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Delivery Services Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes 2005Delivery Services Advisory Committee The meeting of the statewide Delivery Service Advisory Committee was held January 25, 2005 via videoconference with sites in Madison, Eau Claire, CESA 12, UW-Sheboygan, and St. Thomas Grade School. Committee members present: Liisa Eyerly, Chloe Lauer, Linda Bailen, Peter Hamon, Maureen Welch, Charles Elftman, Joyce Huang, Peggy Shaffer Committee members absent: David Weinhold (Other members terms had expired and while invited to this meeting, were unable to attend. New appointments had not yet been made) DLTCL and SCLS staff members present: Sally Drew, Stuart Ciske, Bob Blitzke, Bruce Smith Sally Drew opened the meeting because David Weinhold was not able to attend. There is currently no Vice President so Sally agreed to run the meeting. New members had not yet been appointed and should be by the May meeting. Sally explained the technology to be used for this videoconference as several changes were made. Sally Drew asked for any changes or omissions from the minutes. It was mentioned that the place of the meeting was incorrect. Sally agreed to make this change. Peter Hamon moved with a second by Chloe Lauer to approve the minutes with the change in location. The motion passed unanimously. Sally Drew asked for any proposed amendments to the agenda. SCLS staff suggested that we add the discussion of best practices and the creation of a connection to Illinois delivery services. Issues for 2005 meetings (ideas from Key Issues for Consideration) Sally Drew indicated that she had included the "Key Issues for Consideration" documents at the time she thought that the new members would be approved. She suggested that we discuss the new issues for 2005 after new members had joined the group in May. Policy on return of materials to any library in the state through delivery The committee discussed the policy on return of materials to any library in the state through the delivery. Bob Blitzke had supplied the current policy which is a very open one allowing delivery member libraries to return any materials owned by one library to another through the delivery. Sally Drew explained that some libraries have not accepted materials that were not supplied through that library for return delivery so that patrons could not return materials to any library for return to the owning library. SCLS staff said that it might be useful to expand on the concept about the return library equipment as there may be some further instructions that would be useful. Maureen Welch said that part of the problem may be that materials cannot always be checked in at the library where materials are returned so that patrons may need to understand that there could still be a problem with the check in date. While most libraries do not charge fines for interlibrary loan, there are still fines for items that were simply checked out at a library and returned somewhere else. Joyce Huang asked and committee members discussed what happens if an item is lost and agreed that the standard interlibrary loan policy applies - the borrowing library is responsible until the material is returned and the library can recover costs from the patron. SCLS staff indicated that it would be necessary to label the materials properly for return since there would not be any interlibrary loan paperwork in the book. SCLS staff also keeps a list of potentially lost items which they request libraries to check from time to time. There could be a problem if materials are returned to a library that is not on the delivery service network and the receiving library has to mail it back to the owning library. Library staff can check the delivery list on the SCLS website to determine if the material can be returned through delivery. Sally Drew asked Linda Bailen if this would be a problem for WALTCO and she said that it would not as long as items were labeled properly. The committee agreed to do some more work on the policy, discuss it at the next meeting, and once agreement was reached to publicize the policy to delivery members. Budgets - state, LSTA, University of Wisconsin In relationship to the budget, Sally Drew said that the state budget message would be delivered on February 8 and we would not know until then whether or not the delivery item requested by DPI was included in the Governor's budget. The LSTA Advisory Committee meets in March and will consider whether to use any funding for delivery at that time. Peter Hamon moved and Maureen Welch seconded the motion that the committee request LSTA funds to subsidize public library system delivery costs at $120,000. The motion passed unanimously. Sally said she would inform David Weinhold of the motion so that he could draft a letter to the LSTA Advisory Committee. The University of Wisconsin received approval to continue to the contract through a waiver of bid process. Public/School cooperation for interlibrary loan and