(Arnolds Park)– Patrons of local libraries may have noticed a lack of new materials on the shelves recently. Kara Rice is the head librarian for the Arnolds Park Public Library. She tells KUOO news it stems from the sudden, unexpected shut down of a major book vendor…
“So unfortunately Baker and Taylor, a long time book vendor that many of the libraries across the state has used, unfortunately had to close their doors and file for bankruptcy so we have several of our book orders that have been back ordered and or cancelled and so we are all scrambling to figure out where we want to go with that. We were lucky enough to get in with Ingram which is another book ordering company so we’re trying to figure out how that’s going to work in terms of getting the back ordered books into the library in addition to getting the new releases coming and trying to get everything back on track and make sure those new releases are there the day that they come out.”
Rice says Arnolds Park was fortunate in that they were able to quickly get into contact with a new vendor. She says patrons should start to see some new offerings in coming days…
“We should be getting actually a shipment hopefully by the end of this week. I would hope within the next three weeks we could have everything back up to normal. It just takes a little time to close out of the one account and get everything transferred over but again, we were lucky to be able to get in as they are definitely starting to feel overwhelmed with all the libraries reaching out wanting to switch book vendors. We were originally told that the company was being bought out. That sale, unfortunately, fell through and kind of left us all scrambling.”
Rice thanks patrons for their patience in the meantime.
