The LAND Advisory Committee met on December 16, 2009 by telephone conference call. In addition to committee members, the meeting featured Velocity Express staff Brian Stekloff and Aaron Odud, who explained the nuts and bolts of making LAND work on a daily basis.

The minutes of that meeting are available online (PDF).

Also available: a brief power point presentation on LAND Services (PDF)

The next meeting is of the Nylink LAND Advisory Committee will be held on Wednesday, December 16th from 1:30 pm – 2:30 p.m.
The goal of this meeting will be to provide the members of the advisory committee with a better understanding of how LAND operates. To help achieve this goal, Aaron Odud (Network VP for New England and South Jersey) and Brian Stekloff (Northeast Regional Account Director) from Velocity Express will participate in this meeting. This meeting will also provide members of the committee with an opportunity to talk directly to Velocity staff about the LAND service.

For more information about the LAND Advisory Group, please see http://nylink.org/delivery/LAG.cfm.

Velocity, the courier service that enables LAND, has announced a major restructuring that will eliminate legacy debt and put them in a stronger financial position, and enable them to invest in technology and services that will improve their operations and the service they provide.
Velocity’s restructuring will be accomplished through a pre-packaged Section 363 sale to The ComVest Group, a leading private investment firm, pursuant to the Chapter 11 reorganization laws. Many companies have utilized this legal tool to restructure and improve their balance sheets. While Chapter 11 law is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, it deals with reorganization rather than liquidation.

This transition at Velocity will not affect your library. There will be no impact on the day-to-day operations of Velocity, or of LAND. Importantly, there will be no disruption of service to your libraries. Payments to independent contractors from Velocity are guaranteed during this process, so your couriers should continue to be the same people that stop at your library every day.

Nylink supports Velocity in taking this step. If you have questions or concerns about this announcement, we encourage you to contact us.

In 2008, 112 libraries saved over $700,000 in postage and shipping supplies, handling more than 319,00 items using the LAND Delivery Service. So far this year, libraries are on track to save even more. LAND usage has been higher every month in 2009, with an average of 12% more bags per month, and 4% more items, used by the libraries that report their LAND statistics.

We are pleased to announce a new LAND (Libraries and Nylink Deliver) participant effective November 17, 2008.  City College of New York (CUNY) has added a second location — the Center for Worker Education Library.

When addressing materials for this library please include the “Center for Worker Education” on the label. This will help the courier distinguish between the two City College Libraries.

CUNY – City College of New York (ZXC)

Center for Worker Education Library

25 Greenwich Street

New York, NY 10004

Thanks you for your continued support of the LAND service.