10/09/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/09/2025 19:01
The Santa Barbara Public Library has always been committed to providing new and bestselling titles that our patrons (and staff!) are eager to read. However, you may have noticed longer-than-usual wait times for some physical books.
This delay is due to the sudden closure of our long-time, primary print book distributor. This vendor previously supplied SBPL -- and many other libraries nationwide -- with pre-processed library books, that are stickered, catalogued, RFID-chipped, and completely ready for check out. Their services allowed us to get new books to readers more quickly and efficiently.
While we transition to new book suppliers, library staff will temporarily take over the processing of new materials in-house. This will likely result in continued delays for newly released print books, as we adjust to increased demand on alternate vendors and added workload on our team.
Our stellar Ordering and Processing Team, known as Technical Services, will be especially impacted. To give some perspective: when SBPL received pre-processed books from our vendor, we were able to prepare up to 100 books per hour for our shelves. However, fully processing materials in-house slows that rate down to about 10 books per hour. This shift in workflow significantly slows the pace at which new titles can be made available for checkout.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience to our patrons and want to assure you that we are actively working on solutions. In the short term, we are:
In the meantime, we encourage you to explore hidden gems and staff favorites already available in our collection. While new releases may be more difficult to access right now, it's a great opportunity to discover something unexpected or outside of your usual reading list. With almost 300,000 items across our print and digital collections, there's something for everyone.
Need help finding your next great read? Our friendly and knowledgeable staff are always happy to recommend books at all three of our branches!
You can also explore:
Thank you for your patience and continued support.