NJ's Burlington and Gloucester County Library Systems Begin Mail Delivery

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 06/13/2008

• $50,000 pilot projects at two libraries
• DVDs already popular by mail
• A new ILS helps with delivery

Can the rising price of gas lead to more libraries entering the delivery business? Two public library systems in New Jersey are using $50,000 grants from the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative (SJRLC) to launch free delivery (though not return) of materials by mail. “Part of our three-year plan was to incorporate quantum leaps of convenience for the end users,” said Karen Hyman, the cooperative’s executive director.

The Burlington County Library System during the first week of June launched Library in a Bag. A week later, reported Sarah Thomson, extension services librarian, the system had mailed 23 packages, about one-third of which were DVDs. She estimated that, with $40,000 of the grant budgeted for postage, the library could mail 13,000 items at library postal rates. Users can return materials at branch or member libraries, or can pay to mail the items back at their own expense, with a return label provided.

Burlington is the state’s largest county, more than 800 square miles. On June 16, the Gloucester County Library System will launch a similar program, called MailLit. Suburban/ rural Gloucester County is about 160 square miles; Director Bob Wetherall said that the delivery program would not only add convenience that many people expect but also serve some people who are curtailing their travel because of $4 a gallon gas prices.

Officials from both libraries said they hoped they could find funds to continue the program after the one-year pilot. “We would have already put the infrastructure together” for the program, Wetherall said. He and Hyman pointed out that there are costs to the traditional holds process, including keeping in-demand materials under wraps while cardholders wait to pick them up.

Burlington, which uses SirsiDynix’s Horizon system, has leased software from Endicia to create mailing labels. Gloucester, which has upgraded to SirsiDynix’s Symphony ILS, found that the system has the capability to print such labels. While Gloucester is using standard padded bags to mail items, Burlington is using more expensive cloth mailers. 

Hyman said researchers looked to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, WA, which serves a vast rural district and efficiently moves materials by mail, as a model. “It was easy, remarkably free of warnings and rules and limitations,” she said. No one knows how the services will work in New Jersey, but, Hyman said, that’s why such experiments deserve seed money.