New Articles on Library Delivery

A few new articles on library delivery came out in 2009. 

Article: Home delivery at the Orange County Library System: an exemplar from the USA
Author(s): Jim Myers
Journal: Interlending & Document Supply  2009
 Volume: 37 Issue: 2    Page: 84 – 86
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of Florida’s Orange County Library System (OCLS) home delivery program, including the history, processes and cost-effectiveness of the service.

Article: Outreach as Virtual Branch
Author: JOANN SAMPSON
Public Libraries 48 no1 23-4 Ja/F 2009
Excerpt: “Both my husband and I have to work full time and when we get home we need to take care of our kids so [there's] not time to go to the library. Requesting books online and receiving them at home allows us to provide our kids with the material they need to succeed at school and cultivate their love for books.” This is just one of many comments from patrons of the Orange County (Fla.) Library System (OCLS) in Orlando on the joys of remote access to their public library.”

Software Review: Could Your Library Courier Benefit from a Courier Management System?
Author: Priebe, Lisa
Journal Name: Collaborative Librarianship
Collaborative Librarianship v. 1 no. 2 (2009) p. 72
Excerpt: “  For most people the acronym CMS refers to a system that manages website content updates. However, for those who use Quipu Group’s Li-brary2Library software the term refers to a courier management system. Developed in 2007, Library2Library is a web-based tool used to manage the daily activities of a library courier service. Gone are the multiple Excel spread-sheets, Access databases, sticky notes, and paper files used to track material and payments. Libraries can move beyond lists with courier code addresses, antiquated web forms and email used to communicate problems to the courier manager. These methods were labor intensive, costly, and subject to human error.”

Texas Courier & Logistics Association Conference

If you have been wanting to learn more about the Logistics industry – here’s an opportunity. 

TEXAS COURIER & LOGISTICS ASSOCIATION
MARCH 25th – 27th, 2010
MOODY GARDENS HOTEL – GALVESTON ISLAND, TEXAS
http://www.texascla.com/html/news.php

Sarah Long’s podcasts on library delivery avialable

Sarah Long, Executive Director of the North Suburban Library System (IL) produces podcasts called “Longshots.”  Two of her recent podcasts were on library physical delivery.  Check it out at: http://www.librarybeat.org/

Longshots #197 Will Digitization Damper Physical Delivery or Send it Skyrocketing?
Sarah talks with Valerie Horton, executive director of the Colorado Library Consortium, about her groundbreaking work in the field of library physical delivery. Valerie talks about the results of a recent national survey on delivery practices, including outsourcing, the motivation for the creation of the Moving Mountains Project, and her prediction that the digitization of books will cause delivery stats to skyrocket. Valerie also talks about her new book, co-authored with Bruce Smith, titled Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Libraries.

Longshots #196 The Benefits Culled From a Nor’easter Delivery Crisis
Sarah talks with Dean Corner, Director of Reader Services and Information, Maine State Library, about the day their statewide delivery service dried up. When staff of the delivery vendor for Maine learned their contract had not been renewed, they started jumping ship, seriously impacting physical delivery. The happy result of what became a national media story was the increased awareness of a highly used library service that many people did not even know existed.

Maine Library Delivery Back on Track

“Thing are much better,” says Dean Corner, Director of Reader and Information Services Maine State Library.  “This new company, Records Management Center out of Bangor, is almost perfect.   Every once in a while we have a skip, but delivery is back on track in Maine.  Complaints have stopped, our back log is gone, and after four miserable months – I have my life back!” 

Corner attributes the success of the new company to the time they spent negotiating the contract and making sure the company understood the complexity of delivering 400,000 to 500,000 items to 135 libraries.  Records Management Center (RMC) had seen the negative publicity from the failure of the previous two delivery services, and was committed to making sure they took the time to plan, create routes, have right-sized equipment, and hire the best people before starting to deliver.  RMC took over in August, they had to do some minor tweaking of their routes and add a driver or two, but all of pre-planning has paid off.

Corner recommends anyone negotiating for a new courier remember two things.  First, the RFP is critical.  Some vendors just don’t understand the size and magnitude of work involved in moving library materials.  “You must hammer *scope* into vendor’s head over and over again!” Corner said. “Second, once the contract is signed – you still have to go over each stop and delivery time with the vendor.  You must stay engaged with the vendor during the transition time.”  The libraries in Maine were supportive during the six months ordeal.  Everyone pitched in and helped, but Corner’s life is much better now that library materials are being delivered again.

Valerie Horton

NISO to Develop Recommended Practice for Physical Delivery of Library Materials Document

NISO to Develop Recommended Practice for Physical Delivery of Library Materials Document: aims to facilitate library resource sharing

 The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Voting Members have approved a new work item to develop a Recommended Practice related to the physical delivery of library materials. NISO is pleased to announce that the Working Group roster for this project is now finalized, and work will be commencing with a kick-off call of the group on November 18, 2009. Building on the efforts of three recent projects-Moving Mountains, Rethinking Resource Sharing’s Physical Delivery Committee, and the American Library Association’s ASCLA ICANS’ Physical Delivery Discussion Group-the recommended practice document is proposed to include recommendations for:

packaging, shipping codes, labeling, acceptable turn-around time, lost or damaged materials handling, package tracking, ergonomic considerations, statistics, sorting, a set of elements to be used for comparison purposes to determine costs, linking of regional and local library carriers, and international delivery.

 ”A recent study found that 77% of academic libraries participate in state or provincial resource sharing networks above and beyond the 10,000,000 interlibrary loan (ILL) transactions that OCLC annually processes,” Valerie Horton, Executive Director, Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC), who proposed the project and will be serving as co-chair, explained. “The increased volume and costs of library delivery is creating a demand for more information about how to run efficient and effective delivery operations.”

