IA Shares Transition FAQs

On May 16, 2025, Interim State Librarian Brenda Hall announced in an email to public and academic library directors that IA Shares would be moving to one day per week delivery due to rising costs and federal budget uncertainty. 

Around that same time, the State Library entered into discussions with the AEAs about the feasibility of transitioning to their van delivery service to save additional costs and partner with another state entity. The AEA’s established network serves every corner of Iowa through the school system and is a natural and efficient partner for IA Shares. 

An agreement with the AEAs was signed at the end of June, and an official announcement was made via email to public library directors on July 14 that IA Shares would be fulfilled by the AEA van delivery service beginning Monday, August 4, 2025. 

We understand the announcement and transition period are moving quickly. As part of the transition, there will be downtime to allow for the clearing of items from the current delivery vendor’s hubs. From Wednesday, July 23 through Friday, August 1, the current delivery vendor will not transport any new interlibrary loans (ILLs). However, they will continue to deliver items already in transit during this period. This pause will ensure all materials are properly routed across the state and that the hubs are cleared in preparation for the AEA courier service starting August 4.

The timeline transition period is outlined below:

• Monday, July 14: Announcement made to Public Library Directors about transitioning to AEA van delivery service.
• Week of July 21: Emails to public library directors go out with more specific library information including delivery day and time, route information, and more.
• Wednesday, July 23 - Friday, August 1: Twice-weekly deliveries continue with the current delivery vendor. No materials will be picked up during this time.
• Monday, August 4: AEA van delivery service officially begins and IA Shares moves to once-weekly deliveries.

The State Library sent specific information via email about each library's IA Shares delivery and route information to public library directors on July 22, 2025. The email included: 

• Your library’s weekly delivery day and time
• Updated route information
• Link to the IA Shares schedule in the Iowa Library Directory
• Options and instructions for off-hours delivery
• Any additional important information

If you did not receive the email, contact Tom Keyser at Tom.Keyser@iowa.gov.

The full IA Shares Schedule along with individual routes for each hub have been posted on the Iowa Library Directory: View the IA Shares Schedule.

Yes, the SILO ILL system will remain available and you will be able to continue making and preparing to fulfill ILL requests. Keep in mind that a lending library that receives a request in SILO ILL has three days to respond to a request or it will expire and follow on to the next library in the lender string. Consider extending the due date within SILO and your catalog to allow extra time for items to be returned during the first few weeks of the new delivery service. 

The Label Generator can be accessed directly at this link (login required): IA Shares Label Generator; or, when logged in to SILO, look for the IA Shares dropdown tab and click “Label Generator.” Use the new Label Generator as you print and pack materials to be ready when pickup service resumes the week of August 4.

The new IA Shares Label Generator is accessed within the SILO ILL system. The generator functions similarly to the previous version. One benefit of accessing it when logged in to SILO is that the “From” library field is able to be pre-populated with your library name, so there’s no need to locate it in a dropdown field.

Using the IA Shares Label Generator:

1. The Label Generator can be accessed directly at this link (login required): IA Shares Label Generator; or, when logged in to SILO, look for the IA Shares dropdown tab and click “Label Generator.”
2. The From field will be populated with the library name associated with your SILO account.
3. In the To Address field, browse the list of IA Shares libraries, or start typing the destination library name to locate it in the list.
4. Select as many libraries as you need to make labels for and indicate the number of labels you'd like to be created, then click Make Labels to generate a PDF.
5. Print, trim, and insert labels into the clear window of official IA Shares bags.

Yes, the IA Shares bags and totes are owned by the State Library and will continue to be used with the AEA van delivery service. The IA Shares brand and logo were created by the State Library and will not change.

We understand this transition may put librarians in a tough spot with patrons. You can share that this transition is happening to save on costs and help extend the State Library’s federal funding, and that this is a partnership between two state entities to maximize return on public investment. We understand there may be some delays as the transition occurs and IA Shares moves to one day per week delivery. We appreciate everyone’s patience as the AEA van service gets up and running.

