Barnes & Noble.com Launches Library Bookstore Service

The recent American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia (InfoTech, LJ 3/1/03, p. 25) rounded up many of the usual vendors. But among those at the show for the first time was one very familiar name. Barnes &Noble.com (BN.com), whose presence at ALA marked the start of a new relationship between the Goliath bookseller and the library market, has launched a new online service called The Library Bookstore (www.bnbusiness.com/library), offering libraries many benefits.

Brian Buckley, VP of professional sales and merchandising, told LJ The Library Bookstore is based on a model B&N.com has for corporate customers. "Over the last several years we've had good business with libraries, but our approach has been reactive rather than proactive in the library market." Many libraries have had B&N.com set up purchase order accounts, but little more, so the company saw room for opportunity. B&N.com's research showed that libraries were using them for spot buying primarily.

For The Library Bookstore, B&N.com will create a customizable front end where libraries can put book information, messaging, links to resources, etc., for staffers—and patrons if the library desires. Librarians also can use the service to order anything—books, audio, video/DVDs—from B&N's inventory of 1.2 million titles. Delivery, Buckley said, is in 24 hours. For academic libraries, there is a separate listing for textbooks.

To create a custom homepage, B&N.com reps meet with library acquisitions staff and personalize the front and back end. "On the back end," Buckley said, "we can set up purchase order accounts and arrange for corporate purchasing cards. In purchase order accounts we can put an approved list of buyers and [establish] credit limits to help the libraries manage expenses and control the people accessing it." For Library Bookstore customers, B&N.com is offering deeper discounts than those on their public site, so libraries can save money by opening an account. Shipping also is free on orders of two items or more.

Even if libraries do not want an account, the publicly accessible page still has value. The interface offers a selection of "Featured Titles" in fiction and nonfiction selected by B&N.com staffers, many of whom are publishing veterans in several genres. It includes TV and newspaper book club selections (Good Morning America, Today, USA Today), plus B&N's own recommendations from its Discover series. There is also a BookBrowser search engine that takes users to a subject-specific (Biography, Business & Money, Cooking, Fiction & Literature, Science & Nature, etc.) list of recommendations and, of course, a search field for specific authors, titles, and more.

Since The Library Bookstore's launch at ALA Midwinter, B&N.com is in negotiation with roughly two dozen "major library systems," Buckley said. Because of contractual obligations, no names could be released at press time.