SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) — Curbside pick-up is a service normally offered by restaurants, but a Cicero public library now offers it, too.
The program was born out of care for the community, says Ann Kokkoris. She and a fellow clerk at the Northern Onondaga Public Library (or NOPL)’s Cicero branch helped a book-borrower with mobility issues carry materials to their car. When they got back inside, Kokkoris exclaimed that there had to be a better way.
“What could we do for this patron,” she asked, “to make things easier for her? We tossed around a few ideas, like a drive-through window, but that would cost the library a lot of money; it would be a big project to do that.”
The solution was a curbside pick-up program. Library-goers can call ahead, pull into a parking space, and have any book they put on hold be brought to their car at no cost. NOPL may be the first library in New York State to offer such a service, Kokkoris said.
“It’s aimed towards people with mobility issues, parents with young children in the car, or just anyone who wants the convenience,” she said.
Mandy Travis, the director of NOPL, was on board with the idea immediately. Having accepted her position less than a year ago, she said she was looking for ways to make an impact.
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This temporary sign sits outside the Cicero branch of the Northern Onondaga Public Library. Ann Kokkoris, who first pitched the program, said she was inspired by the restaurant industry.
© 2019 Sam Gelfand
“I realized that the perception of libraries is still of the old, you know, ‘you have to be quiet, we have books but that’s really all,'” she explained, “so I’m trying to make sure that we are vibrant and viable to our community. One of those things is convenience. You can drive up and get your food delivered to your car, so we need to compete with those segments.”
Curbside service is just one of several steps NOPL is taking to offer convenient borrowing to a bustling world, Travis said. They built a pop-up library on the back of a pickup truck, offer a delivery service for those who can’t visit, and no longer charge late fees for children under 18.
Travis also hinted at a future service taking inspiration from personal styling service Stitch Fix. She envisions the ability to fill out an online form specifying a desired genre and medium (as NOPL rents audio-books, music, and movies too) before picking up a box of curated content from the library.
NOPL began a pilot program on March 11th, but plans to begin publicizing the service during the first week of April. The total cost of implementation, Travis said, was just $200.
“Originally, we definitely saw that there were patrons with mobility issues and we were concerned about them,” Travis said. “That started the big idea. But then we realized that convenience is something everybody wants and everybody needs.”
