Best Practice: Protecting Interlibrary Loan Materials from Damage

The CARLI delivery staff and the Preservation Working Group have developed a best practice for the packaging of fragile or expensive materials that travel in ILDS.

Although ILDS delivery bags (both purple and canvas) offer a measure of protection, libraries should not depend upon the bag alone to safeguard items such as audio or video tapes, CD's, DVD's, Blu-ray disks or other fragile and/or high-value items. Materials being transported in ILDS (or any physical delivery service) are handled several times by library and courier staff members and travel in several vehicles both coming and going. While the courier stresses the need to handle library materials appropriately, individual drivers and sorters have no idea what is in any specific bag. Consider the likelihood of damage if you place a single DVD in a thin plastic jewel case in an ILDS bag, just as you would when mailing similar items through the Postal Service or UPS without adequate protection.

Following are some simple packing techniques that will diminish the possibility that fragile materials will be damaged in transit. This increases the chances that library materials stay safe and arrive at their destination and return home in good condition. Consider the following options and select one or a combination of these suggestions that best meets the needs of the materials you are sending.

• Place the fragile material in a padded mailer. It is not necessary to place the padded mailer inside of an ILDS bag (but you can if you want to). If you use the padded mailer alone, place the ILDS label on the outside of the mailer. Using a padded mailer without an ILDS bag will help call attention to the fact that there is something fragile in the mailer.
• If you are sending multiple items (CD's, DVD's, etc.), bundle them together with rubber bands or string. This will lessen damage if there are other items in the same bag and help protect them if other bags are put on top of them in transit.
• Place bubble wrap around the fragile items or place a piece of corrugated cardboard on either side of the item and secure it with a rubber band. Do take care in using rubber bands, as they can cause flexible items to bend, and leave indentations in softer materials.
• Rather than using an ILDS bag, place fragile or expensive items in a box, attach the ILDS label to the outside of the box, and write "Fragile" on the box. Use enough packaging to prevent the item from sliding around in the box. Use packaging tape to secure the box.
• If you use bubble wrap, a padded mailer or other packaging, feel free to include a note that requests that the same packaging be used to return the items to your library. If an item is sent to your location with packaging that is meant to keep it safe, please return it packaged in the same manner. Most packaging materials can be saved, and reused.

If everyone uses care with fragile items, everyone will benefit in the long run. This represents another opportunity to demonstrate the importance of resource sharing in Illinois, as well as the collegiality you all display in making ILDS function effectively.