No More Postage Fees for Interlibrary Loan

Credit Onderwijsgek via Wikimedia Commons

Tennessee libraries will soon have a new way to share books called the Firefly Courier.

Each year, about 125,000 volumes are sent from one town to another as part of the state’s interlibrary loan system. Right now, it works by sending the loaned items through the mail, with the state reimbursing the cost of postage. That adds up to roughly $200,000 annually.

Officials with the state library and archives say they can move the books themselves for less by sending trucks on set routes around the state. The courier service is set to begin early in 2013.

There will be regular stops twice a week at each of Tennessee’s public libraries at no cost to the local facilities.