delivery Sally Drew said that once the new Fretwell-Downing upgrade is made that the Reference and Loan Library staff would be ready to set up school libraries so that items could be sent to and picked up at the public library or a school district library that is already on the delivery network. Each public school/public library combination must agree ahead of time to handle delivery and inform the Reference and Loan Library staff. Bruce Smith asked to see a copy of the potential printout before this is done. SCLS staff asked if libraries using OCLC could also do this. Sally Drew said that she could not set this up on Fretwell-Downing, but there might be a way to do it on OCLC. SCLS staff should determine how OCLC handles this. It is also possible to simply label items for delivery when a WISCATILL slip is not available. Sally Drew emphasized that libraries should not simply start sending materials to public libraries on behalf of schools without the specific arrangements being made. Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing Needs Assessment Sally Drew said that the Needs Assessment had been completed and that the final report was on the DPI Library Information Technology Advisory Committee web site. She said that the results showed that libraries are reluctant to loan materials to libraries that are not on the delivery network. South Central Library System report SCLS staff reported the following statistics for total delivery volume:
2001-2002 1.0 million
The backbone estimates are posted on the web. Peter Hamon said that the UW pays about $1.00 per item and public libraries pay about $.50 per item. The UW is concerned about this discrepancy and would like this to be equalized over time. South Central Library System report South Central Library System has developed a list of best practices. Bruce Smith volunteered to contact each system to collect information on practices. Maureen Welch and Linda Bailen will send Bruce information from Indianhead Federated Library System and Northern Waters Library Service. The intent is to develop a best practice document for consideration by delivery service members. Bruce said that SCLS was experimenting with use of small post-it notes instead of printed delivery slips. University of Wisconsin report The UW delivery contract was approved for up to five years in one year increments. Universal Borrowing continues to be popular and a standard check out policy is being considered. Northern Waters Library Service report Linda Bailen reported that the delivery service had grown from 62,000 items in 2003 to 94,000 items in 2004. New public libraries continue to join the shared system. Other reports SCLS staff reported that the Illinois State Library also provides a statewide delivery service. It might be possible to create a connection to that service as we have with MINITEX. UW is currently a part of the CIC delivery service or a stop could be created that would connect to the backbone. The latter is estimated to cost about $12,000. It is necessary to collect information on the volume of interlibrary loan with Illinois Libraries. Joyce reported that the CIC traffic is low. Sally said she would put this on the next agenda. Bob Blitzke reported that the Library Emporium continues to be active. The newsletter Joined at the Backbone is going well. The blog features stories about members on the network. It is not as active as hoped. The next meeting date was set for May 24, 2005 at the South Central Library System delivery facility. Delivery Services Advisory Committee The meeting of the statewide Delivery Services Advisory Committee was held May 24, at the South Central Library Services delivery facility at 1601 Gilson Street, Madison. Committee members present: David Weinhold (Chair), Peter Hamon, Jan Adams, Mark Blackman, Wendy Cramer, Chloe Lauer, Charles Elfman, Linda Bailen, Joyce Huang, Peggy Shaffer, Maureen Welch Committee members absent: Liisa Eyerly, Lorie Docken, Karen Showers DLCL and SCLS Staff members present: Sally Drew, Bob Blitzke, Bruce Smith, Stuart Ciske David Weinhold convened the meeting and asked for any changes or additions to the agenda. David said that he would have to leave at noon. The minutes were approved on a motion by Peter Hamon and a second by Maureen Welch. David Weinhold called for nominations for the position of Chair. Peter Hamon nominated David Weinhold to serve another term to run until the end of January. The committee voted unanimously to elect David Weinhold chair. Peter Hamon nominated Maureen Welch as vice-chair. The committee voted unanimously to elect Maureen Walsh vice-chair. It was agreed that the vice-chair would also help take notes and that it was not necessary to elect a secretary. Stuart Ciske asked for an overview of how delivery service works for him and the new members. Peter Hamon provided a general description of the statewide delivery services. The committee reviewed the "Key Issues" document. Committee members suggested that an issue on the Delivery