For nearly sixty years, librarians have trusted Brodart for everything from furniture to books and automated circulation systems. Brodart is an international company, serving libraries from the Northwest Territories to the Pacific Rim, with facilities in the United States and Canada. This truly full service library supply company has a rich and varied history of listening to librarians and delivering their operational needs.

Brodart began in 1939 when Arthur Brody, a young Columbia University student, created a plastic book jacket cover. He studied architectural photography, and one day after washing the emulsion off some film, he folded it around some books for added protection. When the covers' popularity grew among fellow students, the plastic book jacket cover was born. Today, Brodart covers are used to protect original paper jackets of library books, giving them a longer shelf life and increasing circulation. This innovation, in turn, gave birth to the Brodart Company.

Brodart continued to grow, and in 1954 began to manufacture a complete line of furniture. With expert workmanship and superior design the company has created a reputation for quality. Today, Brodart's furniture is sold to schools, universities, and libraries worldwide.

In the 1950's Brodart also expanded into book distribution for libraries and schools. The Company now offers books from more than 20,000 publishers, and stocks its warehouse with 225,000 titles and 2,000,000 books. Many of these books are shipped to libraries completely shelf-ready, fully cataloged and processed with borrowers' cards, spine labels and barcodes. These additional services, pioneered by Brodart, greatly reduce a librarian's workload.

An impressive half-century has passed since the Company was founded. This accomplishment is due to Mr. Brody, now Chairman of the Board, and to the professional employees of Brodart who continually strive to provide libraries with the best possible service and top-quality products.

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