ILL and Delivery

I can't believe I'm even writing this on May 2, 2013, but with the horrible road conditions around the region and travel not advised almost everywhere, we are cancelling Delivery for today.  We plan to resume regular Delivery on Friday, May 3, 2013 when we hope to be able to safely deliver your tubs.  Stay safe!

MnLINK has informed us that the MnLINK Gateway is back up. Some text from their message:

The MnLINK Gateway and VDX are now available to use. You may experience some slowness with request searching or updating requests. The system's indexes are catching up, but we expect this to be OK by tomorrow. You may want to avoid doing large bulk actions today.

The MnLINK Gateway will be going down for a software upgrade on Monday April 22, 2013 around 9:00 PM. We expect the system to return Tuesday April 23 around noon. Thank you for your patience during the downtime.

The latest Delivery Count was done on Monday, March 25, 2013 and 3423 items passed through SELCO Delivery.  Compared to the Delivery Count done in March 2012 of 3740, this shows that Delivery decreased in March by 8.5%.  This time around, we found that the number of items from schools increased while the number of items coming from public libraries and academic and special libraries decreased slightly.  However, please don't fret; over 3400 items in a day is definitely a large number of items.  Please keep filling those requests and we'll make sure they get delivered!

The next Delivery Count will occur on Monday, August 27, 2013.  For more information regarding Delivery, please click on the Delivery "tab" on the ILL & Delivery page.

Due to wet and heavy snow and bad road conditions, there will be no delivery service today, March 11, 2013. The regular route that would have been delivered today ( Monday, March 11, 2013) will be delivered tomorrow (Tuesday, March 12, 2013) including the schools.

Please call SELCO at 507-288-5513 if you have any questions or e-mail Cindy Baker at cbaker@selco.info.  We apologize for any inconvenience

Due to the great amounts of snow and bad road conditions, there will be no delivery service today, March 5, 2013. Special note for some of our schools: Schools that are on Routes 605, 607 and the first half of Routes 612, 613, and 614 will not have delivery tomorrow (Wednesday, March 6, 2013) but will receive it on Thursday, March 7, 2013.

Please call SELCO at 507-288-5513 if you have any questions or e-mail Cindy Baker at cbaker@selco.info.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Due to the very difficult driving conditions around the region, SELCO Delivery for Friday, February 22, 2013 has been cancelled.  We apologize for the inconvenience.  Delivery will resume on Monday, February 25, 2013 at its regularly scheduled time.  If you have questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact Michael Scott, mscott@selco.info or 507-288-5513.  Stay safe and have a great weekend!

The rain and snow that areas received yesterday and over night has made the highways difficult to travel. Traffic is slow going so you might notice that your delivery is running late today. In particular, Route 612 is an hour and a half behind his usual time. Please let contact me if you have any questions.

Route 612, Ross's route, is running about an hour late. The fresh snow and plows are slowing traffic down so expect some delays today.

Route 612 ( Ross's route) had some van problems this morning and also has a substitute driver. Shannon is running about 1 1/2 hours behind. He is doing his best to catch up on this cold day so a friendly hello would bring much cheer!

St. Charles High School will have their first delivery of grey tubs tomorrow following the Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule of schools. Glenville-Emmons High School and Elementary School are not far behind with their first day being next Wednesday January 30. The Route Schedule and Code Sheet have been updated and can be found on the ILL and Delivery page under the Delivery tab. Welcome St. Charles and Glenville-Emmons Schools!

The MnLINK Gateway (https://www.mnlinkgateway.org) will be going down for a software upgrade on Monday January 14, 2013 around 9:00 PM and is expected  to return Tuesday January 15 around noon. There is a message at the top of the MnLINK screen with this information as well.

Feeling the need to discuss ILL?!  Please join us after the Users' Group meeting on Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 1:30-3:30 p.m., for the 2013 Interlibrary Loan Roundtable.  The topics for the meeting will include:

• A Review of Requests, Pull Lists, Due Dates and More!
• Updated Delivery Information
• SELCO/SELS ILL & Delivery Webpage
• Local ILL-related Projects
• Other In Region ILL Topics

Meeting materials and online meeting instructions are posted on the SELCO/SELS ILL & Delivery Webpage - click HERE to access that page.  If you have yet to register, please click HERE or call us at 1-800-992-5061.  Hope to see you there!

Alliance has called to let us know the drivers are running late. The roads are extremely slippery so we anticipated this to be happening today. A kind greeting and an offer of something warm to drink would be greatly appreciated I bet!

Happy New Year-

Due to the worsening road conditions, all SELCO Delivery Service has been cancelled for Thursday, December 20, 2012.  Delivery will resume again on Friday, December 21, 2012.  We apologize for any inconvenience but thank you for your understanding.

