Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Libraries

Valerie Horton Bruce Smith

Price:

$74.00

ALA Member

$66.60

Item Number:

978-0-8389-1001-6

Published:

2010

Publisher:

ALA Editions

Pages:

208

Width:

Height:

Format:

Softcover

AP Categories:

A, C, E, I

Description
Table of Contents
About the Authors
Reviews

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.

Preface

I. The Current Landscape of Physical Delivery

1. Delivery: The Forgotten Function

Valerie Horton

2. Factors Influencing Delivery Options

Valerie Horton and Brenda Bailey-Hainer

3. Physical Delivery Service Organization

Bruce Smith

II. Library Delivery Service Models

4. Creating an In-House Delivery System

Bruce Smith

5. Outsourcing Delivery Services

Valerie Horton and Greg Pronevitz

6. Contractual Vendor Relations

David Millikin and Brenda Bailey-Hainer

III. Managing Physical Delivery Services

7. Routing and Materials Management Systems

Bruce Smith and Valerie Horton

8. Growth Management Solutions

Valerie Horton, Ivan Gaetz, and Bruce Smith

9. Managing Participating Libraries' Relationships

Valerie Horton

10. Managing the Delivery Service

Valerie Horton, Lisa Priebe, and Melissa Stockton

IV. The Future of Physical Delivery

11. Home Delivery

Lori Ayre and Jim Myers

12. Connecting Courier Services

Valerie Horton

Glossary

Bibliography

List of Contributors

Index

Valerie Horton

Valerie Horton has been director of Minitex since December 2012. Minitex serves Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota libraries with a large resource-sharing network, databases, continuing education, remote storage, and many other services. Horton is also the co-general editor for Collaborative Librarianship, and wrote Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Librariesfor ALA Publications. Prior to working at Minitex, she was the first director of the Colorado Library Consortium (CliC), a statewide library service organization. Before CliC, Valerie was Director of the Library at Mesa State after ten years at New Mexico State University, where she was Head of Systems, and for a time, library budget director/associate director. During her tenure in New Mexico, Valerie received an ALA International Fellowship and spent a year in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, where she consulted on how to automate the country's public, school, and government libraries. She started her professional career as a systems librarian at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, after graduating from and working in Systems at the University of Hawaii.

Bruce Smith

Bruce Smith is the Delivery Services Coordinator for the South Central Library System (SCLS). Bruce has been employed by SCLS Delivery Services for 14 years, serving as the Operations Manager and Coordinator since 1996. SCLS is a regional public library system serving 52 member libraries in 7 counties with headquarters in Madison, WI. SCLS Delivery handles approximately 6 million shipped items sent by its member libraries. SCLS also serves as the primary statewide library delivery service for the Wisconsin Libraries' Delivery Network. SCLS provides transport for more than 750,000 ILL items sent by the more than 700 libraries connected to the statewide network. SCLS operates it own delivery service at a centralized sorting facility using a fleet of 24 vehicles that make more than 50,000 annual stops and travel more than 750,000 yearly miles. Bruce has six previous years of experience in the transportation business in the areas of building supply, grocery and expedited package delivery.

"In these days of shrinking budgets and rising user expectations, information professionals are finding new ways to provide resources. Electronic delivery is now the preferred option for materials such as journal articles. But we are still moving plenty of physical volumes around, either between different branches or between independent libraries. What are the best ways to accomplish this? Should we consider possibilities beyond the U.S. Postal Service? Perhaps this book will provide some insight … The authors not only provide practical tips about negotiating and interpreting contracts, evaluating the costs of services, and managing a courier service, they also balance it with ideas about how such services may evolve in the future."
--Information Today

"Fantastic!"
--Russell Palmer, Educational Services Librarian, Lyrasis, Chair of the Rethinking Resource Sharing, Physical Delivery Task Force

"...immensely helpful. Thank you so much for shining some illumination on this topic for me! Before I began, I never really thought about just how important the physical delivery of library materials is – it was just one of those things that as a library manager I took for granted."
--Julie Craig, Library Manager, Andrew & Laura McCain Library, New Brunswick, Canada

"This book is highly recommended for library managers and staff in the initial stages of implementing or making changes to a physical delivery system. The editors' knowledge and interest in delivery of library materials is demonstrated throughout the book ... a valuable resource."
--Internet Reference Services Quarterly

"A rich source of practical information replete with citations to further resources, brief bibliographies at the end of each chapter, an annotated bibliography by top names in the field, a glossary of terms, task inventories, and contributors' profiles. This is sure to become a well-worn reference on the library manager's bookshelf."
--Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services

"A quick read packed with tons of valuable information that will help library managers learn how to provide high-quality delivery service that is faster and more cost efficient."
--Technical Services Quarterly

Also of Interest: