Company that bungled library deliveries won't commit to fixing problem

Weeks after problems with a new vendor paralyzed book loans among New Jersey libraries, the nonprofit that runs the lending program declined to release records showing how it picked the company that botched the job.

The board of LibraryLinkNJ voted to begin the process of hiring a new company to manage deliveries while considering whether to release records showing how it picked Expak Logistics, a Los Angeles-based company rooted in the pharmaceutical industry with scant experience in New Jersey.

The state-funded cooperative's board didn't act on requests from the Montclair Public Library and North Jersey Media Group to release the records Monday, saying it needed time to develop a policy on whether and how to make contract documents public.

Librarians told the board that patrons were losing faith in libraries as their orders for books, CDs and DVDs from neighboring branches went unfilled for weeks.

That, in turn, could make it hard to justify nearly a million dollars a year in taxpayer funding for library deliveries, said Cindy Csesak, interim executive director of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System.

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"We have grave concerns about the service, and it's doing long-term damage to the brand of libraries throughout northern New Jersey," said Kurt Hadeler, director of the Mahwah Public Library and a board member of BCCLS. "Patrons are acutely aware of the problems. We can't hide it; we can't sugarcoat it. They're becoming angry, they're becoming frustrated and, more importantly, they're becoming disenfranchised from their libraries."

LibraryLinkNJ oversaw the interlibrary loans of more than 5.5 million items in 2016, the most recent data available.

Last week, Expak told LibraryLinkNJ that it was opting out of its contract effective May 29. The LibraryLinkNJ board voted Monday to reopen the bidding process, in hopes of getting a new company on board even before then.

The cooperative's executive director, Kathy Schalk-Greene, apologized to library staff and defended the process of hiring Expak, saying the company got the highest score among the five bidders and offered a price that was below the maximum. Responding to complaints that Expak did not have a sorting facility in North Jersey, Schalk-Greene said that wasn't a requirement of bidders.

Schalk-Greene said she could not promise that the problems would be fixed by a specific date, saying Expak has declined to commit to one. The company hasn't provided "satisfactory" answers, she said, and LibraryLinkNJ has yet to pay any of the company's invoices.

"We are committed to not having the service deteriorate further from Expak," she said. "They will not back off of meeting our contract specifications."

Expak's chief executive, Michael Kraus, did not return a call for comment Monday.

One of the companies that Expak beat, TForce Final Mile, had handled New Jersey's book deliveries for years, without significant problems.

Almost immediately after Expak took over the delivery contract, librarians reported that books requested by patrons were not arriving. LibraryLinkNJ described the situation as "catastrophic" on Jan. 19. The Bergen County Cooperative Library System suspended online loan requests Jan. 25 and has yet to restore the service.

In the meantime, librarians themselves tried to take up some of the slack by hauling books in their personal cars, while patrons have had to drive to other libraries to pick up a book, CD or DVD when it's not available in their home branch.

Thousands of books remain in limbo in warehouses and vehicles, meaning patrons don't have access to them at all.