NMRLS would like to recognize... Dean Baumeister and Chris Kupec

NMRLS libraries move about 2 million items through delivery each year. Labeling and packaging all of these items is labor intensive, to say the least. About two years ago, NMRLS libraries all began using pre-printed slips. Last year, we moved to a numeric labeling system. Both changes were instituted in order to improve efficiency in the library and accuracy of sorting at the sort facility. Dean Baumeister, Memorial Hall Library in Andover, and Chris Kupec, Chelmsford Public Library, have taken these efforts to a higher level by further streamlining the labeling process.

The idea of printing routing slips to the receipt printer was first conceived by Michael Woofsey from the Brookline Public Library. Dean and Chris have worked together to improve on Michael's work and have created a free basic version of Horizon Receipt Printer that reformats transit slips in such a way as to serve as replacements for NMRLS routing slips (sample on left). The program also reformats hold slips so that the patron's name gets printed in larger-than-usual letters at the top of the slip.

An excerpt from Chris's Blog summarizes their collaborative efforts:

"...it (Horizon Receipt Printer) exports the receipt's text to a virtual printer, that allows the coder to manipulate strings with Visual Basic, then shoots the results out to the receipt printer. In Brookline, they use Innovative Interfaces, and we use SIrsi/Dynix's Horizon, so Dean Baumeister, of Memorial Hall Library in Andover, retooled the code to handle our system and our different receipt printers. At Chelmsford, we originally used it to change the font size on our hold slips, but Dean worked out how to generate the in transit slips correctly, and then I got my feet wet tweaking the code to improve the slips' appearance, and to make the slips work for all the other 35 locations."

NMRLS would like to recognize their extraordinary efforts to help improve delivery services and to ease the workload for MVLC libraries. Word of the new slips is spreading quickly! The NMRLS Delivery Committee met in January and learned, in addition to Andover and Chelmsford, that Boxford, Burlington, Haverhill, Lowell, Newbury, Wilmington, Westford and Amesbury were also (gleefully!) using the new receipt printed slips. We were pleasantly surprised that so many libraries have adopted the new, more efficient way of creating routing slips!

Martha Driscoll of NOBLE informed our Delivery Committee that they, too, will be bringing a version of the software to the NOBLE libraries very soon!

Thank you, Dean and Chris! Your work has truly gone above and beyond.

For more information about how your MVLC library can begin using Horizon Receipt Printer, please visit http://www.mhl.org/region/receipts/.

Note: Because the cost of thermal receipt printers and paper may be cost prohibitive for many libraries, the NMRLS Delivery Committee is investigating options for assisting libraries with said purchases, e.g. bulk purchases, grants, etc.