Services Website review and promotion is added under Convenience; that review of the impact of the proposed UW plan to build a storage facility on delivery be added to Speed/Control; and that the role of commercial vendors in supplementing delivery be added under Cost/Sustainability. Bruce Smith reviewed the revised version of the policy on return of materials. The title of the document is Network Members' Use Policy. It was agreed that Bruce would add more explanation to Gift materials section and that the policy would be disseminated via the website, listservs and Channel Weekly. Bruce Smith described the work he has done related to best practices including looking at all public library system and UW websites. He observed that there was not easily accessible information about delivery on each of these websites, although some were very thorough. The group decided to form a subcommittee to look at the type of information that should be explained and made accessible on various websites and to look at other best practice issues. Volunteers for the subcommittee were Maureen Welch, Peggy Shaffer, Mark Blackman, and Chloe Lauer. David Weinhold reviewed the public library system budget information. The proposed public library system budget included a 10% increase. The public library system directors group (SRLAAW) had already reviewed the budget and approved the increase and distribution among systems. Public library system volume is at about 800,000. Peter Hamon said that the 10% increase would be applied to all delivery service participants that are not bound by a specific contract, such as the UW-System, which has a contractual 4% increase. The UW-System budget is $757,000 to deliver 1 million items. The contract is renewable up to five years and was purchased through a sole source process. The contract allows for an open book return to any UW library. Peter also explained that the UW cost per item is higher than for other participants. Peter said that SCLS is not running a deficit at this time for the delivery service. The impact of volume increases and the potential for route splits is always an issue and could change that equation. SCLS staff is planning to operate larger trucks and use rolling stock when possible. Committee members discussed the status of school participation in the delivery service and the potential for school public library cooperation. The Division is working on a method whereby schools can request materials using WISCATILL and have the materials delivered to the public library with the delivery slip. David Weinhold expressed concern about whether the system or the library might have to pay for any increased volume that might result from more cooperation between public and school libraries. SCLS staff described the cooperative effort in Adams County between the school district and the public and school libraries. Maureen Welch reconvened the committee after lunch. Bruce Smith provided a tour of the SCLS delivery facility. Sally Drew described the results of the Interlibrary Loan Needs Assessment questions that dealt with delivery. Information on delivery came up in the small subset of responders that said they did not take part in interlibrary loan and either the lack of or cost of delivery was sometimes a barrier. Sally Drew and SCLS staff talked about conversations with Illinois State library staff concerning delivery services between Illinois and Wisconsin. Sally said that she had been unable to confirm how much traffic goes between the two states using OCLC statistics. SCLS staff indicated that they were interested in setting up a six-month pilot project and might be able to pick up the cost of that pilot. They need to find out about labeling procedures. It was noted that many Illinois universities charge for interlibrary loan through OCLC. There was further discussion about how to include more technical colleges in delivery. Sally Drew said that Karen Showers from the WTCS would be part of the committee. It was suggested that we find out who the new WISPALS director is and communicate with that person. South Central Library System provided an update on the all-library mailing. SCLS charges libraries that do not want to bring materials to the SCLS delivery facility and need special pickup. The Reference and Loan Library pays for distribution to public libraries. SCLS said that they could potentially extend this service to other types of libraries on delivery and could customize delivery by geographic region. There was discussion of the new UW initiative to collaborate on book buying through a common vendor. This might result in less duplication of collections and more borrowing. Northern Waters Library Service reported that they had received a 3% increase in WALTCO charges. Fuel costs had increased 7-9%. This is the first rate increase that they have received since the beginning. NWLS staff has been monitoring delivery turnaround time and it has averaged 2-3 days. The next meeting date was set for September 27. Delivery sites are