Library book deliveries tangled after state changes vendors, backlog tops 86,000 volumes

Michael McCue started his workday on a recent morning in an unusual way: He packed his Honda Civic with a dozen or so boxes of novels, classics and non-fiction hardcover books and ferried them to libraries across eastern Bergen County.

McCue's job description as director of the Teaneck Public Library does not include book delivery. But he and other library officials across the state are scrambling to make the best of a situation that has halted deliveries of tens of thousands of books and other materials among New Jersey libraries.

Since Jan. 1, when the state-funded nonprofit that handles interlibrary loans brought on a new delivery contractor, library patrons seeking books, CDs and DVDs that they can't find at their local branches have been stymied by a backlog that now tops 86,000 volumes in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties, and even more statewide. The nonprofit LibraryLinkNJ, which receives about $1.8 million in state funds per year, described the situation as "catastrophic" in an update on its website.

The Bergen County Cooperative Library System, or BCCLS, which typically handles more than 4,300 interlibrary loans per day among 76 North Jersey libraries, has indefinitely suspended the service while it deals with the backlog.​ Libraries and library systems across the state have done likewise, disappointing fiction lovers, frustrating students and throwing book clubs into disarray.

"Several times a day, we all stand around and say, ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ " said Ellen O'Keefe, director of the Glen Rock Public Library. "This has been working so well for so long; we have never experienced this kind of debacle.”

MORE BOOKS: Where to find free e-books, movies and audiobooks

LIBRARY NEWS: NJ libraries offer Kanopy for free streaming of 30,000 films

FAIR LAWN: Siblings donate to library in memory of their sister, the bookworm

The backlog began after LibraryLink dumped TForce Final Mile, the Dallas-based company that had handled library deliveries for years, in favor of a competitor, Los Angeles-based Expak Logistics. Expak's subcontractor withdrew from the contract at the last minute, according to the LibraryLinkNJ website, and the company was ill-equipped to handle the delivery of thousands of books among New Jersey libraries.

Now, LibraryLinkNJ, which is supposed to pay the company about $900,000 a year for deliveries, is exploring ways to sever the contract and get its money back, said Kathy Schalk-Greene, executive director of LibraryLinkNJ.

In the meantime, it's the library patrons who suffer, as the bestsellers and audiobooks and Oscar-nominated movie DVDs are stuck somewhere in limbo.

Still, Schalk-Greene defended the decision to switch vendors.

"They have experience in the specific area of library delivery," she said of Expak. "We did check references."

She declined to release the contract with Expak or other documents related to the bidding process last year, during which TForce Final Mile, Expak and three other companies vied for the job. The LibraryLinkNJ board will meet on Monday, Feb. 5, to decide whether to make the documents public, Schalk-Greene said.

Expak's chief executive, Michael Kraus, declined to discuss the New Jersey contract.

"We take great pride in all the work we do for all of our customers," he said. "We certainly work hard to fulfill all of our obligations to all of our customers."

TForce Final Mile's regional vice president for the Northeast, Mike Turek, declined to comment.

The delivery meltdown has inconvenienced library patrons who took it for granted that they could order materials from neighboring libraries if they were unavailable at their home branch.

"It's unacceptable that it has been so long," said a Bogota library patron, Esta Ann Ammerman. "They should set up alternative delivery options. They need to try to rectify the problem in a more reasonable amount of time."

In the meantime, McCue and other dedicated library employees throughout Bergen County found themselves piling books into the backseats of their cars and making the deliveries themselves. "The problem is that there are some libraries that are just too far away," he said.

BCCLS on Tuesday told library workers not to take on the burden.

Montclair's Public Library is waiting for 3,000 items to fill holds for customers, said Library Director Peter Coyl. "We're waiting for the delivery service to catch up with the backlog," he said. "It's frustrating."

O'Keefe, in Glen Rock, said she's upset on behalf of the library's patrons.

"They’ve dug themselves into a giant mess and have to get themselves out it, like, yesterday," she said of Expak.

She said the volume of borrowing in the BCCLS system is nothing new, and Expak should have been able to figure it out. "We're flabbergasted, stunned, at how badly this is going," she said.

Readers eager for a particular item do have options.

"If we don't have the items, we can find the nearest library that has it and they can go there themselves," suggested Saddle Brook Library Director Katherine Hybertsen. "Their library cards can be used at any of the Bergen County libraries. BCCLS also provides access to e-books and e-magazines, which is another avenue."

Residents of small towns with less extensive library collections will suffer the most, but even in Teaneck, patrons have been disgruntled.

"They get frustrated," McCue said. "What are you going to say? I hope they understand what we're dealing with."

In all his years working in libraries, he recalls only one time when something like this happened. In 2000, a delivery company went bankrupt without warning. But a new company was found within two weeks.

"Hopefully within a week or two this will all become a distant memory," McCue said.