Feeling the need to discuss ILL?!  Please join us after the Users' Group meeting on Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 1:30-3:30 p.m., for the 2013 Interlibrary Loan Roundtable.  The topics for the meeting will include:

• A Review of Requests, Pull Lists, Due Dates and More!
• Updated Delivery Information
• SELCO/SELS ILL & Delivery Webpage
• Local ILL-related Projects
• Other In Region ILL Topics

Meeting materials will be posted to the SELCO/SELS ILL & Delivery Webpage - click HERE to access that page.  We will be offering this roundtable as an online meeting.  Instructions for connecting to the meeting will be distributed to registered folks and posted prior to the meeting.  Flyers will be distributed to all Online Libraries via gray tub delivery.  Click HERE to print more!

If you are planning to attend, please click HERE to register or call us at 1-800-992-5061.  Hope to see you there!

Rushford is receiving delivery from all over these days!

Santa and Alliance courier Ross are sharing delivery tips and techniques for the busy holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Delivery may be running late today do to the snow and difficult roads. A friendly greeting to your driver would be a nice way to let them know you understand. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Greetings!  Please save the date!  SELCO will be hosting an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Roundtable on Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 1-3 p.m. following the Technology User group meeting.  We are in the process of constructing an agenda, so if you have things you'd like to see discussed during our afternoon of ILL, please email them to Mollie Stanford at mstanford@selco.info by Friday, December 7, 2012.  The meeting agenda and registration information will be sent out the week of December 10.  Thanks!

Network for a Better Future made 2 seperate trips to Rochester to pick up weeded books last week. On their first trip down, they stopped at Red Wing and loaded over 50 boxes and then proceeded to SELCO where they filled their dock truck to the end, estimating 150 boxes from SELCO. Two days later, they returned to Rochester with the first stop being Rochester Schools - ESC building. Here, they loaded 2 stretch wrapped pallets with over 50 boxes on them and then again, on to SELCO where 100+ boxes were loaded. The books are coming to us from many locations; Pine Island, Wabasha, West Concord, Lonsdale are a few who helped fill this load and we can't forget Winona who brought theirs to SELCO on a trailer and a pickup! Thank you all for making this project so successful. 

We've nearly reached the end of the first week of Delivery Services with our new delivery courier, Alliance Courier.  I'd say that so far, everything seems to be going fairly smoothly with new delivery routes, schedules and drivers.  We continue to see some adjustments in times and further adjustments may be necessary.  Our Delivery Team here at SELCO (Cindy, Bob, & John) have been busy working on adjusting their workflow and processes to ensure that we continue providing the best service we can for our libraries receiving delivery.

The revised Delivery Routes can be found under the Delivery tab on the ILL and Delivery page of the SELCO website.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or kudos, please let Cindy Baker (cbaker@selco.info) or me (mscott@selco.info) know.

Tom Larson, Vice President for Alliance Courier, the company that will be taking over delivery services for SELCO on November 5, 2012, is planning to start visits to those libraries who participate in SELCO Delivery Services at the end of the week of October 22nd as well as October 29-30th.  He is still working on his schedule and has already been in touch with a number of the libraries.  Tom wanted us to pass along to those sites that he is planning to keep his visits short and to the point.  He plans to be, in his words, "observant, courteous, inquisitive, and quick."  Tom will be in contact with sites soon and we'll pass along more information when it is available.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at mscott@selco.info.

The MnLINK Gateway (https://www.mnlinkgateway.org) will be going down for an upgrade after 9:00 pm on the evening of Monday Oct 15 and is expected to be back up by noon on Tuesday Oct 16. A message will be posted on the MnLINK web site also.

This information was shared via email on September 27, 2012 and is to be the first of several posts in October & November 2012 regarding Delivery Services.

SELCO recently undertook a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for Delivery Services.  As you are all aware, we have been using services from Gold Cross Courier Services for several years and our last contract has been in place since 2006.  We received four proposals in response and after review of the proposals, a recommendation was given to the SELCO/SELS Board that we move forward with a contract for Delivery Services with Alliance Courier beginning November 1, 2012 and discontinue the contract with Gold Cross Courier Service. 

Alliance Courier is based in Bloomington, MN and also serves as the courier for Delivery Services for Minitex (SELCO receives daily delivery service from Minitex for MnLINK materials) as well as the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA), the regional public library system that covers the 7-county Twin Cities metro. Both MELSA and Minitex spoke highly of the company, noting that they provided quality customer service and were responsive to any issues that arose.  We feel confident that Alliance Courier will provide us with this same quality service.

So, what happens next?  SELCO staff are working on negotiating a contract with Alliance Courier.  Gold Cross has been given notice that we will be discontinuing our contract with them.  Our last day of Delivery Services being provided by Gold Cross is set for Friday, November 2, 2012.  Alliance Courier will begin services on Monday, November 5, 2012.

