Written by Paul Wellington, Social Media Specialist, Downtown Main Library
The Library’s Distribution Center is celebrating its fifth anniversary! Affectionately referred to as the DC, the facility opened in September 2019 to help Library staff get materials into the hands of community members more quickly and efficiently.
Although closed to the public, the DC sits on the site of the former Crosley Field, home of the Cincinnati Reds from 1912-1970. The right field foul pole remains just outside the building, marked with a sign commemorating the former baseball stadium.
The DC features a large sorting machine that processes 8,000-10,000 books, movies, music, and other Library materials daily. Items are sorted by individual Library location and grouped into four regions for daily delivery to CHPL’s 41 branches. Since 2019, the sorter has processed nearly 12 million items!
The DC houses five departments: Materials Selection & Acquisitions, Cataloging & Processing, Sorting & Materials Retrieval, Shipping & Receiving, and Programs and Events. These departments handle much of the logistical work of the Library by selecting books and materials for purchase, adding them to the catalog, sorting them by destination, and shipping and distributing them to all 41 CHPL locations.
Materials are sorted into bins, color coded for outgoing Library materials, Friends of the Library donations, and additional needs. Delivery drivers also regularly distribute other items, including 800,000 COVID tests since 2021!
About 1,200 new items are physically processed per day. Additionally, an average of 1,400 purchase suggestions are reviewed per month. This year, staff have created over 300 booklists for adults, kids, and teens on various topics and interests. Some digital materials are also selected by staff, including items for Libby, one of the Library’s free apps for eBooks and audiobooks. The app has over 256,000 unique titles and 1.22 million total materials!
Explore all the books and materials processed at the Distribution Center for free with a CHPL library card.
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