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Report regarding a resolution authorizing a one-year extension of purchase agreements with distributors Baker & Taylor, LLC and Brodart Co. to supply library books and audiovisual materials and services. (Adam Elsholz, Assistant Library Director)
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing a one-year extension of purchase agreements with distributors Baker & Taylor, LLC and Brodart Co. to supply library books and audiovisual materials, and provide services including processing, cataloging, and collection development.
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BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
The Library Department purchases most new items, including books, digital video discs (DVDs), audiobooks, and music compact discs (CDs), for its collections from wholesale distributors who maintain large inventories of titles from many publishers and producers. Obtaining books and media through these distributors offers many advantages over purchasing from individual publishers including:
* Greater discounts over retail prices (up to 43%)
* Larger and more varied inventories to serve the City's diverse population
* Value-added services, including the physical processing of books and audiovisual items
* Greater use of technologies needed to communicate with library databases and systems including electronic bibliographic materials for the Library's catalog.
In order to obtain the best pricing from competing distributors, the Library issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Library Materials and Services in November 2022, including processing and cataloging, covering both adult and children's collections, receiving responses from six vendors. After an evaluation process by a five-member evaluation team that included reference checks from other libraries and software demonstrations, four vendors were rated as qualified to become part of a pool of distributors supplying materials and services to the Library.
Purchase agreements were arranged with B...
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