Ownership: Company limited by guarantee
Location: North West London.
Contact information: Jeremy Clynes mail@gardensuburblibrary.org.uk
Useful resources: See our website – a copy of the volunteer instructions sent on request.
Background
Like all libraries we made a decision to close on the 17th March – we were well prepared, we had posters for the library itself, we issued a newsletter and used Social Media.
Over the next few weeks, we considered how best we could deliver a library service to our loyal users. We filmed a children’s Storytime which was publicised widely, issued a long informative newsletter publicising amongst other things our local authorities’ library online initiatives and began to plan for a “click & collect” scheme
This was developed and refined over the next few weeks and once the government announced shops could operate “click & collect” we decided that the time was right for us to launch our scheme which we did on the 3rd May
We decided not to launch a home delivery service, firstly because our area of operation covers 5,000 households including many blocks of flats, but also because of health & safety advice from our local authority.
What we did
We updated our book stock information page on our website to give our users full access to our stock. We then designed an order form that is available both online and also from a container in the porch of the library which surprisingly has been very popular.
We publicised this with a newsletter, updating our website and social media (Facebook, Nextdoor and local chatline) and reinforce this with weekly “book of the week” publicity.
Users pick the books they require and fill the form in with their details, the books they require and the collection day (48 hours’ notice required). We accept new users without proof of ID and create them with the initial order.
We operate the scheme Tuesday – Saturday. Collection times are 3.00-4.00pm from a table at the front of the library which also has a tray for returns. Returns are quarantined for 72 hours and we have 5 trays for this purpose
One volunteer is on duty (the only person allowed in the library) and they come in on the above days from about 1.45pm to prepare orders and deal with returns after the quarantine period
To start with three Trustees who developed the system operated the system on a daily basis, but after two weeks we began to bring in other volunteers who had expressed an interest, and we wrote a comprehensive three-page instruction manual for these volunteers.
Impact and Outcomes
We updated our book stock information page on our website to give our users full access to our stock. We then designed an order form that is available both online and also from a container in the porch of the library which surprisingly has been very popular.
We publicised this with a newsletter, updating our website and social media (Facebook, Nextdoor and local chatline) and reinforce this with weekly “book of the week” publicity.
Users pick the books they require and fill the form in with their details, the books they require and the collection day (48 hours’ notice required). We accept new users without proof of ID and create them with the initial order.
We operate the scheme Tuesday – Saturday. Collection times are 3.00-4.00pm from a table at the front of the library which also has a tray for returns. Returns are quarantined for 72 hours and we have 5 trays for this purpose
One volunteer is on duty (the only person allowed in the library) and they come in on the above days from about 1.45pm to prepare orders and deal with returns after the quarantine period
To start with three Trustees who developed the system operated the system on a daily basis, but after two weeks we began to bring in other volunteers who had expressed an interest, and we wrote a comprehensive three-page instruction manual for these volunteers.
Lessons Learnt
We have had to do a major sort out to be able to find books.
Quite a lot of orders are for children and our children’s section which is divided into a number of categories has never been the best organised as it’s so well used – we have had to do a major sort out to be able to find books – picture & board books are sorted by title – Midway & Older Readers by author
Volunteers we have brought in to help have not been very successful.
The main problem has been that although we have sent them the instructions and told them to read them, most have not. Since operational procedures are very different this has led to major problems – these volunteers have also not persevered in finding books for orders which has led to a lot of incomplete orders that the Trustees have had to sort out – we are now reviewing the use of volunteers.
When orders are received we have found they need a lot of work to sort them out.
Problems include not using our form, books ordered that we don’t stock and books ordered that are out on loan (we don’t have an online ordering system) We have had to use a modified reservation system to cope with books that are out on loan. We also have a number of mainly children’s books that although they are shown in stock, can’t be found, which leads to a call to the user to sort out.