World Language Vendors
When we work with world language vendors, we ask them to
send us lists of materials that fit specific profiles that we send them. We
break our budget down by audience, material type, and fiction/nonfiction. The
vendor will send us a list of materials that fit this profile, and I then run
through the list, confirming that we do not already own the title. We do not have
very large budgets for our world languages, so I do not like to buy MARC
records. And because I cannot create original records for Chinese, Persian,
Russian, etc., I confirm that the record is already available in SkyRiver or
WorldCat.
Generally speaking, world language vendors receive their
books internationally. Sentrum orders their stock directly from Moscow; Tomo’s
books come directly from Mexico City. Some international publishers do not have
the same quality that we are used to, and this can sometimes be an issue. I
personally do not know how this can be avoided, but we have had to return some
brand-new items that arrived with broken spines due to poor gluing or loose
stitching.
When we order children’s materials from world language
vendors, we tend to put most of our budget towards picture books, board books,
and nonfiction relating to the country of origin’s folklore or general
fairytales. We have found that chapter books do not circulate very well in
non-English languages.
Arabic
Multi-Cultural
Sanabil
Chinese
Actrace
Baker & Taylor
Booklinx
Tsai
Fong
Indic -- Hindi / Punjabi
India for Everyone
Multi-Cultural
Persian
Raha Books
Russian
Baker & Taylor
Sentrum
Spanish
Baker & Taylor
NODA
Tomo
Ukrainian
Sentrum
Vietnamese
Multi-Cultural
VENDORS
Actrace
SPL’s Contact:
David Du
Actrace
can receive FTP orders from and send FTP invoices to our ILS, which is very
helpful. They will also sell us MARC records. We’ve used this once or twice;
they don’t catalog for us. They send us a MARC record (we add call
numbers and any local practices).
Baker & Taylor
I can
rely on B&T to have really popular Spanish children’s titles and bilingual
board books. We receive titles from B&T processed which is a huge help, so
when I can, I order from B&T.
Booklinx
SPL’s Contact:
Annie Wang
Also
supplies our Chinese language magazines. A great vendor to work with.
India for Everyone
SPL’s
Contact: Monica Khosla
We have
not yet ordered from India for Everyone, but we are very optimistic!
Lectorum
Lectorum
is the oldest and largest Spanish materials distributer in the United States. A
subsidiary of Scholastic from 1996-2009, Lectorum is THE place to get children’s
Spanish titles.
Side
note: Teresa Mlawer was owner and president of Lectorum from 1976-2012, until
she retired from the company. Ms. Mlawer has translated hundreds of English
children’s titles into Spanish and helped Lectorum become the largest publisher
of Spanish-language materials in the United States. She now works with Rosen
Publishers in New York. Rosen publishes non-fiction English, Spanish, and
bilingual books for grades K-12. Baker & Taylor carries quite a few Rosen
titles, so we generally order through B&T, but Ms. Mlawer has been an
incredible resource for SPL.
Multi-Cultural Books and Videos
SPL’s
Contact: Joel Samuel
Can
provide original MARC records and copy cataloging for additional cost.
Multi-Cultural
is usually the go-to vendor when it comes to non-English language materials, and
we continue to work with them and with a broad selection of other vendors in
order to fulfill our changing collection needs.
NODA Audio-Visual, LLC
Mr.
Noda is a Spanish DVD vendor who runs his small business out of Colorado. He
sends newsletters once a month featuring 30 or so new titles (generally adult),
including personal recommendations made by Mr. Noda himself. A few of the
titles featured are English-language movies dubbed in Spanish; however, the
bulk of his DVDs are movies that were produced in Mexico with Mexican actors.
He includes great classic Mexican cinema from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s and also
includes more modern Mexican movies from the 2010s. We receive great service
and quality products from Mr. Noda.
Raha Books
SPL has
not yet utilized Raha Books’ services, but we will be ordering from them this
fiscal year.
Sanabil
SPL’s
Contact: Amira Choucair
Primary
focus is on Arabic books for children. We have had great success with Sanabil,
and their picture books are high quality.
Sentrum
SPL’s Contact:
Ira Tatelbaum
Also
supplies our Russian language magazines. Sentrum has been a great vendor to
Sacramento Public. They are very attentive to our special requests. When we
received our first list from Sentrum, we had to limit the amount of children’s
chapter books and asked to increase the number of picture books and nonfiction
folk tales relating to Russian lore. I believe chapter books are more prevalent
in Russia, and picture books are harder to find. But when we explained what we
needed, Sentrum was able to provide.
Tomo Books USA
SPL’s Contact:
Jesse Ituarte
Located
in Fresno, CA, I believe Tomo Books mainly sells to California libraries, but I
could be mistaken. Mr. Ituarte is very dedicated to his company and has great
customer service skills. Although we have purchased some great children’s
nonfiction from Tomo, I’d say his main market is adult titles.
Tsai Fong
SPL’s
Contact: Judy Lee
Tsai Fong will sell us MARC
records, and will provide bib cards for free (bib cards are scraps of paper
they send in the books that includes title, author, ISBN, etc.).
*Shared through ALSC LISTSERV
Please note: these are informal opinions based on our selector’s experiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.