[Publib] ?Height of drive-up book drop

[James Casey]

Our two drive-up drops (one for books and one for AV) are the same 4' 6"
from the top of the road surface.  That was said by our architect to be
the standard height for drive-up boxes.  And because they are slots that
are right on our building, the Village required that we have overhead
rails that prohibit vehicles higher than 9' 6" from driving up to the
boxes. 

Of course, the slots are invariably too low for some vehicles and too
high for others.  Many of the people using our drive up boxes have to
open the door of their vehicle and drop the items into the shoots.  It
is still much better than having to park your car and carry the items
into our building or to a walk-up drop box.  Parking is sometimes
extremely limited around our Library and it is a major pain for parents
of small children and senior citizens to return items without the aide
of a drive-up box.  

Additional considerations:  The drop openings should be accessible via
approach on the driver's side.  Passenger side approach won't help much
because the patron will have to park and run around the car to do the
drop in. If the drop leads directly into a receptacle within your
building, it should be in an enclosed room with smoke detectors and
sprinklers so that possible fire could be contained.  The slot and shoot
leading into the receptacle should be large enough that it won't easily
be blocked or clogged or filled to overflow on days when the Library is
closed.  I have heard many library directors lament decisions they made
to close down the drive-up boxes when the Library is open.  Once patrons
are accustomed to using a drive-up box, they won't want to have to take
the trouble of parking their cars and running items into the building.
The convenience of a drive-up box will need to be provided on a 24-7
basis.  And finally, on holidays and times when the Library is closed
two days in a row, you will have to assign someone to come in and empty
the drop boxes to prevent overflow.  If you don't do this, a friendly
patron or police officer might summon you to the Library to take care of
books that are flopping onto the ground from a jammed book drop.

Cheers!

James B. Casey  -- My own views
Director of the Oak Lawn Public Library
ALA Council Member.

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Phalbe Henriksen
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 8:10 AM
To: Publib email group
Subject: [Publib] ?Height of drive-up book drop

Folks,

Is there a magical number for the height of drive-up book drop openings?

Thanks.

Phalbe Henriksen
Director
Bradford County Public Library
Starke, FL


_______________________________________________
Publib mailing list
Publib at webjunction.org
http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib