John Patriquin/Staff Photographer
Librarians are shuttling books around Maine in the trunks of their cars this week, after the loss of a delivery service that supports the statewide interlibrary loan program.
The courier hired to move books between libraries, NCS Logistics of Scarborough, backed out of its contract Monday, dealing a blow to a program that gives patrons at the state's smallest depositories access to titles from some of its largest.
The move sent staffers at about 140 public and private libraries scrambling to find ways to maintain the flow of books. Some have resorted to lugging books from one library to another on their own.
A massive backlog of deliveries left by the previous courier – Velocity Express of Portland – overwhelmed NCS when it took over the service earlier this month, said Dean Corner, director of public services at the Maine State Library in Augusta, which manages the contract.
"NCS had a very high hurdle to jump, there's no doubt about it," Corner said.
Company officials from NCS and Velocity did not return phone messages seeking comment.
The state's university system participates in, and helps pay for, the $250,000-a-year program. So do private colleges and dozens of community libraries from Fort Kent to Kittery.
Many libraries had come to depend on the fast, reliable van delivery system. The system could get titles from one end of the state to the other in one or two days and was cost-effective, librarians said.
The system has greatly expanded access for patrons in far-flung areas since it replaced ground mail in the early part of the decade, they said.
"When the delivery system fails, it's a problem," said Lynda Sudlow, director of the Falmouth Memorial Library. Sudlow said 12 percent of the 190,000 items checked out at the library during the last fiscal year came through the loan program.
With the program suspended, librarians are asking patrons to be patient while the state looks for another courier. Some libraries that can afford the shipping costs are mailing books. And those that cannot are getting creative.
Librarians who commute to work now load their cars before they head home and drop off books at other libraries along the way, Sudlow said.
She said one employee planned to take three totes full of titles – between 60 and 75 books – to a statewide conference in Augusta today and swap with other librarians.
The University of Southern Maine has decided to mail out its loaned titles for the time being, said David Nutty, director of libraries at the school's Portland, Gorham and Lewiston campuses.
USM has three libraries that ship or receive a combined total of between 400 and 500 books in a typical week during the school year, Nutty said.
"We're doing our best to continue the service – it might be a little slower," he said.
Smaller libraries, such as the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library in Presque Isle, are playing it by ear.
Turner Memorial uses the loan program for about 10 titles a week and can't afford to mail out heavier titles, said Lisa Shaw, who oversees the library's reference desk and serves as secretary of the Maine Library Association.
Shaw said she has asked patrons to be patient until the loan system returns.
"What we're doing is advising patrons that because there is a hiccup in the system, we're not able to place their request for a week or so," she said.
The state library will offer the interlibrary loan contract to bidders that lost out to NCS over the next few days. Corner, the public services director, said if none of the companies wants the contract, the library will send it out for bids again.
He said he wants the loan service running smoothly by the time demand spikes with the start of the collegiate fall semester.
"I'd love to have a company on board sometime in the next month to really be ready for September," Corner said.
He commended the work of librarians who are hauling 35-pound book totes around the state nowadays – but hopes they are being careful.
"I don't want people getting hurt," Corner said. "This is not a job for the uninitiated – it's dirty, it's heavy and it's sweaty."
Staff Writer Elbert Aull can be contacted at 791-6325 or at:
eaull@pressherald.com
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