Building a Spanish-Language Collection After Lectorum: A Practical Guide for Public Libraries

Introduction

If you're a librarian responsible for your Spanish-language collection, the past year has been challenging. In late 2025, Lectorum Publications, for more than 60 years the largest independent distributor of Spanish-language books in the United States, announced its closure. For many libraries, Lectorum was the source. They handled cataloging support, processed shelf-ready orders, and curated standing-order lists that made Spanish collection development feel manageable even for staff who didn't read Spanish.

That pipeline is gone. And it's not the only shift: Baker & Taylor's collapse earlier in 2025 added another layer of disruption, and ongoing changes to federal Title I funding have squeezed many of the imprints and distributors that supported Spanish-language acquisitions.

If you're feeling stuck, whether you're trying to maintain an existing Spanish section, rebuild a depleted one, or start from zero, you're not alone. The good news: there is a path forward. This guide walks through what's changed, what hasn't, and how to build a strong Spanish-language collection in 2026 without a giant distributor doing all the lifting for you.

What Actually Changed (And What Didn't)

What Changed

• The biggest single source of curated Spanish-language inventory closed. Libraries that relied on Lectorum's standing-order lists, opening-day collections, and bilingual catalogs no longer have that automated pipeline.
• Wholesale Spanish-language distribution consolidated further. Some imprints have been absorbed into larger houses; others have scaled back their library-direct sales.
• Library-bound Spanish-language titles became even harder to find. Library binding was always limited in Spanish (most Latin American and Spanish publishers don't offer it), and the closures have shrunk options further.

What Didn't Change

• Demand is higher than ever. Hispanic and Latino communities are the fastest-growing demographic in U.S. public library service areas. Spanish is the most-spoken non-English language in the country, and demand for Spanish and bilingual children's titles continues to grow.
• The titles still exist. Publishers like Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial USA, Vintage Español, Editorial Océano, FCE, SM, Combel, Kalandraka, Loqueleo, Editorial Norma, and many independent imprints are still publishing wonderful Spanish-language work.
• Smaller curated vendors are still operating. With Lectorum gone, the remaining Spanish-specialist distributors and curators are getting more attention from libraries, and many are well-suited to working with libraries that want a more personal approach.
• Libraries are not stuck buying only what's in Spanish on Amazon. That's important to remember.

A Practical Framework for Building (or Rebuilding) Your Collection

Step 1: Know Your Community Before You Order Anything

This is the single most important step, and it's the one most often skipped when staff feel pressured to spend down a budget quickly. Before placing an order, gather what you can about:

• Country of origin breakdown. Spanish from Mexico reads differently from Spanish from Argentina or Spain, vocabulary, idioms, and even cover art preferences vary. Census data, school district demographics, and community organization partnerships can tell you a lot.
• Age distribution. A community with many young families needs picture books and early readers. A community with many teens needs YA. Most libraries underestimate demand for adult-easy-readers and family literacy titles for parents learning to read alongside their kids.
• Bilingual versus Spanish-only households. Many U.S. Latino families are bilingual or English-dominant, with Spanish maintained as a heritage language. These households often gravitate toward bilingual editions and dual-language picture books, not pure Spanish.
• Existing circulation data. If you have any Spanish titles already, look at what's circulating. Patterns there are more useful than assumptions.

If you can't get this data perfectly, that's okay. Even a rough sense ("we have a lot of young Mexican families and a growing Venezuelan population") shapes selection meaningfully.

Step 2: Set a Realistic Budget and Scope

Spanish-language collections rarely need to launch huge. A focused 50–75 title starter shelf, well-chosen, will circulate better than a 300-title shelf full of mismatched titles that don't fit your community.

A useful rule of thumb: start small enough to learn, large enough to be visible. A Spanish section that's only a single shelf can feel tokenistic; one that's a clearly-marked bay or end-cap signals real commitment.

Step 3: Pick the Right Mix of Sourcing Channels

With Lectorum gone, most libraries will use a combination of channels rather than a single vendor. Here's what's working in 2026:

Curated Spanish-language specialists. Smaller distributors and curators who focus specifically on authentic Spanish-language and bilingual literature. They can act as your subject-matter expert and put together collections tailored to your community. This is where Lectorum's role is being filled, by a more distributed network of smaller players.

