Library Delivery Services in the Metropolitan Area and Beyond

With the advances made in converting documents from paper to digital formats, one might be tempted to speculate that the demand for interlibrary delivery of paper documents (returnables) might gradually subside.  There is no denying that a great deal of information is being shared electronically.  MINITEX reports that its MEDD (MINITEX Electronic Document Delivery) service is often able to send electronic documents such as journal articles to the desktop of users the same day on which they were requested.  Typically, however, this service is limited to articles found in the University of Minnesota Libraries where MINITEX has access to several flatbed scanners.  This type of resource sharing is not only faster, but more cost-effective because it requires less intervention on the part of the library.

The great popularity of the MnLINK Gateway’s “Get It” button, however, has placed the spotlight back on the delivery of physical copies (books, CDs, DVDs, etc.) and libraries are struggling to cope with the demand.  It is not unusual to find interlibrary loan statistics increasing by 30 percent or more each year in certain libraries.  Before the MnLINK Gateway, interlibrary loan service was widely available but it was not promoted by most libraries and required the completion of various forms and interaction with library staff.  With the MnLINK Gateway, however, interlibrary loan became a user-initiated service, became available online from the user’s home and/or office, and required no mediation by library staff.

In anticipation of the increased demand for interlibrary loans, the Minnesota Department of State Library Services published a study in 2004 on delivery services (Resource Sharing Among Minnesota Libraries: Inter-Library Delivery Services Structure, Costs, and Current/Future Funding).  The study predicted significant increases in interlibrary loan traffic and questioned whether library budgets would be able to support these service demands.

Among the study’s findings are:

1. Responsibility for delivery services is scattered.  Although MINITEX provides a statewide delivery “backbone,” the quality and frequency of local and regional delivery varies widely.
2. Both interlibrary (between different libraries) and intralibrary loan traffic in Minnesota is very heavy compared to other states.  Intralibrary loan traffic (among libraries under the same administrative organization) is typically higher than interlibrary traffic but is frequently impacted by requests for materials located outside of the administrative unit.
3. There are no statewide standards for delivery service.
4. The state needs to develop new models for the support of delivery services: state appropriations, cost-sharing arrangements, fees for service, or charge-backs, and at the same time needs to explore how best practices can reduce costs through operational efficiencies.

In the seven-county metropolitan area, libraries are served by two state-supported regional systems: MELSA and Metronet.  MELSA (Metropolitan Library Services Agency) serves public libraries and provides delivery services to its nine member libraries (two city libraries and seven county libraries).  MELSA delivery is provided five days per week to one location in each library system.  Typically, the MELSA libraries deliver more than 600,000 items annually.  Each public library system handles delivery to its city or county branch libraries.

Metronet is a multitype library network serving 588 libraries in the seven-county area with opportunities for continuing education and professional development, with opportunities for collaboration across types of libraries, by providing information on best practices, service standards, and innovation, and by facilitating inter-agency cooperation.  Unlike some of the other multitype networks in Minnesota, Metronet does not provide delivery services.

As was reported earlier in this paper, MINITEX is another provider of delivery service in the metro area.  MELSA members’ headquarters libraries serve as nodes in the MINITEX delivery system and can send requests directly to the MINITEX Office.  Loans to MELSA libraries from libraries located outside the metro area or in North Dakota and South Dakota are sorted and handled by MINITEX, along with loans from MELSA libraries to other libraries outside the metro area.  MINITEX delivers material owned by the University of Minnesota Libraries to the nine MELSA libraries, to selected school libraries, special libraries, and to the individual libraries that form CLIC (Cooperating Libraries in Consortium).  In addition, MINITEX sorts and delivers materials to the MnSCU libraries in the Twin Cities (Metropolitan State University and the technical and community colleges).

A third provider of delivery services in the metro area is CLIC.  CLIC is a consortium of eight private academic institutions in St. Paul and Minneapolis.  CLIC operates a twice-daily courier service Mondays through Fridays among the members, including stops at the MINITEX office at the University of Minnesota and two seminary libraries.

