[Michlib-l] Book vendor research- responses

[Mary Beauchamp]

Thank you to everyone who responded to my inquiry re: book vendors (pricing, discounts, length of time from ordering to receiving processed items, etc.).  Below are the responses I received:


For our regular collection, we use Brodart. I do not know much about the processing cost, however I know that they do offer it. For the most part they are fairly fast and reliable (for the more popular and well known titles) for less popular and more obscure they tend to take longer. I would not recommend using them for any foreign language collection (i.e. books in other languages) with the exception of Spanish. As for the cost, to me it seems fairly reasonable, however I have yet to compare them to another vendor. Typically we pay anywhere from $20-$30 dollars for hardcover (depending on size) and $9-$15 for paperback. Please keep in mind that I only order Biographies and International books, so my numbers may not be as accurate.
Below is a link I found that contains some information you may find helpful. Best of luck.
http://www.brodartbooks.com/library-collection-development/bibz-online-ordering/page.aspx?id=277



I used Ingram at a library in West Virginia, and use Baker and Taylor at my current library.  In neither case did we pay for processing, but did that in house.  I haven't made the switch to Ingram (B & T was the supplier here before I came), primarily because I haven't had the time to do an intensive review of the respective contracts.  However, I was much happier with Ingram's website, book selection, and timeliness of delivery.
I realize this is apples and oranges - it's possible B & T has a much more efficient processing division than does Ingram - but, for what it's worth, that is my experience.


B & T has a way better discount for adult fiction hardcovers and paperbacks.  Stuff comes fast.  We don't have processing - so I don't know about that.


We use Baker & Taylor and their delivery time for a processed book is usually 7 days, with hot tiles taking a little longer.   They are easy to work with and do not require a guaranteed yearly purchase amount. There processing fee per items is very reasonable and  I am sure they would be willing to give you a quote.  Mike Gooding is our sales rep and a great person to deal with.
We also checked out Brodart Books for preprocessing print as a possible secondary source.



We do not get any of our books fully processed.  So, I can't really say how long it would take.
We buy most of our books from Baker & Taylor.  We pay for the cataloging, which I download to our catalog.  My staff does the actual processing of adding a barcode, security strip, spine label and covering the dust jacket

In Dexter, we split between Ingram and Baker and Taylor for the bulk of our ordering.  BT seems to come in about 1.5 to 2 weeks after the order if it has processing.  We dropped processing on our automatically yours titles and do the spine labels and mylar in house.  This gets the top fiction in on or before the retail release date.  For our regular books, mylar is 65¢ and spine labels are 9¢ per item.  Years ago, I was told not to adjust my processing profile because the costs would go up, so I haven't.


We use Emery-Pratt here in Owosso.  We are very happy with them, although we may receive some added perks since they are a local company.  Since we tend to order before books are published, I don't really know how long it takes them to ship after an order is placed; it varies depending upon the publisher.  In our case we have them do some processing, but not the cataloging.  They also deliver to us rather than ship since we are only a couple of miles away; we have asked that they batch most items and drop them off once a week rather than receive just a few things a day.


Mary Beauchamp
Adult Services
Petoskey District Library
231.758.3114

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