What You Didn't Know About Sno-Isle Libraries So You Didn't Think to Ask! Part 2

Part 2: Getting My Book to Me
This is a post about a book, just one book, any book, that you would like to read. It's about what goes on behind the scenes at Sno-Isle Libraries to get that book to you.

 (Of course the library carries many items in addition to books, but for the purposes of this blog post we are using the word "book" to represent all types of media that Sno-Isle carries.)

Maybe you've heard of a certain book from a friend or read a review of it online. Perhaps you were enchanted with the book's cover when you saw it at the store, or you want to research a particular topic and came across a title that promises to be exactly what you are looking for. It's this specific book that you have in your mind, and you'd like to check it out.

Let's just say the book you are looking for is Encyclopedia of Birds.

So you go to the Sno-Isle website and type the title in the search bar, and up pops your book. Just like that, you see the entry, read the description and any reviews that are posted, and smile as you say to yourself, Yes! It's just what I'm looking for!

Joanne looking for her book on the Sno-Isle website

Your part is relatively simple. All you have to do now is wait for notification that the book is ready for you to pick up. If the book happens to be on the shelf in your local library, your wait won't be long. One of the staff will pull it off the shelf and, after a bit of record-keeping, put it on the hold shelf for you.

Often, however, the title you have selected will come to you from another library in the system. How does your book get from one branch to another?

Each of Sno-Isle's libraries has a bank of red bins set up in a work area for books that are needed at one of the other branches. Notified digitally by the Service Center, the staff or volunteers pull the titles from the shelves that are wanted elsewhere and place them in the bins. The final destination of the books in the bins is clearly marked.

Bins of books to send to other branches of Sno-Isle Libraries

Books bound for Marysville

These bins are picked up daily and delivered to the work room of the Service Center, where the walls are lined with rows and rows of red bins.

Bins at the Service Center work room

Books that are going from one branch to another pass through the Service Center work room. Staff sort through all the incoming books and place them in the appropriate outgoing bins. Each morning between 9:00 and 10:00 four trucks leave the Service Center on their routes, transporting the books to the libraries across Snohomish and Island counties where they will be processed and put on the hold shelves.

The delivery truck has arrived in Stanwood

There's plenty of room in this truck for lots of red bins!

Today's delivery 

Pam processing items that have arrived in the daily delivery

Joanne gets her book from the holds shelf

 Did you know that Sno-Isle libraries has one-and-a-half million items in its collection! Besides all the books, you can find everything from electronic media, movies and music to newsletters, blogs and material in various world languages.To learn more, go to the website home page and click on the button that says eBooks and More.

Next week we'll showcase the new Camano Island Library, which opens on August 1. If you'd like to see a teaser video, click here.

Happy reading!