[Michlib-l] Successful Curbside Pickup Services: Best Practices

Wed Apr 22 23:15:55 EDT 2020

Thank you all for sharing!

Lynn Taylor
Morton Township Public Library
110 S James St
Mecosta NO

On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, BERRIEN SPRINGS COMMUNITY LIBRARY via
Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org> wrote:

> This is great information!  Thank you!
>
> I wanted to add something that I thought might be useful for staff and
> patron safety in terms of curbside pick up.  I've ordered items online at
> Joann's (and paid online).  They let you know when the items are ready for
> pick up in an email so I know when to go.  I drive up to the front of the
> store and call from my car to let them know I am there to pick up my
> order.  You give them the order number, your name and what your vehicle
> looks like.  They ask you to pop your trunk so when they come out, they
> open your trunk or hatchback, etc., and place the bag inside.  They are
> still wearing masks and gloves but it's a great way to social distance.  I
> never get out of the car and they stay safe too.
>
> I think it's a good system so I thought I would share it.  They let people
> know ahead of time what to do (online) and when you get to the storefront,
> there is a sign explaining what to do--First thing says "Do not get out of
> your car."  Maybe give patrons an estimate on how long it will take for the
> items to be pulled, etc, if they call?  I just thought various adaptations
> of their system would work for the libraries as well.
> Hope you are all well. Please stay safe!
>
> Irene (Jones)
> Assistant Director
> Berrien Springs Community Library
> 215 W. Union St.
> Berrien Springs, MI 49103
> 269.471.7074
> 269.471.4433  *fax*
> www.bsclibrary.org
>
> On April 22, 2020 at 10:23 AM Andrea Ingmire via Michlib-l <
> michlib-l at mcls.org> wrote:
>
> Several of you requested that I share responses with you.
> I didn't get many... my theory is that many of us were working up to
> getting this off the ground, but didn't actually get it done before the
> stay home order came out.
>
> Sharing what I have:
>
> We did curbside for a week, and I expect to offer it entirely or in part
> when we reopen. While not everything we did will work for you, since PWPL
> is a much bigger library, here is what we did, and a few recommendations.
>
>
>
> 1. If patrons have internet access and can place holds online, pull them
> as normal.
>
> 2. If patrons do not have internet access, allow them to call to request
> books. Sometimes, they may not know what they want and have vague
> suggestions. This will end up being a combination of requests and reader
> advisory. ("I want two Debbie Macombers" or "I like books about people,
> choose something for me.")
>
> 3. Normal checkout limits apply.
>
> 4. If they have cell phones, ask that they call when they arrive. (This is
> similar to the Marquette Food Co-op's system.)
>
> 5. If they only have landlines, ask for an estimated time of arrival or
> schedule it with them. (This applies to many of our patrons, who are older.)
>
> 6. Our holds notifications consist of a staff member calling people; that
> did not change.
>
> 7. Wear a mask and fresh gloves for each and every curbside interaction.
>
> 8. I recommend putting items in a plastic bag to hand to the patron.
>
>
>
> We also did curbside faxing that week. I don't particularly recommend
> this, as it requires money to be exchanged.
>
>
>
> Jessica Holman
>
> Negaunee Public Library
>
>
>
>
> We did curbside pickup for 5 days before calling it quits. Here are my
> responses:
>
>
>
> 1.   Did you impose limits on # of titles for pickup/patron?
> No. We had enough of our staff still reporting to work that this wasn't an
> issue for us; we had time to get them all checked out and brought to the
> curbside pretty quickly, even if they had a dozen books.
>
> 2.   Did you have a family pack, or some other librarian collected set of
> picture books by topic to offer families who may not have time to place
> individual titles on hold?
> We didn't plan for this, but we ended up doing it for a few patrons! Some
> of our regulars who don't use Enterprise, but still stop in to checkout up
> to 25 kids books each week, called us with some subject ideas, and our
> staff hand-picked their books. We were only able to do this is a family
> called ahead of time, and then we let them know when the books were
> available.
>
> 3.   Any advice on how to stagger pickup appointments, or how to
> encourage folks to spread out while waiting for pickup?
> There were times when we got pretty busy, with a line of cars waiting out
> front. We don't have a parking lot that abuts our building like you do
> thought; maybe you could use cones and signage in your parking lot to
> direct curbside pickup patrons? We really encouraged our patrons to call
> ahead (sort of like an appointment) but they often just showed up outside
> and gave us a call, or knocked on the door. This wasn't really ideal
> because sometimes we were trying to locate their holds from the stacks.
>
> 4.   What about your ILS generated holds notifications? Did you change
> messages with new instructions regarding curbside pickup?
> No, but I'm so glad you mentioned this. We are considering returning to
> curbside pickup as the 'first phase' in our reopening and maybe we ought to
> adjust those notifications, too. Good idea!
>
> 5.   Any other helpful tips, or even things that didn't work for you?
> One thing we tried to be really careful with was hygiene safety. If a
> patron called to pick up their holds, we always asked them if they were
> symptomatic, and if they were, we told them we cannot help them. A lot of
> people want to get out of their car and walk to the front door, and we
> really tried to discourage this. We also always delivered books to the
> passenger side of the vehicle if there was no one seated there. That way we
> could maintain distance from the driver (we would wave and motion for them
> to roll the window down). Staff also had a glove on in case they would need
> to open a patron's door.
>
>
> We did curbside pickup for 5 days before calling it quits. Here are my
> responses:
>
>
>
> 1.   Did you impose limits on # of titles for pickup/patron?
> No. We had enough of our staff still reporting to work that this wasn't an
> issue for us; we had time to get them all checked out and brought to the
> curbside pretty quickly, even if they had a dozen books.
>
> 2.   Did you have a family pack, or some other librarian collected set of
> picture books by topic to offer families who may not have time to place
> individual titles on hold?
> We didn't plan for this, but we ended up doing it for a few patrons! Some
> of our regulars who don't use Enterprise, but still stop in to checkout up
> to 25 kids books each week, called us with some subject ideas, and our
> staff hand-picked their books. We were only able to do this is a family
> called ahead of time, and then we let them know when the books were
> available.
>
> 3.   Any advice on how to stagger pickup appointments, or how to
> encourage folks to spread out while waiting for pickup?
> There were times when we got pretty busy, with a line of cars waiting out
> front. We don't have a parking lot that abuts our building like you do
> thought; maybe you could use cones and signage in your parking lot to
> direct curbside pickup patrons? We really encouraged our patrons to call
> ahead (sort of like an appointment) but they often just showed up outside
> and gave us a call, or knocked on the door. This wasn't really ideal
> because sometimes we were trying to locate their holds from the stacks.
>
> 4.   What about your ILS generated holds notifications? Did you change
> messages with new instructions regarding curbside pickup?
> No, but I'm so glad you mentioned this. We are considering returning to
> curbside pickup as the 'first phase' in our reopening and maybe we ought to
> adjust those notifications, too. Good idea!
>
> 5.   Any other helpful tips, or even things that didn't work for you?
> One thing we tried to be really careful with was hygiene safety. If a
> patron called to pick up their holds, we always asked them if they were
> symptomatic, and if they were, we told them we cannot help them. A lot of
> people want to get out of their car and walk to the front door, and we
> really tried to discourage this. We also always delivered books to the
> passenger side of the vehicle if there was no one seated there. That way we
> could maintain distance from the driver (we would wave and motion for them
> to roll the window down). Staff also had a glove on in case they would need
> to open a patron's door.
>
> Dillon Geshel
>
> Portage District Library
>
> We were able to offer curbside only for three days after March 16 before
> the county health department informed us that we had to stop.  We simply
> took phone calls for requests and asked that patrons call as they were
> pulling up to the library.  Some patrons just asked us to pull a few movies
> we thought they’d like.  Others asked for books by specified authors.  We
> never had the chance to customize book sets, but that is a great idea.  We
> adhered to our limits of 15 items out at a time and a limit of 5 movies at
> a time (we did away with movie fees at the beginning of the year).
>
>
>
> Mimi Herrington, Director
> Bad Axe Area District Library
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
>
>
>
> *Andrea IngmireLibrary DirectorPeter White Public Library*
> (906) 226-4303 (office)
> (906) 250-0080 (cell)
> (906) 226-1783 (fax)
> *http://pwpl.info/ <http://pwpl.info/>*
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 2:19 PM Andrea Ingmire < aingpwpl at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> Looking for feedback from any library who ran a successful curbside pickup
> process prior to EO 2020-20 when all of that had to cease.
>
> I'd love to hear how you addressed these questions:
>
>    1. Did you impose limits on # of titles for pickup/patron?
>    2. Did you have a family pack, or some other librarian collected set
>    of picture books by topic to offer families who may not have time to place
>    individual titles on hold?
>    3. Any advice on how to stagger pickup appointments, or how to
>    encourage folks to spread out while waiting for pickup?
>    4. What about your ILS generated holds notifications? Did you change
>    messages with new instructions regarding curbside pickup?
>    5. Any other helpful tips, or even things that didn't work for you?
>
> We were focused on getting previously requested holds out for people, so
> we didn't get an actual curbside system setup, and I'd like to be ready for
> offering this as soon as we get the green light to open in some capacity.
>
> Thanks!
> Andrea
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
>
>
>
> *Andrea IngmireLibrary DirectorPeter White Public Library*
> (906) 226-4303 (office)
> (906) 250-0080 (cell)
> (906) 226-1783 (fax)
> *http://pwpl.info/ <http://pwpl.info/>*
>
>
>
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> Michlib-l at mcls.org
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>
>
>
>
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