Based on data collected by Metronet, there are 588 libraries of all types (including public library branches) in the seven county area.  The libraries are categorized as follows, along with the document delivery service available to them:

* includes branch libraries

Depending on who funds delivery, the 2004 study of delivery services indicated that some libraries or library systems believe that they cannot afford delivery service or  more frequent delivery.  As the table above reveals, school library/media centers (LMCs), the most numerous type of library in both the metro area and in the state, are the least likely to receive delivery service.  To compensate for this lack, in some parts of the state public library systems provide school media centers with institutional library cards.  In other cases, students and teachers use their personal library cards to have materials delivered to the closest public library for pick-up.  Those schools that do not have a public library in their town have no way of obtaining interlibrary loans (returnables).  In addition to the problems caused by geography and low population density, some of the unevenness in library delivery service is due to varying service philosophies, limited library hours, willingness to loan material, and the cost of local delivery.

It is assumed that school library media centers cannot afford to become nodes on the MnLINK Gateway system.  Consequently, their participation in the MnLINK interlibrary loan and the MINITEX Delivery System takes place through public and college libraries which are connected to MnLINK.  This means that materials requested by K-12 students, library media specialists, and teachers will be delivered to the public or college library through which the request was made.  In some parts of the state, some schools do receive direct delivery of interlibrary loaned material, but in the metro area the only option for schools is UPS or first class mail delivery.

If, on the other hand, school library media centers were funded to become full participants in the MnLINK Gateway, the LMC would be required to meet the following criteria:

1. Collections accurately cataloged:  All libraries within a system must be willing and able to catalog collections according to accepted standards and to make their catalogs available electronically.  If a library is to meet these requirements, it follows that a licensed professional needs to be in charge of the library media center.
2. Reciprocity:  Most resource sharing agreements among libraries require a willingness to share collections.
3. Standardized delivery schedules:  School holidays can vary from school district to school district, as can library hours.  It would be difficult for a courier service to keep track of school schedules.  Consequently, some standardization would be required within each school district.

The 2004 study of statewide delivery service recommends that among the unmet needs for document delivery, the most significant is delivery to school libraries, and to address this need a long-term strategy should be developed.  In the seven-county Metronet service area it should be possible to structure delivery service to school libraries based on a tiered arrangement. 

• First, those LMCs that can afford full MnLINK Gateway participation would represent the first tier and once they met the three criteria listed above would become eligible for Monday through Friday delivery.
• The second tier would include those school libraries that cannot afford the cost of full MnLINK Gateway participation but which are able to meet the three criteria.  These libraries would be eligible for twice-weekly delivery of library materials.
• The third tier would include libraries that cannot afford MnLINK Gateway participation and cannot (or will not) meet the three criteria for library delivery, for example, cataloging records of questionable quality, no online access to the LMC’s catalog, or reluctance to share collections, delivery service on a limited or trial basis could be made available provided that the school commit to remedying these deficiencies within a predetermined timeframe.

Once the interest of school libraries in sharing their resources through interlibrary loan and having delivery service is determined and the tiers in which they might fall is known, Metronet will sponsor a study of the costs of providing this service in the metro area.  Having this information would appear to be the key to offering document delivery services to school library media centers.

In view of the extensive system of library delivery services that already exist in the metropolitan area – MINITEX, MELSA, CLIC – it should be possible to extend the reach of these agencies to include school libraries through subsidies.  This would seem to be less expensive than contracting for a separate school library delivery service.

When legislators came to agree on funding for the MnLINK Gateway, they assumed that all libraries in Minnesota would eventually be connected in some way and that all Minnesotans would have equitable access to all publicly-supported library collections.  While the Internet and MnLINK have helped to level the playing field, many – if not most – of the state’s school library media centers are still not in the game.  The challenge for the Minnesota library community is to fix this problem.  Equitable access to the state’s information resources requires that this be done.

Tom Shaughnessy
Metronet
9-20-2006