diff --git a/src/array_api_extra/_delegation.py b/src/array_api_extra/_delegation.py
index bb11b7ee..b52c23ae 100644
--- a/src/array_api_extra/_delegation.py
+++ b/src/array_api_extra/_delegation.py
@@ -4,33 +4,22 @@
 from types import ModuleType
 from typing import Literal
 
-from ._lib import Backend, _funcs
-from ._lib._utils._compat import array_namespace
+from ._lib import _funcs
+from ._lib._utils._compat import (
+    array_namespace,
+    is_cupy_namespace,
+    is_dask_namespace,
+    is_jax_namespace,
+    is_numpy_namespace,
+    is_pydata_sparse_namespace,
+    is_torch_namespace,
+)
 from ._lib._utils._helpers import asarrays
 from ._lib._utils._typing import Array
 
 __all__ = ["isclose", "pad"]
 
 
-def _delegate(xp: ModuleType, *backends: Backend) -> bool:
-    """
-    Check whether `xp` is one of the `backends` to delegate to.
-
-    Parameters
-    ----------
-    xp : array_namespace
-        Array namespace to check.
-    *backends : IsNamespace
-        Arbitrarily many backends (from the ``IsNamespace`` enum) to check.
-
-    Returns
-    -------
-    bool
-        ``True`` if `xp` matches one of the `backends`, ``False`` otherwise.
-    """
-    return any(backend.is_namespace(xp) for backend in backends)
-
-
 def isclose(
     a: Array | complex,
     b: Array | complex,
@@ -108,10 +97,15 @@ def isclose(
     """
     xp = array_namespace(a, b) if xp is None else xp
 
-    if _delegate(xp, Backend.NUMPY, Backend.CUPY, Backend.DASK, Backend.JAX):
+    if (
+        is_numpy_namespace(xp)
+        or is_cupy_namespace(xp)
+        or is_dask_namespace(xp)
+        or is_jax_namespace(xp)
+    ):
         return xp.isclose(a, b, rtol=rtol, atol=atol, equal_nan=equal_nan)
 
-    if _delegate(xp, Backend.TORCH):
+    if is_torch_namespace(xp):
         a, b = asarrays(a, b, xp=xp)  # Array API 2024.12 support
         return xp.isclose(a, b, rtol=rtol, atol=atol, equal_nan=equal_nan)
 
@@ -159,14 +153,19 @@ def pad(
         msg = "Only `'constant'` mode is currently supported"
         raise NotImplementedError(msg)
 
+    if (
+        is_numpy_namespace(xp)
+        or is_cupy_namespace(xp)
+        or is_jax_namespace(xp)
+        or is_pydata_sparse_namespace(xp)
+    ):
+        return xp.pad(x, pad_width, mode, constant_values=constant_values)
+
     # https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/blob/cf76c05b4dc629ac989d1fb8e789d4fac04a095a/torch/_numpy/_funcs_impl.py#L2045-L2056
-    if _delegate(xp, Backend.TORCH):
+    if is_torch_namespace(xp):
         pad_width = xp.asarray(pad_width)
         pad_width = xp.broadcast_to(pad_width, (x.ndim, 2))
         pad_width = xp.flip(pad_width, axis=(0,)).flatten()
         return xp.nn.functional.pad(x, tuple(pad_width), value=constant_values)  # type: ignore[arg-type]  # pyright: ignore[reportArgumentType]
 
-    if _delegate(xp, Backend.NUMPY, Backend.JAX, Backend.CUPY, Backend.SPARSE):
-        return xp.pad(x, pad_width, mode, constant_values=constant_values)
-
     return _funcs.pad(x, pad_width, constant_values=constant_values, xp=xp)
diff --git a/src/array_api_extra/_lib/__init__.py b/src/array_api_extra/_lib/__init__.py
index b83d7e8c..d7b32033 100644
--- a/src/array_api_extra/_lib/__init__.py
+++ b/src/array_api_extra/_lib/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1 @@
 """Internals of array-api-extra."""
-
-from ._backends import Backend
-
-__all__ = ["Backend"]
diff --git a/src/array_api_extra/_lib/_backends.py b/src/array_api_extra/_lib/_backends.py
index e30afd55..f64e1479 100644
--- a/src/array_api_extra/_lib/_backends.py
+++ b/src/array_api_extra/_lib/_backends.py
@@ -1,58 +1,34 @@
-"""Backends with which array-api-extra interacts in delegation and testing."""
+"""Backends against which array-api-extra runs its tests."""
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-from collections.abc import Callable
 from enum import Enum
-from types import ModuleType
-
-from ._utils import _compat
 
 __all__ = ["Backend"]
 
 
-class Backend(Enum):  # numpydoc ignore=PR01,PR02  # type: ignore[no-subclass-any]
+class Backend(Enum):  # numpydoc ignore=PR02
     """
     All array library backends explicitly tested by array-api-extra.
 
