SR-106-020-02
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I [) (P -0 Z O~oz. NPV 2 2 1988
Santa Monica, Callfornia
LI:CAA:vcr
City Council Meeting of 11/22/88
TO: Mayor and City council
FROM: Library Board
SUBJECT: Request for City Council Approval of a Letter to the
United states Post Office Regarding Poor Service
Introduction
This report contains a request of the Library Board that the City
Council approve of a letter to the United states Post Office,
santa Monica Main Office, regarding poor service to the Library
and requesting improvement.
Background
Since the Main Library reopened the Library staff has received
several complaints from clients about the late arrival of
magazines and newspapers received by mail. Delays in receiving
daily newspapers are particularly annoying to Library clients who
depend on them for financial and legal reports which must be
current. The most serious and repeated complaints regard the
"\vall Street Journal" and liThe Daily Journal" but other daily
papers also arrive late and in batches, as if they have been held
and delivered at the same time.
The Library Periodicals Department has contacted vendors who
report the papers to have been mailed promptly,. The Periodicals
Department has also contacted the Main Post Office several times
to inquire about the service but has been given no satisfactory
explanation and service has not improved.
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Poor service from the Post Office reflects on the Library's
ability to provide current information needed by its clients and
gives clients the impression that the Library manages its
Periodicals Department improperly. Clients sometimes refuse to
believe that the Department had actually contacted the Post
Office in an effort to improve service.
The dissatisfaction of the clients causes increasing frustration
and embarrassment to Library staff who attempt to improve service
but find the Post Office unresponsive to their requests.
Budget/Financial Impact
Because the "Wall Street Journal,1I one of the Library's most
popular newspapers, continually arrived late causing numerous
complaints, the Library has been forced to subscribe to a carrier
service at an additional $20 per year to insure its prompt
delivery. It will be impossible to afford carrier service for
other papers unless the Library cancels some of its present
sUbscriptions.
Recommendation
The Library Board requests City Council approval of the draft
letter and requests permission to send it to the appropriate Post
Office official.
Attachment:
Prepared by:
Draft Letter
Carol A. Aronoff, City Librarian
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SANTA
M10NICA
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SANTA MONlCA PUBLlC LIBRARY
(213) 458.8603
date
Lincoln Willard
Postmaster
1248 - 5th street
Santa Monica, CA 90406
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Dear sir:
Recently we have received a number of complaints from our library
patrons about magazines and newspapers which are currently
available on newsstands and have not yet been delivered by mail
to the library. Since we place a high priority on processlng and
making available all our periodicals as soon as they are
received, the dissatisfaction with the timeliness of our
collection is a matter of concern to us.
We are writing you in the hope that you might supply us with some
answers or offer some solutions to this dilemma. At present we
send a messenger to the post office at 9:00 a.m. and 12:20 p.m.
daily. still this does not seem to be sufficient. Frequently we
receive daily papers distributed locally through the post office,
(i.e. Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Daily Journal) a
day after publication, sometimes two. other daily newspapers
that are sent second class surface mail from more distant points
(i.e. Chicago Tribune, Washington Post) arrive as much as two
weeks late. Frequently we receive five issues at once with some
of the intervening issues still missing. With magazines we have
noticed a similar problem. We have two subscriptions to a number
of journals and have often noted that the same issues arrive
several days apart.
The library recognizes that we are living in an information age.
We spend over $60,000 annually on periodicals to provide our
library users with the up-to-date information they require. We
spend several hours each day, thousands of hours each year,
processing the magazines and newspapers to make them available as
soon as they are received. Ninety-nine percent of these items
are delivered through the U.s. mail. We are very concerned that
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despite our best efforts to make these materials available/ our
clients feel that they are not arriving in a timely manner. We
feel at a loss as to how we can improve the service on our end as
we have no control over when the mail is processed and made
available to us by the U.s. Postal service. We are aSking your
assistance in providing an answer to our patrons who insist that
it is possible to receive current issues of periodicals on
schedule. We are hoping that you can offer us some suggestions
as to how our postal delivery can be improved.
Sincerely,
Mary Lou Harbison
Chair, Santa Monica
Public Library Board
(willard)
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