needed for Ashland, Eau Claire, Waterford, Sheboygan, and the Pyle Center. Joyce Huang requested to be included by telephone. Delivery Services Advisory Committee The meeting of the statewide Delivery Services Advisory Committee was held September 30, via videoconference with sites at Madison, Eau Claire, Ashland, Sheboygan, and Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Committee members present: David Weinhold (Chair), Peter Hamon, Jan Adams, Mark Blackman, Lorie Docken, Liisa Eyerly, Charles Elfman, Linda Bailen, Joyce Huang, Maureen Welch Committee members absent: Wendy Cramer, Chloe Lauer, Peggy Shaffer, Karen Showers DLCL and SCLS Staff members present: Sally Drew, Bob Blitzke, Bruce Smith, Stuart Ciske David Weinhold convened the meeting and asked for introductions and any changes or additions to the agenda. Sally Drew explained that the "Best Practices" committee was planning to use time at the end of the meeting as they had not yet had a chance to meet. The May 24, 2005 meeting minutes were approved. Sally Drew told the committee that she had revised the document that could be used as a guide to 2005 meetings. She asked the committee if there were any issues that they specifically wanted to focus on. Delivery services budget - impact of gas prices The committee then discussed the impact of gasoline prices on the 2005/2006 budget. Bruce Smith provided an update. He said that the delivery vehicles drove about 850,000 miles per year with 160,000 attributed to public library/public library systems, 250,000 attributed to the UW system libraries, 70,000 attributed to private academic libraries, and 341,000 attributed to SCLS internal system delivery service. Each one cent in gasoline prices results in an increase of $113. In the fall of 2004, SCLS Delivery estimated the pump price for gasoline to be $2.42 per gallon when pricing the 2006 delivery costs for Public Library Systems submitted in the 2006 DPI budget. In September of 2005, SCLS Delivery estimated the pump price to be $3.42 per gallon for their 2006 budget based on recent fuel market changes at that time. SCLS Delivery uses about 58,000 gallons of gas per year. 18.8% of those gallons can be attributed to service provided to the Public Library Systems based on their share of the route mileage serving them. That comes to about 10,904 gallons of gas used each year to serve the public library systems. Having to budget more per gallon for 2006 based on recent fuel price spikes created the need to ask for an additional $11,000 of LSTA money to pay for the public library system share of these projected increased costs. SCLS has taken actions to address potential increases in volume. New vehicles recently purchased carry more weight and have more efficient fuel consumption. SCLS should not need to create additional routes to handle growing volume for the near future. Over the next few years, the current vehicles used to provide the statewide delivery service would be replaced with new vehicles allowing SCLS to maintain the same route structure (same mileage and driving labor hours). By 2008, SCLS plans to see if hybrids could be used. SCLS tends to keep vehicles about 8 years and gets 300,000-400,000 miles per vehicle. The SCLS staffing budget is very tight as there has been little turnover in staff. SCLS is working with UW-Madison to see if more pre-sorting can be done to save staff time. Volume increase problems have been mostly related to systems that share a circulation system such as Lakeshores/Mid-Wisconsin. Sally Drew asked if SCLS was operating at a loss for 2005. Peter Hamon estimated the potential loss for 2005 to be $3,700. A committee member asked for more information on how costs are spread among users. Peter Hamon said that the cost increase for overall service is usually between 5-10%. The University of Wisconsin contract allows a 4% increase per year. Increases beyond that are spread among the other participants. Linda Bailen said that WALTCO has a fuel surcharge that has averaged from $400-700+ per month. This will result in an annual surcharge of about $5,500. CESA 12 reports that they are also seeing 16% surcharges over the original price. David Weinhold asked for a motion. Linda Bailen moved and Maureen Welch seconded the motion to request $11,000 for SCLS and $5,000 for Northern Waters or approximately $16,000 for both together. David will write a letter on behalf of the committee addressed to the LSTA Advisory Committee and send it to Peg Branson who coordinates the Committee. The motion was passed unanimously. Best practices documents There was not any discussion of Best Practices as this was deferred until the committee discussion at the end of the meeting. Public/school cooperation for interlibrary loan and delivery Related to public library and school cooperation, Mark Blackman said that Waukesha High School and Middle School use WISCAT. One staff person was very active and the other less so. Sally Drew explained that 72 schools currently use WISCATILL and are eligible