Our Book Pickup Service!

One of the things I've noticed about businesses is that they are constantly changing to respond to the needs of their customers. This is a great practice to stay relevant as customers' needs tend to change over time. In the library, we can implement the same practices. In this blog article, I want to share one of the ways we have recently created a new service for our learning community that was inspired by local businesses.

Earlier this year, I was introduced to Wal-Mart Grocery Pickup. If you aren't familiar with it, this service allows customers to make a grocery list on an app, select the store they want to visit, select the time they want to pick up the groceries and pay online. When you arrive to get your groceries, a person comes out to your car (no matter what weather conditions exist) to place them into your trunk. The service has saved my wife and me so much time as busy teachers!

At the first part of the school year, we began discussing what this model could look like in the library. We decided to try a "book pickup" program for our students! To begin, we started with school email outreach. I sent an email to students informing them about the program. This is what was in the first email I sent out:

We had several students make requests right after I sent the email out to all grades in the high school. We noticed that those that used the service were learners that we don't typically see getting books in the library. Even though it was only a few students, they seemed very happy that we had reached out with the new program.

After several weeks, we decided it might be better to create a Google Form to share with students that wanted to make book pickup requests. This is the form we are currently using:

I sent the form to students via their school email. We had four orders within 30 minutes after it was shared! It has been fun to see students fill out the form and complete their orders. When we prepare their pickup order, we tie yarn around their book with a personal message (see below).

I will continue emailing periodic reminders to students that we have this service available. It will be interesting if it catches on with more students (and maybe even teachers). If you have a similar program for your students, please share it in the comments below! 

Other links that may interest you:

Our 2017-2018 Annual Report

An Easy Way to Share Stats!

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