Alliance will also be working with on a schedule of visits in October to each of our sites that receive Delivery so that member library staff can become acquainted with the company and discuss delivery specifics at each site (where they can enter the building, where the tubs are left, etc.)  We will provide you more information on those visits in the next few weeks.  For those of you on the SELCO Advisory Committee, Alliance Courier’s Vice President and Director of Sales Tom Larson will be making a presentation at your meeting on October 9^th.

As we move forward in this transition period, please watch for further email updates.  I will also post this information to the ILL and Delivery page.  I realize that this is a significant change to a very important service for your library and we will work to ensure a smooth transition.  If you have any questions , comments, or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at mscott@selco.info or via phone here at the SELCO office.

The latest Delivery Count was done on Monday, August 27, 2012 and 2958 items passed through SELCO Delivery.  Compared to the Delivery Count done in August 2011 of 2801, this shows that Delivery increased in August by 5.6%!  The other significance of this number is the fact that this is the highest number of items recorded for an August Delivery Count since SELCO began keeping track of this information!

The next Delivery Count will occur on Monday, November 19, 2012.  For more information regarding Delivery, please click on the Delivery "tab" on the ILL and Delivery page.

The MnLINK Gateway (https://www.mnlinkgateway.org) will be down this weekend for a system upgrade.  It is scheduled to go down around 9:00 PM on Friday, August 24, 2012 and is expected to return to service on Sunday evening, August 26, 2012.  All function will be unavailable during the system upgrade. There is a message at the top of the MnLINK screen with this information as well.

Greetings!  An updated delivery route map is now available!  This map shows the delivery routes around the SELCO region as of July 2012.  Click HERE to view the PDF and/or make copies for your location.

For those who are on Dave’s delivery route (Route #2, Fillmore County, Houston County, and Eastern Mower County), he is running about 2 hours late. He hit a deer by Rushford and is waiting for a replacement van. Dave is fine and will continue as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please contact Cindy Baker (cbaker@selco.info or 507-288-5513).  Thanks!

The latest Delivery Count was done on Monday, November 21, 2011 and 3735 items passed through SELCO Delivery.  Compared to the Delivery Count done in November 2010 of 3740, this shows that Delivery has held relatively steady for the past two years.  The next Delivery Count will occur on Monday, March 26, 2012.  For more information regarding Delivery, please click on the Delivery "tab" on the ILL and Delivery page.

SELCO wants to let those libraries that are on Route 1 that Delivery is running about 1 - 1/2 hours late due.  Email updates have been sent to the libraries affected by the delay.  We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.  For a complete listing of Delivery routes, go to the ILL and Delivery page and choose the Delivery tab.

SELCO wants to let those libraries that are on Route 3 (Terry's Route) that Delivery is running about 2 hours late due to a vehicle breakdown.  Email updates have been sent to the libraries affected by the delay.  We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.  For a complete listing of Delivery routes, go to the ILL and Delivery page and choose the Delivery tab.

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has made available a draft of of a new recommended practice document dealing with issues related to the physical delivery of library materials.  Public comment period ends August 21, 2011.  This information was shared by Minitex, who is a voting member of NISO.  Kathy Drozd, Minitex Assistant Director for Delivery Services and MLAC, is a member of the NISO working group that developed this document.

NISO announces the availability of Physical Delivery of Library Resources (NISO RP-12-201x) for a public comment period ending on August 21, 2011. The physical delivery of library materials is an integral component of the library resource sharing process. Despite the ever-increasing availability of electronic journals, e-books, and other digital resources, the movement of physical items remains a major concern and a major cost for many libraries. In one state, borrowing of returnable items increased by 107.4% in six years. A recent study showed that the average academic library spends more than $6,800/year for delivery services, with some libraries paying as high as $60,000.

Physical Delivery of Library Resources provides recommendations for improving performance and reducing the cost of moving materials between by a library that owns an item and another library whose patron wants to use the item. Ranging from labeling and containers to automation and contracting with courier services, this Recommended Practice addresses both the lending and the borrowing library’s activities related to delivering and returning a physical item.

“While the Working Group focused on external delivery of items between separately administered libraries,” explains Valerie Horton, Executive Director, Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) and co-chair of the Physical Delivery of Library Resources Working Group, “many of the recommendations also apply to delivery between branches of a single library system and consortial delivery within a shared system.”

“There are many innovative resource sharing and delivery practices in use today in libraries of all types,” states Diana Sachs-Silveira, President Tampa Bay Library Consortium and co-chair of the Working Group. “This Recommended Practice pulls together in one place the best of these practices while emphasizing various alternative methods that a library may choose to use depending on their specific requirements and constraints.”

“Libraries today are looking to resource sharing as one way to meet their reduced budgets,” states Todd Carpenter, NISO Managing Director. “These recommendations will further help libraries to participate in resource sharing using the most cost-effective methods for delivering the shared materials.”

The draft Recommended Practice and an online comment form are available at: www.niso.org/workrooms/physdel/. All libraries involved in resource sharing, as well as delivery, sorting, courier and transportation service providers, are encouraged to review and comment on the document.