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 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 will email more specific information about each library with directors the week of July 21, 2025. This will include: 

• 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

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 or it will expire and move 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. 

Beginning July 23, do NOT use the MOBIUS Label Maker; a new IA Shares label generator is in development with updated library codes. Once we announce that the new label generator is available, you can print and pack materials to be ready when pickup service resumes the week of August 4.

A new IA Shares label generator is in development. It will be accessed within the SILO ILL system and will function similarly to the current MOBIUS label maker. More information and instructions will be available soon.

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.