Director's Corner: Mailing Concerns

 

Director's Corner: Mailing Concerns

Contributed by John Owen, Director

Greetings from the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled

On behalf of the staff of the library and as the Director of LBPD, I want to address the most recent wave of issues regarding the delivery of audiobooks, braille books, large print books, and equipment to you, our patrons, across the state of Maryland.

We are hearing from many of you that it has been five or more weeks since you last received materials from us.  This is frustrating to us, as I’m sure it is for you who count on our service.  We are providing you with access to reading material and information and we work hard to get those audiobooks and braille books out on a daily basis, only to have them not reach you.

I thank you for your understanding during this time.  I know that it might not seem obvious when materials don't arrive for you, but LBPD staff have been working and continue to work through the pandemic.

I can assure you that staff has been at our library every day, Monday through Friday, for the past year as always, pulling books to be sent out and checking in the books that we receive back from you. LBPD is closed to public visits to keep staff and patrons safe, but we have not missed a day of pulling books to be sent out in the mail.  This is on top of the virtual programming, reference desk services, assistive technology instruction, and textbook conversion that we provide our patrons. And that consistent service continues to this day.

Over the last month, we have actually taken steps that improve the turnaround time on materials. In the last month, we’ve reduced the quarantine time on incoming materials based on the latest safety information from the Maryland Department of Health.  This has enabled us to process returns more quickly than over the last several months.  Also, more of our patrons are using Books on Demand which means that more patrons are getting multiple books on a single cartridge, which reduces the load on the post office to deliver multiple audiobook cartridges.

In fact, March 2021 and April 2021 were two of the highest months in the circulation of titles to our patrons over the past year.  Unfortunately, that increase in circulation and efficiency has coincided with increased challenges with delivery by the United States Postal Service.  According to the USPS website, Free Matter materials should be treated as First Class mail, and the delays you are experiencing now are not indicative of that.

If we at LBPD are processing books faster and sending out more books than previous months and you’re still not getting books for five weeks, you should be upset.  I know I am.

And if you are getting other mail from the post office in a timely manner, but not mail from the Library from the Blind, you should be upset.  I know I am.

Please contact your local post office branch to let them know you are upset.  You can find that information at this website - https://tools.usps.com/find-location.htm - or contact our staff to help you find contact information.  Please know that I’m contacting our post office liaison here in Baltimore on a regular basis.

Please contact your legislators to let them know you are upset.  You can find your congressional representative at house.gov and your senator at senate.gov, or you can contact our staff to help you identify them.  Our State Librarian Irene Padilla has sent letters to Senator Chris van Hollen and Senator Ben Cardin expressing our concerns.

And contact us about Books on Demand which will make the delivery of your materials through the U.S. Postal Service more efficient with fewer cartridges to handle.

If you have access to an Internet connection or mobile device, get access to audio and braille downloads through BARD.

Please continue to return items when you’ve finished reading them, both audiobooks and printed Braille books.  This ensures that a steady supply of materials keeps coming to you.

The USPS is our partner and is subsidized by Congress to provide you with Free Matter in a timely manner.  Let them know that you need them to deliver for you.  We hope that the challenges faced by USPS are overcome soon and we can count on their partnership in serving you.

In the meantime, continue to share your book requests, concerns, and successes with us by calling 410-230-2443 or emailing us at reference.desk@maryland.gov.  LBPD will continue to do what we have done throughout these challenges:  get materials in the mail to you every day so That All May Read.

Thank you,

John Owen

Director

Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled