Weekend Truckin'
The Idea
The branch libraries of the UW Libraries wanted to improve the time lag over weekends of delivery of materials to their customers. Thom Deardorff, Coordinator for Access Services, and Kirsten Spillum, Manager of Suzzallo Circulation, wanted to help with the branch libraries' concerns. The idea of
weekend delivery around the Libraries system was born. Thom and Kirsten went to Libraries Facilities folks and asked if they could make it happen. Facilities had a very "can do" attitude. "We'll make it work!" was their reply, especially Marty Nolan who took the lead on this.
Richard Dubois, Truck Driver I, loads 'em up
Additional staff was needed and current staff had to make some changes. Richard Dubois was hired half-time as a Truck Driver I to work a schedule of Sunday, Monday and half day on Tuesday. Jung-Ho Ryu, a Truck Driver I already on staff, changed his schedule to work Tuesday through Saturday. It
was decided that the schedule of weekend deliveries would be based on branch libraries open/close schedules. Carolyn Morgan, Office Assistant Lead, is an important additional team member. Student employees also assist in loading, unloading and moving materials.
Carolyn Morgan, Office Assistant Lead, tracks 'em down
How's it going?
The branches receiving and sending the most materials on weekends are Odegaard Undergraduate Library, Suzzallo Library and Health Sciences Library. Danielle King, Access Services Manager at OUGL, says it did take some time to add more student hours to sort and prepare shipments before
opening in the morning and on weekends, but it is worth it. Some customers are surprised that materials are moved around by truck...they assumed we just "walk" materials from one library to another. Overall, Danielle says, customers love the service and staff think it's great that they can give
even better service!
Grace Block, Library Technician Lead at the Social Work Library, says "We appreciate our Saturday delivery, especially because we have Extended Degree students who are here only on Fridays and Saturdays"!
The program is going very well and lots of materials are moving around by truck every weekend. In fact, with drivers doing more on weekends, they have actually been able to be cross-trained and contribute even more during the week in Facilities...an added bonus.
Strategic plan - Where does this fit?
One of the initiatives for the strategic plan for 2008 is Enhancing Physical and Digital Delivery Services. Weekend delivery fits beautifully into that initiative and has become a reality. Keep on truckin'!
Story coordinated & developed by Jewel Evenson, Suzzallo Circulation
If you have ideas for stories (you don’t have to write them!), please let us know at strategic@lib.washington.edu.