New Home Delivery Article Published

A new article from Jim Myers at Orange County on home delivery has been published.  Check it out at:

Myers, Jim. 2009. “Home delivery at the Orange County Library System: an exemplar from the USA.” Interlending & Document Supply 37, no. 2: 84-6.

Historical Home Delivery – 1866

A colleague sent me this comment from the following article: Nix, Larry T. (2007). The New York Mercantile Library and Its Home Delivery Service.  Libraries & the Cultural Record, 42(4), 452-5. 

The Mercantile Library Association of New York City
Larry Nix writes: “The phrase on this cover that reads ‘Books Delivered
at the Residences of Members’ is at the heart of this story. This letter
was mailed by the Mercantile Library Association of New York City, now the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, around 1868. In 1866, the
Mercantile Library initiated a home-delivery service for its members.
This may have been the first such service of any nonprofit library in
America. An interesting aspect of the Mercantile Library’s home delivery service was the use of stamps similar to postage stamps to indicate prepayment for delivery.”
Library History Buff

Homebound Programs Survey Results: How do they Deliver?

The following information is from a recent survey of twenty homebound library programs in Colorado conducted by Jacob Browne, Outreach Associate, Jefferson County Public Library. 

 “Homebound Programs deliver library service to more than 1,200 Colorado residents and to 102 assisted living, independent care, and nursing homes. Demand for service is large enough that two programs have a short waiting list,” said Jacob Browne.

 Fifteen libraries have volunteers delivering to people’s homes and another twelve to related senior facilities.  The volunteer own vehicles are used to make deliveries.  Jacob report that, “on average, volunteers contribute about 10 hours a week to these programs.  All the programs deliver materials directly to a resident’s door, but there is a range on how frequent those visits are, from one month apart (6 libraries), to every week (1 library) and to whenever is necessary (5 libraries). 

 “Only five programs are collaborating with non-library organizations, like Meals-on-Wheels, local Senior’s groups, or Neighbor-to-Neighbor groups.  One reported having tried in the past, and have found it difficult.”

 Thanks to Jacob Browne for sharing this information with the Moving Mountain Blog.

Nova Scotia: “Borrow Anywhere, Return Anywhere”

Nova Scotia Makes Public and Academic Library Holdings Available to All
Norman Oder — Library Journal, 10/23/2009

Excerpt: “In an unusual partnership called “Borrow Anywhere, Return Anywhere,” all public, college, and university libraries in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, will lend all their materials to any library card-holder in the province, with no additional fees.”

The collective is known as Libraries Nova Scotia borrowed more than 7 million items last year according to their Education Minister.  As delivery librarians our first question is always, how will the logistics work?  Here’s their answer:

“Q. How will materials be returned to other library systems? Who pays? Will there be a guaranteed return time?
A. Libraries will use existing return mechanisms, including Canada Post and courier. Individual institutions may develop alternate returns mechanisms with specific partners as the pilot develops. The cost of returning the item to the lending library will be assumed by the sending library. All costs will be measured and reported during the pilot. Standards will be set for turnaround time and measured against during the pilot.”

New Book on Library Delivery

ALA Editions has released a new collaborative book entitled: Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Libraries.   

Eleven people contributed to the books: Valerie Horton and Bruce Smith, wrote sections and edited the book.  Contributors include: Brenda Bailey-Hainer, Lori Ayres, Greg Pronevitz, David Millikin, Ivan Gaetz, Lisa Priebe, Melissa Stockton, Robin Dean, and Jim Myers.

From the book jacket: 

“Picking, packing, delivering, and returning library materials can be very time-consuming and expensive; yet, it is one of the most important and least understood functions within a library. Until now, little time has been spent studying, exploring, or writing about the physical delivery of library materials.

Moving Materials is the guide to contemporary logistics management for libraries. Eleven experts in the field explore every aspect of this multi-million dollar function, so readers will learn

* The impact of pricing on delivery services
* Managing in-house delivery systems
* The value of outsourcing physical delivery to a carrier service
* Details about routing and materials management systems
* New technologies and the impact of library 2.0 on physical delivery
* The how-to’s of home delivery

Moving Materials is a practical, useful handbook for library managers who want to save money and offer quality materials to their patrons. “

Is Home Delivery the Solution to Slumping Library Use in Britian?

The Independent (UK) Thursday, 8 October 2009

“DVD-style home deliveries and tie-ups with internet firms such as Amazon could be the answer to ensure the future of libraries for the iPod generation, Culture Minister Margaret Hodge said today.  A review of library services is under way and is expected to contain radical proposals to address modern book consumption and tackle the diminishing usage around the UK.”  Read more.

COKAMO Saves Money; Expanding in the Region

COKAMO, the shared delivery system for Colorado, Missouri and parts of Kansas, has shipped 9,840 pounds of library materials via Greyhound Bus Lines in the past five months.  That’s 23,250 items; in five months that more than quadruples all of last year’s OCLC transactions.  Participating libraries have already saved more $85,000.  Success!

 Our success is spreading.  Missouri’s KCMLIN is working to create a connection to the Trans-Amigos delivery service in the next few months.  That links will provide add more than 700 additional libraries into COKAMO.  Colorado will create a link to Trans-Amigos in early 2010.

Delivery Conference – Save the Date

Messenger Courier Association of the Americas  — MCAA Annual Meeting & Exposition 
May 12-15, 2010
Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, Las Vegas, Nevada

State-Run Bookmobiles

Relic in Internet world? Bookmobiles still bringing libraries to eager rural NM residents
By SUE MAJOR HOLMES, Associated Press

Excerpt: “In a digital age where news comes on cell phones and readers download e-books, three bookmobiles chug along the back roads of New Mexico, bringing a library to people who otherwise live without one.  The New Mexico State Library’s on-the-road program is unique.”

“There are no other state-run bookmobile programs that I am aware of,” said Michael Swendrowski of Milwaukee, chairman of the subcommittee on bookmobiles for the American Library Association, which last year celebrated 100 years of bookmobiles. Nowadays, most are operated by cities, counties or regions.”  Read more.

Invitation to Blog on Moving Mountains

This blog is open to anyone in the library field who would like to blog about delivery.  If you wish to be added as a blogger, send vhorton@clicweb.org your email address and I’ll add you in.  Thanks, Valerie