The delivery service that moves library materials across Maine will resume Sept. 3, months after it was suspended because of a contract dispute.

Sarah Schultz-Nielsen, director of Lithgow Public Library, packs interlibrary loan pouches back into a shipping bin at the Augusta library in June. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Libraries were notified in June that the popular interlibrary loan service would be suspended while the state heard an appeal from Freedom Xpress Inc., a Brewer-based company that handled the deliveries for 12 years but was not awarded a new contract. Ultimately, an appeals board upheld the Maine State Library’s decision to give the contract to STAT Courier, a national library courier company based in Missouri.

Maine State Librarian Lori Fisher said in a statement Monday that the van delivery service “has been deeply missed” by academic, public and school libraries that rely on interlibrary loans.

“I am grateful to the public, school and academic libraries who bore the brunt of this pause in service due to the complex legal appeal process we were required to navigate after the Request For Proposal award was announced,” Fisher said. “We heard from many Maine residents who were impacted by the disruption in service, which underscores the need for information and resource sharing statewide.”

More than 180 libraries participate in the service, with more 1 million items transported each year, according to Fisher.

The state’s bid process did not require the contract be awarded to the lowest bidder. According to the state library, STAT Courier was chosen because it provides a dedicated service – its trucks, drivers and sorters deal with library materials only – with no additional stops for other types of deliveries. The company has three sorting hubs in Maine with a process to shuttle materials between them to help with efficiency.

After Freedom Xpress filed an appeal, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services told the state library that it could not yet sign a new contract, but was able to start final negotiations to limit the amount of time the service was suspended.

Fisher said STAT Courier will officially begin van delivery service on Aug. 26. During a one-week transition period, the company will get stranded materials back to their home libraries and test new delivery routes.

After the service disruption was announced in June, library directors and patrons lamented the pause. The loss was particularly acute in rural towns, where small libraries have limited resources. Some libraries got creative to fill the gap while the appeals process was underway.

The South Portland Public Library teamed up with eight others in the area to offer a smaller version of interlibrary loans they dubbed “Mini-ME.” Kevin Davis, director of the library in South Portland, said patrons are looking forward to again having access to materials from many libraries.

“Working with our local library colleagues, we have done our best to minimize the impact created by the disruption in delivery service this summer,” he said in a statement. “However, nothing can match the selection and diversity of materials available when delivery service is fully up and running.”

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