The AEA vans facilitating IA Shares delivery may look different depending on the hub servicing the local area.

Credit: Heartland AEA

The AEAs use high-capacity ProMaster cargo vans and professional drivers for their delivery service. The AEAs are well equipped to handle the volume of materials sent by IA Shares libraries. 

In February 2025, we announced to IA Shares libraries that the current IA Shares delivery vendor and management service had worked out logistics to combine networks for IA Shares, Iowa Library Alliance, and Rivershare delivery systems. This allowed libraries on those systems to borrow from and loan to each other without incurring additional costs.

Because IA Shares will be switching to a different delivery vendor in the form of Iowa AEA van delivery service, the previous integration with Iowa Library Alliance and Rivershare libraries is no longer possible. Public libraries on the Iowa Library Alliance and Rivershare systems will continue to receive weekly pickups and delivery with IA Shares. IA Shares will be going back to being a separate system from the Iowa Library Alliance and Rivershare systems as it was before February. 

Currently, IA Shares only stops at the main branch for county libraries or larger library systems. This will not change and only the main branch will receive a weekly stop from the AEA van delivery service. County libraries and library systems are responsible for routing materials between the branches of their system.

The current agreement with the AEAs is specific to public libraries and does not integrate with the school libraries’ delivery system at this time.

If you have an unresolved missing or lost item that was sent in IA Shares before July 23, 2025, please contact the borrowing library or MOBIUS as soon as possible to attempt to resolve this issue and locate the item. If you are still unable to locate the item, notify Tom Keyser to see if the item was relocated to the State Library for sorting and redistribution.

If the items have been located at a borrower library location, please extend the due dates in SILO ILL and in your catalog. Additional processing time will be necessary during this time of transition. 

Libraries must work with their AEA Hub supervisor directly to make arrangements for delivery outside of open hours. Some possible options to accommodate IA Shares delivery include:

• Giving the route driver a key to the building to access the library outside of normal hours.
• Making arrangements at a nearby alternate location that is open during the scheduled delivery time, such as City Hall.
• Purchasing a lock box to be placed outside of the library and giving the route driver a key.

Reach out to your AEA Van Delivery Team Member to make arrangements for getting your driver a library key and communicating any delivery instructions. If you need assistance finding your AEA Team Member’s contact information, reach out to Tom Keyser at 515-242-6542 or Tom.Keyser@iowa.gov.

Drivers may be able to deliver from one library to subsequent librar(ies) on the same route in a single day. To check the order of the libraries on your route, access the full IA Shares Schedule and click on your hub location at the top of the page, then refer to the individual route that your library is on. 

To facilitate these items for libraries further down the route, place the bags on top of the IA Shares delivery tote.

We hope you will be satisfied with the AEA van delivery service and drivers but understand issues may arise. Contact your AEA Hub primary contact to address any concerns. If you need help finding your hub’s contact information, or if you would like to speak with State Library staff directly, please reach out to Tom Keyser at 515-242-6542 or Tom.Keyser@iowa.gov.

As soon as possible, report both unplanned and planned closings to AEA staff by completing the IA Shares Change of Service Form. 

Please package any bags that do not belong to the IA Shares system in an IA Shares bag and label it to the State Library of Iowa to be sent out once pickup service resumes the week of August 4. State Library staff will return the bags to the other courier systems.

To improve efficiency and manage costs, a small group of high-volume lending libraries (identified using a year’s worth of  SILO ILL lending statistics and representing about three percent of public libraries) will receive an extra IA Shares pickup day. This model supports our goal of maximizing the movement of materials throughout the delivery system, which benefits all participating libraries. 

We also identified libraries with fewer than 15 SILO ILL borrowing and lending transactions total in one year. These libraries will move to on-demand service for IA Shares and can request a pickup via an online form. This keeps IA Shares accessible while maximizing efficiency.

The State Library will review statistics again before next year's renewal to determine if any changes to this model are necessary.