to work with the public libraries for cooperative delivery. Liisa Eyerly said that CESA 12 is looking at this. CESAs do not contribute to delivery service fees. Jan Adams said that it is difficult to work with their CESA because delivery is only twice a week. Wisconsin Valley schools use WISCAT. Sally Drew said that participation would likely come fairly slowly as local decisions were worked out. There would likely not be a large jump in volume as a result. Connection with Illinois Bruce Smith said that the rise in gas prices made this less attractive. In addition, he sensed that Illinois staff is very busy and not ready to look into this. How the efficiency and cost of current delivery services can be accurately measured Sally Drew said that this was one of the new issues the committee said they wanted to explore. She asked how they would like to address this issue. Committee members wanted to know what the total cost of delivery services in Wisconsin might be. Sally said that she could get information on local delivery services from the public library system annual reports. Peter has provided costs on the statewide delivery. Peter Hamon suggested that we look at what costs might be if the commercial sector provided the service. To get an efficiency/cost measurement, it was suggested that the number of items delivered be divided by the total cost. This could be compared to the costs that Ruth Bessant compiled in 1997. Peter pointed out that Bessant had included staffing and other costs, and looked at delivery from the time an item was sent until it was received. Another committee member wondered what the loss rate was. Bruce said that the SCLS cost about $.065 per item while the statewide delivery cost about $.60 per item. David Weinhold asked about point-to-point delivery time. Bruce said there was a problem with those areas that only had once or twice a week delivery time. It would be possible to look at a hypothetical best and worse case. Peter Hamon also noted that some libraries are backed up internally causing delays. Maureen Welch said that she did a full turnaround study for one week in April 2004. She wondered if any other systems had done studies. Eastern Shores has a high volume on Monday and Tuesday and then it tapers of later in the week. Sally Drew summarized the discussion and noted it had been suggested that the committee do the following:
Review the role and cost related to use of commercial vendors for the statewide delivery service (WALTCO, Dunham) There are currently a number of local contracts with commercial vendors as well as contracts for parts of the statewide service. It was suggested that public library systems that use commercial vendors describe how they made the decision. Was cost a factor? David Weinhold asked if we should consider adding a northern component to the statewide delivery. Lorie Docken described the process that the UW went through. South Central Library System report Bruce Smith said that SCLS had restructured staff to help Bruce so he can spend more time on Best Practices. He also talked about use of post-it-notes, handling hold materials, heavy volume on specific days, and hand loading vs. cart delivery. Bob Blitzke wants to talk to Indianhead Technical College to see if there is something that can be done for the multiple campuses. University of Wisconsin report Lorie Docken said that the UW did an upgrade for Universal Borrowing that took the service down for the month of July. Northern Waters Library System report Linda Bailen reported that Phelps School is now part of the shared automated system. The WALTCO plane is being maxed out for weight load at times. If they have to make more trips, the price will increase. A committee member wondered if it would be possible to eliminate the Wisconsin Valley stop by adding direct routes to WITC or Northland College. Next meeting date The next meeting was set for Thursday or Friday, February 2 or 3. Sally will check on dates with UW-Extension. The committee adjourned at 12:00. Best Practice Committee Notes Members present: Maureen Welch, Mark Blackman, Mary Williamson It was suggested that they look at local practices and all local connections. Bruce said he could gather more information on routes to see if there was any duplication or if there was anything, they were not taking advantage of. Committee members wanted to determine which systems use commercial services. Northern Waters, Wisconsin Valley, Nicolet, Indianhead, and OWLS all contract with WALTCO. Routes have changed based on volume. Items suggested that could be looked at included: vehicles used, materials handling practices, sorting, labeling, fuel surcharging, contracts (sharing those that exist). The committee suggested looking at all websites for systems to see what information they have. It was suggested that a model website could be developed to encourage all systems to have the same type of information.
Last updated on 2/25/2008 12:27:39 PM |
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