Library introduces pilot project

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

In an attempt to provide more efficient services and reduce cost, wear and tear and wait times, the Marigold Library System recently introduced the Holds Pilot Project, with a growing number of member libraries jumping on board.
This year, Alberta Municipal Affairs’ Public Library Services Branch conducted a delivery review focusing on the current delivery model across the province, considering ways to make the process more cost efficient and how to deliver services in a valuable way.
Aligning with their views, Marigold introduced the Holds Pilot Project in July with a goal of better serving its patrons and the community by delivering books, DVDs and video games in less time.
In the past, a patron had to wait anywhere from one to 20 days for an item to make it to the Marigold headquarters; then it would travel to the assigned library where it would get repackaged and sent back to Marigold if a hold was on the item from another member library. Once back at Marigold it would get packaged up again and sent to the library where the hold was placed. In the instance where the two libraries only get one delivery a week, a patron could be left waiting for over two weeks.
Since July, the patrons of those libraries who opted into the non-mandatory pilot project now receive their items anywhere from one to seven days, because once the item arrives at Marigold it is sent off directly to the library with the hold.
“A few things have kind of dovetailed this year and first of all I will say that at a fundamental level, we were always looking at ways to make things more cost efficient, to make work flows run more smoothly and to improve customer service,” said Lynne Price, director of service delivery with Marigold Library System.
“Resource sharing is really the heart of what Marigold and our member libraries do. We are always looking at things and challenging what we’re doing and why. (We’re) not just moving forward with the status quo. We definitely recognize the need to provide fast and relevant service.”
Over 3.3 million items are available through the online library catalogue TRAC, from which nearly two million items are loaned to Marigold cardholders annually. Out of that, one million items are loaned and borrowed between the member libraries. That number has increased from 2010 where 660,000 interlibrary loans were recorded. Covering a distance from the B.C. border to the Saskatchewan border and from Trochu in the north to Longview in the south, Marigold also had to increase their fleet to three vans delivering five days a week, recording a travel distance of 199,000 kilometres (km) per year.
Statistics at the Cochrane Library, which is similar to Strathmore, showed that since the start of the project, an average of 660 items per year were holds and needed to be sent to other libraries. In terms of packing, that resulted in 22 hours of staff time dedicated to interlibrary loans, and more wear and tear on the items as they were being repackaged and sent out two to three times. Marigold also noticed less distance travelled, thus resulting in greater preservation of their vehicles. In the past, an item whose assigned library was in Longview, with a hold in Airdrie, would travel 315 km. Now the distance is only 75 km directly to Airdrie from Marigold. In return, shipping and receiving staff at Marigold are spending less time on back-and-forth and dealing with 24,624 items less per year.
While the pilot project seems like a simple adjustment, Price said a lack of software and oversight in the past made it difficult to introduce the project earlier.
“In the past, to meet our auditing requirements, we had to physically send the items out,” Price said. “It was our only way of tracking statistics and it was our only way to prove to the library that we had provided what we promised to provide in our collection policy. We now have functionality that allows us to draw those reports out of our library software and that now meets the needs of our auditors.”
Yet not every member library decided to participate. At the beginning of the project, some libraries were concerned about the volume of holds and that they wouldn’t receive any new materials. However, statistics show only 38 per cent of the items purchased by Marigold are on hold, leaving 62 per cent at the assigned library for their local patrons. Price also said the project has a holds queue, where an item will automatically be delivered to an assigned library first if a hold was placed by a local patron to that library – no matter where they were located in the queue.
Strathmore Municipal Library was one of the first libraries to jump on board when Marigold approached its member libraries about the Holds Pilot Project. Since then, the members participating in the initiative has increased to 27 from 20.
“It is lovely to see the holds queue move along a little bit more quickly as items head straight for the person who wants them,” said Rachel Dick Hughes, director of library services with Strathmore Municipal Library.
“Once our items have finished filling holds, they still hit our new book display when they come home so that they are noticed and picked up by our patrons. Patrons have commented that new things seem to be coming through quickly, so they are happy too.”
So far, the project has already improved participation in resource sharing, reduced staff time, reduced unnecessary volume, reduce distance in item travels, improved optics for patrons and increased accessibility of items. Marigold hopes more of their member libraries will join the initiative.