 Delivery
Criteria
LTLS
delivery staff counts the number of actual items delivered to every library every
day. In FY2006 (July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006), LTLS delivered
over 770,000 items, or an average of more than 3,000 items per day. Over
the last 3 years, delivery volume increased 32%. Based on this
increase, we are projecting a delivery volume of 850,000 items
for FY2007.
LTLS
delivery is based on volume. Volume is defined as patron-utilized materials (interlibrary
loaned or reciprocal returned material) plus cataloging materials. The
number of delivery stops a library receives per week is based on
volume of these materials delivered to an individual agency in
the past year.
Because
schools are open 9 months per year, school members’ delivery volume is prorated
to determine volume as if the library was actually open 12 months. This
count is used to place the school libraries in the appropriate
category.
Library
volume statistics are reviewed every year, and frequency of delivery
can change depending on that library’s volume for the past year.
Scheduled
Stops Versus On-Request Stops
Libraries
fall into two categories for delivery – scheduled
or on-request. Scheduled
libraries have higher volume and receive delivery on the days
scheduled: 5 days, 4
days, or 3 days per week. Scheduled libraries
do not have to request delivery.
On-Request
libraries receive delivery on particular days if an item is
either waiting at Lincoln Trail to be delivered or if the library requests
a delivery because an item is waiting at the library. On-Request libraries
qualify for 2 day a week delivery. Link to the Delivery
Schedule to see delivery days for on-request
libraries.
If
a member library with a lower volume of deliveries is close
to a library that gets frequent LTLS delivery, that library can make
arrangements with their neighboring library to have their materials dropped
at the neighbor. This
type of arrangement means that the lower-volume library will actually
receive more frequent deliveries. However, the staff of the lower-volume
library must travel to the neighboring library to pick those materials
up. Once this arrangement is made, LTLS will only deliver materials
to the chosen neighbor. To make this arrangement, a library should
first contact the neighboring library and then contact the LTLS
delivery department to finalize arrangements.
Delivery
Limitations
The following limitations
apply to the LTLS Delivery service.
•Lincoln Trail
drivers will deliver and pick up at one designated exchange point for
each library agency (a library agency may be a 1-building library,
a school district with multiple buildings, or a 2-building campus). The
designated exchange point must be as close as possible to the
Delivery van parking area.
•LTLS Delivery
service does not deliver paper materials to libraries
•Because library
volume is highest on Monday and Tuesday, rotating collections between
libraries will only be picked up or delivered on Wednesday, Thursday,
or Friday. Rotating collections will have low priority -- this
means that if the rotating collection is the only thing going
to a library, we will wait and deliver it during a delivery of
resource-sharing material.
•Donated materials
cannot be routed through the LTLS Delivery service. If a library
wishes to donate materials to another library, the libraries
involved need to be willing to deliver or pickup materials themselves.
•Delivery to
schools will be made to the school office unless written authorization
to deliver directly to the school library is provided by the
school superintendent.
•Delivery canvas
bags, boxes, or parcels must not weigh in excess of 40 pounds each. LTLS
drivers will refuse bags that weigh more than 40 pounds.
Library
Responsibilities
The
success of the LTLS Delivery Service depends on cooperation of the
LTLS member libraries. With
increases in volume, the Delivery Service must be more and more efficient. There
are several things that libraries can do to help the Delivery Service
work successfully for all.
•Be sure to write
legibly when routing materials. Many of the codes/library names
are similar, and analyzing poor handwriting slows down the process
of sorting.
•Utilize receipt
printers to print out transit information. LINC libraries are encouraged
to use receipt printers to print out "hold"
and "transit slips." These slips can then be taped to gold
delivery bands. This cuts down on the amount of time that a library
has to spend writing out information. Transit slips also provide
the entire name of the library instead of just the 3-letter code.
•Pre-sort materials
for libraries that are on the route as well as the larger libraries that
get more materials. Many libraries are already sorting materials
and have received extra canvas bags to help in this process. Contact
Bob Towner, btowne@lincolntrail.info,
for more information on how you can help speed up the delivery process
by sorting for libraries on your route as well as other libraries in
LTLS.
•Canvas bags
will be provided to libraries. Delivery bags should be at the exchange
point by 8:00 a.m. Remove all items from delivery bags before the
next delivery. Return all extra empty delivery canvas bags and
extra empty blue striped cataloging bags (if applicable) back to
Lincoln Trail in the next delivery. (Each cataloging delivery stop
[or school building] should retain only one blue striped bag at a time.)
•Canvas bags
should be packed in a neat fashion--larger items on the bottom, smaller
on the top. Books are to be packed side-by-side, perpendicular to the
direction of the bag handle. LTLS drivers will refuse to pickup
improperly packed bags.
•Any time there
is more than half a bag for any one delivery stop, pack items for
that delivery stop in a separate bag.
•If delivery
is made during closed library hours, a key to the delivery site
must be provided so LTLS can provide guaranteed delivery service
when libraries are closed.
•Libraries should
schedule use of library materials in a manner that allows the timely
return of these materials to the lending agency.
•LTLS should
be notified 3 business days before library closings due to holidays
or vacations and as soon as possible due to weather related conditions.
•When returning
items to the owning agency, clearly mark the entire name of the destination
library on the book bands in capital block printed letters, except for
the letter "d." Use the lower case "d." Use all the
available "To" lines on the book band before applying a new
book band.
How
To Request Delivery (On-Request Libraries Only)
On-request
libraries needing delivery will follow the steps outlined below.
Library staff can contact LTLS delivery if pickup is needed on
a given day and the library has at least one resource-sharing
item ready to be picked up. Delivery requests made before 7:00
a.m. will get same-day delivery, providing that is the library's
delivery day. Delivery
requests made after 7:00 a.m. will be processed the following
morning, excluding weekends.
1. Request delivery
using this online Request Form,
OR
2. E-mail LTLS at delivery@lincolntrail.info requesting
a pickup. Provide the library name, 3-letter agency code, number
of items to be picked up, and your name, OR
3. Call 217-352-0047.
Ask for Ext. 290 or follow the voice mail prompts. Provide the library
name, 3-letter agency code, number of items to be picked up, and your
name.
How
To Print Gold Delivery Bands
Templates for printing
the delivery bands on 8 1/2 x 14 (legal) or 11
x 17 (tabloid) gold paper are available. Be sure to select the
paper size from "page setup" or the print screen and also
set "paper scaling"
to "none" on the print screen.
Items
Missing in Transit
If an item is in
transit to your library and you have not received it, or you
are receiving overdue notices for an item that hasn’t been returned, follow this procedure
before reporting it.
1. Check your shelves
to make sure the item was not inadvertently shelved in your collection.
2. Contact the library
that put the item in transit and ask them to do a shelf check to make
sure that the item is not at the point of origination.
3. If the item is
still unaccounted for, submit an e-mail to: ltls@lincolntrail.info,
with the title, author, and bar code number, the name of your library,
who put it in transit, and the destination. Put "For QC" as
the subject of the email. This notice will be published in the
next LTLS Quick Connections.
Links,
Publications/Policies
ELI
(Every Library in Illinois) http://www.eliillinois.org
ILDS Routes
Who
to Contact
All inquiries, questions,
and concerns about the delivery system should be e-mailed to delivery@lincolntrail.info.
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