Follett Content and Mackin, two companies with long histories serving the school library market, have announced plans to expand their services to the public library sector following the collapse of Baker & Taylor.
Britten Follett, CEO of Follett Content, said she had been having conversations about expanding into the public library space for months before ReaderLink’s acquisition of B&T fell through. (Follett issued its press release about its plans after the ReaderLink deal was announced, but before the acquisition was terminated.)
Follett Content currently works with more than 6,000 publishers and has an inventory of over 370,000 in-stock children’s and young adult print titles. It features 80,000 FollettBound titles—the company's premium library binding—through Titlewave, an online collection development tool for librarians.
Britten Follett told PW the company is in a good position to immediately work with smaller and mid-sized libraries to supply them with shelf-ready children’s and young adult titles and is making investments to meet the needs of larger library systems by early next year. The goal, she said, is to provide a seamless transition as possible from B&T to Follett. At some point, Follett Content may add adult titles to its mix, she added.
Britten Follett called public libraries “the perfect space for us to grow and a natural extension of our business.” She said publishers had been asking the company to consider entering the public library market for some time and have been very enthusiastic that they finally made the move, especially in light of B&T’s closure.
In addition to running Follett Content, Britten Follett has some familiarity with what B&T offered. She was working at what is now Follett Content when it was part of Follett Corp.—at which point Follett also owned B&T. Her division, Follett School Solutions group, was sold to Francisco Partners in November 2021, shortly after B&T was sold to an investment group led by B&T CEO Aman Kochar.
The other newest entrant into the public library market is Mackin, which provides PK-12 print and digital fiction and nonfiction titles, classroom curriculum materials, and STEM/STEAM educational products to schools. It has created MackinPublic, which the company calls an extension of its basic services, to public libraries.
Through its services, Mackin, headquartered in Burnsville, Minn., offers access to more than 4.2 million titles from nearly 18,000 publishers in the children’s and YA space. Mackin currently works with over 60,000 schools nationwide and co-owner Randal Heise said the company is looking forward to working with public libraries to fulfill print orders.
