In preparation for the approaching 2017-2018 INfoExpress year, Indiana State Library (ISL) staff visited NOW Courier, the state’s vendor providing statewide library courier service. ISL and NOW staff meet regularly throughout the year to discuss issues and upcoming changes affecting service, such as SRCS and the revised library standards.

During our most recent visit to NOW, their CFO and customer care team heard many of the concerns libraries have shared with us over the past two months related to late or missed deliveries, missing parcels or driver problems. NOW staff assured us they will continue working to make INfoExpress a reliable and trustworthy service for our 381 participating libraries, schools and universities. In fact, NOW delivered over half a million parcels to Indiana libraries in the past year.

Did you know your NOW Courier delivery driver is a busy independent contractor? In addition to books, NOW Courier drivers also deliver office supplies, pharmaceuticals, payroll information and even mail shipped through DHL. NOW Courier even facilitates the delivery of vital organs and blood to hospitals, though those would never be on the same route as your books.

Following the meeting, NOW Courier Customer Care Manager Nick Brownlee showed us around their Indianapolis hub. In these pictures, you can see the book parcel sorting tubs and shelves for the various routes in Indianapolis and around the state. While the warehouse was quiet at 2 p.m, he said it’s a bustling place from 11 p.m.-3 a.m. as drivers work overnight to sort and prep the parcels for each route’s deliveries.

We hope you have enjoyed this peek into the logistics of shipping your books!

This blog post by Jen Clifton, Library Development Office director. For more information or questions regarding INfoExpress, contact David Michael Hicks at (317) 232-3699 or email dhicks@library.in.gov.