ILDS Item Quarantine Policy

In order to reduce confusion around the differences between the policies and recommendations of IHLS and RAILS for quarantining items, we are recommending one quarantine policy for all ILDS libraries, specifically that all ILDS libraries quarantine outgoing items for 7 days prior to shipping the items through ILDS. The 7-day period for quarantining items would begin when a patron last touched the item. Items that are in stacks open to patrons should be quarantined for 7 days prior to being shipped through ILDS. The items for shipment should remain untouched for 7 days. Library staff that are following safe hygiene practices, wearing masks, and not working while symptomatic, should not restart the quarantine period by handling the item. After the item has been quarantined for 7 days, library staff should ship the materials through ILDS, following the normal procedures for creating labels and packing the bags. 

IHLS and RAILS will not be quarantining the ILDS bags in their hubs. All bags going from one ILDS stop to another ILDS stop remain closed during the sorting process and therefore those items will not be touched by delivery staff. Once the item arrives at the destination library it should have been quarantined for at least 7 days (adding the quarantine period at the sending library to the time spent in transit).

Once the items arrive at their destination, the receiving library should follow their own internal guidelines for quarantining incoming items, however as long as the recommendation is followed no further quarantining of items should be necessary

If you have questions concerning quarantine times, please contact CARLI Support. Continue to send all stop or start delivery requests to the individual Regional Library Systems using their ticketing support system email addresses, IHLS – ihlsdelivery@illinoisheartland.org and RAILS – railsdelivery@railslibraries.info.

These are challenging times and delivery processes continue to be fluid. Thank you for all you are doing in your library to make ILDS delivery a safe and efficient process.