company is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, with Abboud serving as chief executive officer.

ReaderLink had previously acquired parts of B&T in 2015. These assets included B&T Publishing Group and B&T Marketing Services, and a distribution center in Indianapolis.