Baker & Taylor Acquires Blackwell North America and James Bennett

Blackwell U.K. Acquires B&T's Lindsay and Croft in the U.K. As Part of Deal. Customers to Benefit from More than 300 Years of Bookselling Excellence -

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, December 7 - Baker & Taylor Inc. today announced it has acquired Blackwell Book
Services North America (BNA) and Blackwell's Australia-based James Bennett
bookseller.

(Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090529/CL24290LOGO)

Also as part of the deal, Blackwell U.K. will acquire Baker & Taylor's
Lindsay and Croft business in the U.K.

"Our organizations share a passion for bookselling, a rich history and a
reputation for superior customer service," said Tom Morgan, CEO of Baker &
Taylor. "With our collective knowledge and breadth of scholarly inventory and
value-added services, academic libraries around the world will be extremely
well served."

The combination of Baker & Taylor's YBP Library Services and Blackwell's
North American and Australian businesses brings together the world's most
respected and trusted academic and research library service providers. The
shared commitment to service through partnerships with libraries, consortia
and suppliers, coupled with outstanding reputations for professionalism,
knowledge and integrity, will allow the expanded U.S.-based YBP Library
Services to better meet the rapidly evolving information and workflow needs
of academic libraries around the globe for years to come.

In addition to the acquisitions, Baker & Taylor's YBP Library Services
and Blackwell U.K. have entered into a strategic sourcing agreement under
which YBP Library Services will source all U.K.-published academic material
from Blackwell U.K., and Blackwell U.K. will source all U.S.-published
academic material from YBP Library Services. This agreement will enable both
businesses to offer their respective customers all over the globe the largest
and most in-depth supply of scholarly materials.

Andrew Hutchings, Group CEO of Blackwell, said, "I am confident that this
reciprocal agreement will enable Blackwell and YBP Library Services to build
on their respective strengths and continue to deliver the high quality
services that academic libraries around the world require."

With this acquisition, Baker & Taylor's YBP Library Services will
continue to offer the collection development and workflow services - print
and electronic approval plans, firm and rush orders, continuations and
technical services - that customers have relied on for years.

Additional services that were previously unique to one provider, such as
Blackwell's Table of Contents Catalog Enrichment Service or YBP Library
Services' GOBI(3) bibliographic service, will soon be offered to all
customers. By combining mutual best practices, the companies can provide a
superior level of customer service that was never before possible.

About Baker & Taylor

Baker & Taylor, Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is a global information and
entertainment services company that offers print and digital books and
entertainment products along with value-added services to libraries,
educational institutions and retailers. Based in Charlotte, N.C., the company
has been in existence for more than 180 years, developing long-term
relationships with major suppliers, including book publishers, movie studios
and music labels. Baker & Taylor maintains one of the largest combined
in-stock book, video and music inventories in the United States, and services
the broadest customer base in the industry. 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.

About YBP Library Services

YBP Library Services, a Baker & Taylor company, provides books and
supporting collection management and technical services to academic, research
and special libraries in North America and around the world. GOBI(3), YBP
Library Services' online, interactive bibliographic information service,
provides access to 3 million titles in an English language database. YBP
Library Services' headquarters are in Contoocook, N.H. For more on the
company, go to www.ybp.com.

About Blackwell Limited

Blackwell U.K. Limited is a leading supplier of academic books and
bibliographic support to academic and research libraries in the U.K., Europe
and Africa. It is also the leading academic bookseller in the U.K. with 44
shops in retail centers and on university campuses and an online bookshop
(www.blackwell.co.uk). Now in its 130th year of trading, Blackwell, a
privately owned family business, has built an international reputation for
bookselling excellence. Houtschild, the Netherlands-based specialist supplier
of European and U.K. titles to the European market is also part of the
Blackwell Group.

Amy Baldwin, p: +1-704-998-3136, mobile: +1-704-519-6232, amy.baldwin at baker-taylor.com; or Phill Jamieson, p: +44(0)1865-333456, mobile: +44(0)7887-486023, phill.jamieson at blackwell.co.uk