 Diana Sachs-Silveira, Virtual Reference Manager, Tampa Bay Library Consortium, will be co-chairing the group with Ms. Horton.

 ”We can’t ignore the tremendous number of books, journals, DVDs, and other physical library resources that continue to be borrowed by patrons,” commented Tony O’Brien co-chair of NISO’s Discovery to Delivery Topic Committee, which reviewed and approved the proposal prior to its submittal to NISO’s voting membership. Added co-chair Tim Shearer, “In today’s economic environment, libraries have become borrowers too, sharing more of their resources with each other and across greater geographical distances.  New services and technologies offer opportunities to improve the traditional ways such sharing and delivery has been done.” 

 ”The three groups that have already done work in this area expressed interest in working with NISO to further develop their efforts into a set of recommended practices,” states Todd Carpenter, NISO Managing Director. “We are also hoping to involve carrier organizations and consultants for the delivery industry in addition to libraries, consortia, and cooperatives.”

 An interest group list for this project is available for those who would like to receive updates on the Working Group’s progress and provide feedback to the group on its work. Information on how to subscribe is available at www.niso.org/lists/physdelinfo. Visit the Working Group website at www.niso.org/workrooms/physdel. Additional questions may be directed to Karen A. Wetzel, NISO’s Standards Program Manager at kwetzel@niso.org.

 Cynthia Hodgson
NISO Technical Editor Consultant
National Information Standards Organization
Email: hodgsonca@verizon.net
Phone: 301-654-2512

Call for ALA’s ICAN Physical Delivery Discussion Topics

If you’re attending ALA midwinter (Boston), Greg Pronevitz is seeking agenda items for the ICAN Physical Delivery Discussion Group meeting Sunday morning.  See his message below:

“I am the new co-chair of the ASCLA ICAN Physical Delivery Discussion Group.  Thanks to Valerie Horton for chairing for the past several years! 

We have three topics so far.  Please let me know if you have any additional topics you would like to bring up, present briefly, or other.

• 2010 Moving Mountains Conference in Georgia
• NISO Physical Delivery Working Group
• Massachusetts’ recent RFI for statewide delivery and the automation of sorting
• Note: Valerie requested that the COKAMO Colorado/Missouri/Kansas regional delivery system link  be added to the agenda

Thanks for your help and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday, January 17th at 8am in Boston. 
Cheers, Greg”
—————————————————————————
Gregory Pronevitz, Regional Administrator
Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System (NMRLS)
175 Andover Street, Suite 205, Danvers, MA 01923
Toll-Free in the Region – 888-326-7772 x15
voice 978-762-4433 x15 | fax 978-739-4537
http://www.nmrls.org | greg@nmrls.org

Library Launches Netflix Model without the Home Delivery

Check it  out: LJ has also done a follow-up article on the Netflix Model.

Check out the newspaper article on *unlimited use* subscription library without home delivery for a fee.   Hayward’s library director claims home delivery fails more often than it succeeds.  Valerie

Hayward libraries to borrow Netflix model
By Eric Kurhi
The Oakland Tribune
Posted: 11/08/2009 12:00:00 AM PST

 Excerpt: “HAYWARD — City libraries soon will offer a new borrowing system that borrows from Netflix, the mail-based, no-late-fee movie rental service.  For a monthly fee, library users will be able to check out a limited number of materials for an unlimited amount of time. The optional system will eliminate due dates and overdue fees, asking for money upfront in return for no worries later. Pricing would begin at $2.99 a month for up to three items out at a time.

“About 20 percent of our library users are blocked from further checkouts because of the fines they have accrued,” said acting library director Sean Reinhart, whose idea was approved by the City Council last week.  “These days, a lot of people want to do things on their own time frame. They’re busy. Returning materials can be kind of low on their priority list and they end up with fines, and stop coming.”

While other libraries around the nation have adopted the other part of the Netflix model — sending materials through the mail — Reinhart said Hayward won’t be doing that for now.  “That’s a whole other level of logistical problems,” he said. “Books are different sizes and weights, and a whole lot heavier than DVDs. Some libraries have tried the mail system and some of them have worked, but a lot have failed.”

That difference may mean that the Hayward model will be the first of its kind in the nation. Reinhart could not find a similar system for comparative purposes, and Sari Feldman, president of the national Public Library Association, said she hadn’t heard of it before.  “I think the results will be eye-opening for libraries around the nation,” Reinhart said.”

Read the rest of the article.

Illinois Library System Delivery Video and Text

Check out the blog entry from the Illinois Library System – packed with information about their delivery service, including videos.

http://illinoislibrarysystems.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/delivery-best-practices/

“Delivery Best Practices

By Amanda McKay

Below is a video of best practices for delivery. It was created by Lewis & Clark Library System and Rolling Prairie Library System.

We also have some links to other sources for best practices below:
http://www.illinoisdelivers.net/news/36/56/Best-Practice-Protecting-Interlibrary-Loan-Materials-from-Damage.html
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5633653030029225103
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1357857329895885643
http://www.nsls.info/services/delivery/member_responsibilities.aspx
http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/Delivery1/bestdeliverypractices2008.pdf“
http://www.dupagels.lib.il.us/pages/delivery.html
http://www.palsnet.info/member-services/delivery-ill/overview/delivery/PALS-Delivery-Procedures.pdf
http://www.shawls.lib.il.us/services/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20helping.pdf
http://www.lcls.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/CourierServicesOpPlan2008.pdf

Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County – Digital Bookmobile

 

 

 

 

Brooklyn Public Library  also had a visit from Overdrives digital bookmobile.

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.