British Book Distribution: the bookseller's role and problems

Abstract

Approximately five years ago, when he retired, Mr Claude Gill delivered a paper to a conference of librarians and it was very clear that he was pessimistic regarding the standards of distribution from publishers to booksellers. After the traumas of early computerization and decentralization away from London and five years later, I think that there are now grounds for believing that the situation has improved for the better. It is not ideal. Many publishers are still too slow and too many mistakes are still being made. The Director of the Booksellers Association recently said that: ‘In an outside world of increasing congestion and high labour costs it may be regarded as an outstanding achievement for a service nowadays to be no worse off!’

Citation

Noble, D.H. (1973), "British Book Distribution: the bookseller's role and problems", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 191-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb050404