DECATUR - Looking for "The Informant" lately?

You could be out of luck.

"Before the movie crews came, (the book) would just sit there," said Chris McCollum, manager of The Old Book Barn in Forsyth. "Now it's out immediately."

Bookstores and libraries saw increased demand for the book after filming began in the Decatur area.

McCollum said the bookstore has reordered the book three times, ordering between six and eight copies at a time.

And the sudden need to order the book has brought obstacles.

The Old Book Barn's distributor had a hard time supplying copies.

"I would think that since it's a nationwide distributor (the book) would not be as hard to get," McCollum said.

Haines and Essick is out of the book and so is its distributor. Penny Honnold contacted the publisher of the book, Broadway Books, to receive more copies, and the store is awaiting their arrival.

Honnold initially did not carry the book on the shelves before the arrival of the film crews to the area. When customers first requested it, she began to order five copies at a time.

"I think the interest comes from people that either didn't know it was a book or people that lost their original copy," Honnold said.

Waldenbooks in Hickory Point Mall noticed an increase in sales, coinciding with the movie crew's arrival.

Waldenbooks recently received its latest order of 125 books. The quick sales of the book prevented them from setting up a display.

Rolling Prairie Library Systems, one of 10 library systems in Illinois serving 264 area libraries, noticed an increase in recent requests for the book, too.

Rolling Prairie currently has all of its copies of the book checked out or being sent out. The library system has 46 requests for the book.

"The Informant" can still be found online with booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Kristy Mellendorf can be reached at kmellendorf@herald-review.com or 421-6977.