In a move to strengthen its services to academic libraries, Baker & Taylor, the leading book wholesaler to libraries, will merge its academic services unit with Yankee Book Peddler, an international bookselling and distribution service specializing in academic and research libraries. The new academic services unit, to be called YBP Library Services, will be wholly owned by B&T. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Baker & Taylor is based in Charlotte, N.C., and YBP is based in Contoocook, N.H. There are no plans to move YBP and its 300 employees. YBP also operates in the U.K. under the name Lindsay & Howes; that division is located in Godalming, England.
The deal d s not include YBP's Yankee Rights Management division, which offers a variety of services for digital copyright and permissions management and electronic commerce, including its Internet-based Copyright Direct software technology. YRM has also been active in consulting on the standards for the AAP's Digital Object Identifier. YRM's Copyright Direct technology is compatible with DOI and the company also offers DOI vendor and implementation services.
Glen Secor, CEO of YBP, told PW that YRM will be run as a separate business under his direction. "We will be working closely with B&T and I expect them to eventually take a stake in YRM," he said.
James Ulsamer, president of B&T, described YBP as the "leader in the supply of books and information to academic libraries. This new unit now makes B&T number one in the academic market." Ulsamer told PW that YBP's leadership in "technical services, approval plans and management of bibliographic information will complement our strengths in distribution. We can build new products and services to offer to the academic market. It's a natural fit."
YBP shares "a common vision with B&T, backed by real synergies," Secor said, adding that the companies will likely look for opportunities to consolidate some functions. Secor said YBP plans to take advantage of B&T's electronic distribution and print-on-demand services. He noted, "We can pull from B&T's inventory for some of our corporate clients and fulfill orders quickly." Secor pointed to "long-term plans for data and technology sharing to supplement each company's services," developing products based on YBP's Global Online Bibliographic Information (GOBI), an academic titles database, and B&T's Title Source, a general title database.
