TBLC News

It has been a really exciting process, and I wanted to bring you up to date with the status of our ITN for the Statewide Delivery System.  We received nine vendor bids and after careful consideration, we have decided to stay with Velocity Express.

A bit of trivia since many people have asked – the cost of UPS was a minimum of 1 MILLION dollars!

With this new contract, we were able to lower the total cost of Delivery.  This means we can actually reduce the cost to libraries!  We will decrease costs by $150 per stop.

As a result of the new contract, we are able to offer smaller libraries the ability to have two days of service per week for the cost of one, allowing us to eliminate one-day stops.  This benefits the Delivery system as a whole, as items will have a quicker turnaround time to and from small libraries.

The pricing for October 2009 – September 30, 2010 is:

2-day stop:  $600
3-day stop:  $1,800
4-day stop:  $2,400
5-day stop:  $3,000

Additionally, we will change the following policies based upon the Statewide Delivery Taskforce recommendations and negotiations with the vendor starting on October 1, 2009:

- Lost Items.  Delivery will no longer pay for lost items.  It will pay for damaged items or egregious loss.
- Scanning.  We will discontinue the bag level scanning.  Scanning of Electronic Signatures by drivers and labels on demand will continue.

Renewal letters will be sent to each participating library’s director reflecting these changes in May.  Please contact TBLC at (813) 622-8252 with any questions about the renewal or Delivery in general.

Diana Silveira
Virtual Reference Manager
Tampa Bay Library Consortium
813.622.8252 ext 234
sachsd@tblc.org

Going on vacation? So are we!

Florida Library Delivery service will be closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 27, and Friday, Nov. 28.

Additionally, due to high fuel costs, Delivery will take a hiatus from Dec. 22, 2008 to Jan. 2, 2009. Although we padded our Delivery budget for rising fuel costs, we did not anticipate the huge fluctuations in gas prices we experienced this past year. Ceasing Delivery for just two weeks will save our program thousands of dollars and will get our budget back on track.

This hiatus means that Delivery drivers will not pick up or deliver any orange bags from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. We will resume our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 5.

We very carefully chose to stop Delivery on these dates because it will cause the least amount of impact and inconvenience to all of you. Because of the holidays, those two weeks are Delivery’s slowest time of year and many libraries are closed.

We apologize for any inconvenience that our hiatus may cause. If you have any questions, please contact us at (800) 622-8252 or deliver@tblc.org.

Coming Jan. 14!

We are taking steps to enhance Delivery by implementing a new barcode label system, which is essential for better tracking, more accurate statistics and vendor accountability for lost or late items.

Starting Jan. 14, we will be in the beta testing stage of this new process.

What does this mean for your library?
Libraries only in Fort Myers and Tampa will implement the new barcode label system on Jan.  14.  All participating libraries in these areas should have received instructions on implementation.  If your library did not receive them, please contact deliver@tblc.org. 

All other libraries should continue handling everything as you normally do.  Just be aware that you will be receiving barcode labels from Fort Myers and Tampa Delivery bags. The driver will know how to handle these.

If our beta testing stage is successful, we will start implementing the barcode system at all of our other Delivery locations as soon as possible. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Email deliver@tblc.org or call (800) 622-8252 with any questions or comments.