     Parameters
     ----------
     value : str
-        Name of the backend's module.
-    is_namespace : Callable[[ModuleType], bool]
-        Function to check whether an input module is the array namespace
-        corresponding to the backend.
+        Tag of the backend's module, in the format ``<namespace>[:<extra tag>]``.
     """
 
     # Use :<tag> to prevent Enum from deduplicating items with the same value
-    ARRAY_API_STRICT = "array_api_strict", _compat.is_array_api_strict_namespace
-    ARRAY_API_STRICTEST = (
-        "array_api_strict:strictest",
-        _compat.is_array_api_strict_namespace,
-    )
-    NUMPY = "numpy", _compat.is_numpy_namespace
-    NUMPY_READONLY = "numpy:readonly", _compat.is_numpy_namespace
-    CUPY = "cupy", _compat.is_cupy_namespace
-    TORCH = "torch", _compat.is_torch_namespace
-    TORCH_GPU = "torch:gpu", _compat.is_torch_namespace
-    DASK = "dask.array", _compat.is_dask_namespace
-    SPARSE = "sparse", _compat.is_pydata_sparse_namespace
-    JAX = "jax.numpy", _compat.is_jax_namespace
-    JAX_GPU = "jax.numpy:gpu", _compat.is_jax_namespace
-
-    def __new__(
-        cls, value: str, _is_namespace: Callable[[ModuleType], bool]
-    ):  # numpydoc ignore=GL08
-        obj = object.__new__(cls)
-        obj._value_ = value
-        return obj
-
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        value: str,  # noqa: ARG002  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
-        is_namespace: Callable[[ModuleType], bool],
-    ):  # numpydoc ignore=GL08
-        self.is_namespace = is_namespace
+    ARRAY_API_STRICT = "array_api_strict"
+    ARRAY_API_STRICTEST = "array_api_strict:strictest"
+    NUMPY = "numpy"
+    NUMPY_READONLY = "numpy:readonly"
+    CUPY = "cupy"
+    TORCH = "torch"
+    TORCH_GPU = "torch:gpu"
+    DASK = "dask.array"
+    SPARSE = "sparse"
+    JAX = "jax.numpy"
+    JAX_GPU = "jax.numpy:gpu"
 
     def __str__(self) -> str:  # type: ignore[explicit-override]  # pyright: ignore[reportImplicitOverride]  # numpydoc ignore=RT01
         """Pretty-print parameterized test names."""
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 70854249..410a87ff 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
 
-from array_api_extra._lib import Backend
+from array_api_extra._lib._backends import Backend
 from array_api_extra._lib._testing import xfail
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import array_namespace
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import device as get_device
diff --git a/tests/test_at.py b/tests/test_at.py
index 926685cb..4ccf584e 100644
--- a/tests/test_at.py
+++ b/tests/test_at.py
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 import pytest
 
 from array_api_extra import at
-from array_api_extra._lib import Backend
 from array_api_extra._lib._at import _AtOp
+from array_api_extra._lib._backends import Backend
 from array_api_extra._lib._testing import xp_assert_equal
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import array_namespace, is_writeable_array
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import device as get_device
diff --git a/tests/test_funcs.py b/tests/test_funcs.py
index 553df5dc..4e40f09b 100644
--- a/tests/test_funcs.py
+++ b/tests/test_funcs.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
     setdiff1d,
     sinc,
 )
-from array_api_extra._lib import Backend
+from array_api_extra._lib._backends import Backend
 from array_api_extra._lib._testing import xp_assert_close, xp_assert_equal
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import device as get_device
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._helpers import eager_shape, ndindex
diff --git a/tests/test_helpers.py b/tests/test_helpers.py
index c7d271ca..ebd4811f 100644
--- a/tests/test_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/test_helpers.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
 
-from array_api_extra._lib import Backend
+from array_api_extra._lib._backends import Backend
 from array_api_extra._lib._testing import xp_assert_equal
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import array_namespace
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import device as get_device
diff --git a/tests/test_lazy.py b/tests/test_lazy.py
index 8690c33e..f40df277 100644
--- a/tests/test_lazy.py
+++ b/tests/test_lazy.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 import array_api_extra as xpx  # Let some tests bypass lazy_xp_function
 from array_api_extra import lazy_apply
-from array_api_extra._lib import Backend
+from array_api_extra._lib._backends import Backend
 from array_api_extra._lib._testing import xp_assert_equal
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils import _compat
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import array_namespace, is_dask_array
diff --git a/tests/test_testing.py b/tests/test_testing.py
index 9976e6fd..ff67121b 100644
--- a/tests/test_testing.py
+++ b/tests/test_testing.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
 
-from array_api_extra._lib import Backend
+from array_api_extra._lib._backends import Backend
 from array_api_extra._lib._testing import xp_assert_close, xp_assert_equal
 from array_api_extra._lib._utils._compat import (
     array_namespace,