Brodart Company is an American products and services company that serves

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

. Brodart is made up of three divisions: Books & Automation, Contract Library Furniture, and Supplies & Furnishings.

History

Brodart was established as Library Service in 1939, when

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Electrical Engineering student Arthur Brody, the son of pharmacy owners and owners of the Bro-Delle Book Shoppe in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, invented the plastic book jacket."In Memoriam: Arthur Brody, June 30, 1920 – May 10, 2012"
, Brodart corporate website"UC San Diego Foundation Trustee"
,

UCSD The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing ...

Foundation"Deaths: BRODY, ARTHUR"
''The New York Times'', May 13, 2012 Brody washed the emulsion off some film and folded it around his books for added protection. The covers are used to protect the original paper jackets of books."About Brodart"
, Brodart company website In 1946, the company's name was changed to Bro-Dart (later revised to Brodart). The company grew, and in 1959 Brodart began manufacturing furniture. Brodart’s furniture is sold to schools, universities, and libraries internationally. In the 1950s Brodart expanded into book distribution. Many books are offered to libraries already cataloged. Starting in about 1980, Bro-Dart expanded into the area of

stationery Stationery refers to writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer p ...

stores (now commonly called office-supply stores) and book stores. It acquired the California stores of the

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

-based J. K. Gill Company in the first half of 1980, and in September 1980 acquired the entire J. K. Gill company, which had 36 stores and about 500 employees in four western states. In 1982, Bro-Dart Industries (BDI Investment, Inc.) acquired Burrows, an Ohio chain of book- and office-supply stores, which was based in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

and had 45 stores in 1979 and about $18 million in annual sales. (The company was known as Burrows Brothers before 1944 and after 1988.) By mid-1987, the number of Burrows stores had declined to 29, and the last stores closed in 1992. The J. K. Gill chain continued in operation (as a Brodart subsidiary), but its revenue also fell, in the face of competition from national chains, and the last Gill's stores closed in early 1999.

Divisions

* The Books & Automation Division supplies cataloged and processed books. Brodart offers online tools, bibliographic services, and consulting to libraries. Customers select from English and Spanish titles, as well as audio and video products. * The Contract Furniture Division manufactures wooden furniture specified to end-user needs. * The Supplies & Furnishings Division offers library supplies and products. The Brodart Supply Catalog offers thousands of items.

Appearance on "Three Wishes" television show

In 2005, Brodart was featured in an episode of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

television show '' Three Wishes''. The show outlined a young girl suffering from cerebral palsy who had a wish to bring a library to her small Ohio town. Brodart endorsed the show and created a library for the town.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Brodart Corporate

Brodart Supplies and Furnishings Division U.S.

Brodart Supplies and Furnishings Division Canada
Library-related organizations

History

Divisions

Appearance on "Three Wishes" television show

References

Further reading

External links