Baker & Taylor and Georgia Gwinnett College Launch New Library

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Baker & Taylor, Inc., the world's largest distributor of books and entertainment products, is proud to announce a dream assignment – helping Georgia Gwinnett College, a new, vibrant college, open its huge, state-of-the-art, fully-stocked library.

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"We are passionate about books and helping libraries open and develop their unique collections. We are honored that GGC chose Baker & Taylor as its trusted library partner," said George Coe, President of Library & Education at Baker & Taylor. "After all, it's not every day that a new four- year college library is built from the ground up."

Georgia Gwinnett College is a new fully accredited four-year public college serving about 5,000 undergraduate students in Lawrenceville, Georgia's Gwinnett County. GGC is the first four-year, public college founded since 2000 and the first founded in Georgia in more than 100 years. On Aug. 23, GGC – and its new library – opens for the Fall 2010 term, the start of the college's fifth academic year.

In 2005, the Georgia General Assembly voted – and Governor Perdue signed into law – to build a college on the campus of the Gwinnett University Center. The college broke ground for its library three years ago, but in the meantime the library has been housed in a campus facility that maxed out at 35,000 volumes. The new 95,370 square foot library has room for 300,000 volumes.

"Because of the timing of the completion of our new, larger library facility and the first day of classes for a student body almost double last year's enrollment, it was critical to increase our collection in a very short time, and be ready for opening day," said GGC President Daniel J. Kaufman.  "We are very pleased that our library will be prepared to greet our students on time."

Baker & Taylor is more than just a distributor of books and media products. The company and its Customized Library Services staff are experts in developing and expanding library collections tailored to suit an individual facility's mission and the needs of its patrons. CLS offers the most comprehensive and customized technical service solutions available to libraries today. With CLS experts – many of them former librarians themselves – handling the behind-the-scenes work, libraries are free to focus on doing what they love, which is serving patrons.

Baker & Taylor worked closely with GGC's Vicki Parsons, Head of Library Collections, to develop a collection for the library situated on what the college calls the "campus of tomorrow."  Georgia Gwinnett College received more than 525 cartons of books from Baker & Taylor and full CLS services, meaning that each book was shelf ready – tagged, labeled and cataloged.

About Baker & Taylor

Baker & Taylor, Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is the world's largest aggregator and distributor of books, digital content and entertainment products. The company leverages its unsurpassed worldwide distribution network to deliver rich content in multiple formats, anytime and anywhere. Baker & Taylor offers cutting-edge digital media services and innovative technology platforms to thousands of publishers, libraries and retailers worldwide.  Baker & Taylor also offers industry-leading customized library services and retail merchandising solutions. Baker & Taylor is proud to power Blio (blioreader.com), the world's most flexible, engaging and revolutionary e-reading application. Charlotte, N.C.-based Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan, Inc., a leading private equity investment firm.

Baker & Taylor and the Baker & Taylor logo are trademarks of Baker & Taylor, Inc.

About Georgia Gwinnett College

Georgia Gwinnett College, also referred to as GGC, is a fully accredited four-year public college in Lawrenceville, Ga. (Gwinnett County) with a Fall 2010 enrollment of about 5,000 undergraduate students. The building up of Georgia Gwinnett began in 2005, when the Georgia General Assembly voted to create a new college, via Senate Resolution 33, authored by Sen. Don Balfour and signed into law by Governor Sonny Perdue on May 10, 2005. Georgia Gwinnett opened its doors on Aug. 18, 2006, on the campus of the former Georgia University Center. For more information on GGC, go to www.ggc.edu.

Gwinnett County is one of the South's most dynamic regions to live and work. The county boasts a population of 614,500, and that population is expected to hit 1.2 million by 2025.

SOURCE Baker & Taylor, Inc.