Fairfield Public Library Working To Fix Delay In Materials Acquisition

News release from Fairfield Public Library:

FAIRFIELD, CT — Patrons of the Town of Fairfield Public Library might have noticed that it is currently taking longer than usual for the Library to acquire and add to circulation requested new books and other items. It’s a problem that Fairfield shares with libraries nationwide – but the Town’s librarians are working on a solution.

More than 5,000 libraries nationally have been affected by the closing of major book distributor Baker & Taylor, which had been the largest distributor of shelf-ready materials to the library market.

“The abrupt decision to close Baker & Taylor has caused a host of issues such as cancelled orders for new and back-ordered books and the need to shop elsewhere for desired materials,” said Scott C. Jarzombek, Fairfield’s Town Librarian. “For that reason, our patrons may be experiencing a delay in
seeing new books appear on our shelves.”

Not only must the Library fill orders elsewhere, says Jarzombek, but books that once arrived “ready to borrow”—with dust jackets, barcodes and spine labels in place—now have to be manually prepared by Fairfield Library staff, a time-consuming process for a small Technical Services staff. Baker & Taylor was providing books processed and with cataloguing data before sending them on to their destination, thus enabling a library to put a newly published book on the shelf the same day it arrived in bookstores.

The Library has identified new suppliers and is working diligently to normalize our purchasing process, said Jarzombek.

“We appreciate our patrons being patient with us while we transition to new book suppliers,” he said. “And we want to assure them that we will continue to acquire the books they are seeking and will work tirelessly to get them on our shelves in a timely manner.”

The public may contact Scott Jarzombek with any questions or concerns at sjarzombek@fplct.org.