Membership Benefits

IDS provides a unique and valuable interlibrary loan delivery service for libraries, allowing patrons all over the state of Pennsylvania and beyond to access millions of books and resources.

• Reduced Consortium Pricing - IDS operates under the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Government Co-Stars agreement with the United Parcel Service (UPS) to receive rich incentives and savings on shipping services.  The IDS consortium has saved 42% in shipping costs over the past five years (2009 - 2013) based on the CoStars agreement with UPS.

• Annual membership fee allows for reliable budgeting - IDS Members pay an annual membership fee to participate in the program.  This fee is based on the number of packages that the library shipped the year prior.  If a library exceeds the alloted number of packages, the library is not billed for the amount.  Rather, the library is moved up to the higher package category for the subsequent year. Likewise, IDS as an organization cushions the impact of fluctuating delivery, service and fuel surcharges from members.

• Annual membership fee minimizes the workload for your organization's business office - IDS membership fees are billed in one lump sum in January for services provided for that calendar year. 

• Working with one shipping provider for all needs - IDS utlizes the United Parcel Service (UPS) as its sole shipping provider.  This allows libraries to develop one streamlined process for shipping ALL interlibrary loan materials.

• Quick delivery of materials- due to the large service area of UPS, packages are delivered the next day, maintaining the integrity of timely resource sharing.

• Tracking and Insurance - UPS allows for online tracking of shipments as well as up to $100.00 of insurance for each package, protecting the assets of the owning library.

• Administrative Services - All shipping bills are reviewed by IDS on a weekly basis, eliminating this task for member libraries.  IDS notifies individual members of shipping errors.