WebJunction

The wheels on the truck go round and round...

An essential ingredient in the successful resource sharing among libraries in Illinois has been the ability to physically deliver books and other library material between all types of libraries to meet the needs of library users in the state. This has been accomplished through a surface delivery system made up of two components:

1. The Illinois Library Delivery System (ILDS)
2. The delivery services operated independently by the 10 Regional Library Systems which deliver library materials between their respective members and redistribute materials from libraries in other Regional Library Systems as received from ILDS.

ILDS is funded by the Illinois State Library through a grant to the subcontractors. The Regional Library Systems' Delivery Services are funded through the operational budgets of the Systems. All funds supporting the intrastate delivery system are state appropriated.

The Illinois Library Delivery System was started in 1980 to fill a missing link in the State's rapidly growing library resource sharing network. It was funded by the Illinois State Library utilizing Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) through a grant to the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. Its purpose was to provide timely and effective delivery of library materials between the major academic libraries, and the then, 18 Regional Library Systems. Most of the Regional Library Systems had introduced some level of intrasystem delivery service during the late 1960's and early 1970"s and ILDS would serve to connect these regional delivery services. By 1980, conditions were right for a statewide delivery service.

The structure for ILDS grew out of the recommendations of a 1980 study conducted for the Illinois State Library by a Chicago based engineering and planning firm. The study recommended the establishment of a dedicated surface delivery system as opposed to one which relied upon existing delivery services such as the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, etc. This study further identified a configuration of six delivery routes or loops which would transverse the state and provide 19 direct stops.

Approximately ten years later, the Illinois State Library contracted for another study of ILDS. This study recommended the continuation of a dedicated delivery service with some modification of existing routes including the creation of two routes in the north. In 1995 several academic libraries were added as direct stops reflecting the changing patterns of borrowing in the State.

The present configuration of ILDS includes seven routes which intersect at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, the Illinois State Library and the Lewis and Clark Library System. The 10 Illinois library systems also serve as part of the statewide delivery backbone.