Existing library wholesalers with Spanish programs. Major library wholesalers continue to offer Spanish-language services with varying depth. Their strength is workflow integration (MARC, processing, standing orders); their weakness is often curation depth.

Direct from publishers. For specific titles or imprints, going direct can yield better pricing and better backlist access. This works best when you already know what you want.

Awards and review-driven selection. The Pura Belpré Award (administered by ALSC and REFORMA), Américas Awards, and Premio Hispanoamericano de Literatura Infantil are reliable signals of quality. School Library Journal and Booklist both review Spanish-language children's titles.

Community partnerships. Local Spanish-language bookstores, cultural centers, and Latino community organizations are underrated sources of insight (and sometimes of titles).

Step 4: Get the Cataloging Right

The most common reason Spanish-language collections underperform isn't selection, it's cataloging. Books that aren't properly described in your catalog don't get found by patrons searching in Spanish.

A few essentials:

• Make sure language codes are correct (spa for Spanish, with appropriate dialect/country subfields where relevant).
• Include Spanish subject headings where your system supports them (Bilindex, LEMB, or local Spanish equivalents to LCSH).
• Add notes fields with a brief Spanish description when possible. Patrons searching in Spanish need to find these books in Spanish.
• Confirm OPAC supports diacritics. It's 2026 and this still trips up some legacy systems.

If cataloging in Spanish feels overwhelming, your consortium or state library system likely has shared records you can pull. ISBN-based MARC retrieval through services like OCLC Connexion or your consortium's union catalog handles most of this automatically.

Step 5: Shelve and Promote With Intention

A great collection that's invisible doesn't circulate. Some basics:

• Bilingual signage at the section, with clear "Libros en Español" / "Books in Spanish" labels
• Spine labels that visibly mark Spanish-language items so they can be reshelved correctly
• A staff pick or "Lectura del Mes" display rotated monthly
• Programming partnerships, bilingual storytime, Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros (April 30, observed nationally), Hispanic Heritage Month displays
• Outreach to community partners so the people the collection is meant to serve actually know it exists

What to Avoid

A few common pitfalls when building Spanish collections without a deeply specialist vendor:

• Don't rely on translated U.S. titles alone. Translations of popular American children's books have a place, they help bilingual kids bridge between languages, but a collection made entirely of translations sends an unintentional message that Spanish-language literature itself isn't valued. Mix in original Spanish-language works.
• Don't buy from sellers who can't tell you the country of origin. Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Latin America can feel quite different to readers; in children's books, this matters more than people expect.
• Don't skip the discovery conversation. If a vendor is ready to ship you a generic "Spanish starter pack" without asking about your community, find a different vendor.
• Don't forget the adults. Adult-easy-readers, parenting books, and bilingual cookbooks circulate well in many communities and are often overlooked.

You're Not Building This Alone

The Spanish-language library community is small, generous, and well-networked. A few resources worth knowing:

• REFORMA (The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking), an ALA affiliate with 20+ regional chapters and an active listserv (REFORMANET) where librarians actively discuss vendors, titles, and challenges.
• The Pura Belpré Award page at ALA, your annual short list of award-winning titles to consider.
• Library Journal and School Library Journal, both publish periodic Spanish-language collection development articles and reviews.
• Your state library and consortium, RAILS in Illinois, the Florida Library Association, etc., often have shared resources and Spanish-language webinars.

A Final Thought

Lectorum's closure is a real loss, especially for libraries that depended on its workflow. But it's also a moment that's bringing more libraries into direct, intentional conversations with the people who curate Spanish-language books, and that's not a bad thing.

A Spanish-language collection isn't about volume. It's about whether the families walking into your library see themselves on the shelf, in a language they love, in books they recognize. That's worth getting right, and it's absolutely possible to do well in 2026, even without one giant vendor doing it all for you.

How Había Una Vez Can Help

We're a small, hands-on team specializing in curated Spanish and bilingual children's, middle grade, YA, and family literacy titles. We work with public libraries to build collections from the ground up, tailored to your community, your budget, and your timeline. If you'd like to talk through what a Spanish-language collection could look like for your library, we'd love to hear from you.

Schedule a free 20-minute discovery call →

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Christy de Zayas is the founder of Había Una Vez Spanish Book Fairs, a curator and supplier of authentic Spanish-language and bilingual literature for schools and libraries across the United States.