Houston Public Library Offers Book Curb Service

Does your library have a parking problem?  That's apparently the case for the Houston Public Library.  Their solution is to provide curb service where staff will take your book order out to your waiting car.  Library Executive Director Rhea Brown is challenging the staff to remain relevant in the iPhone era, and this is one of the responses to that challenge.  Other responses are to send vans filled with computers to under served areas, kind of like wandering Internet cafes, and another program called Info 24/7 which is live chat with a librarian.  The name implies around the clock service, but I can't tell from the web site whether that is the case. 

I do remember helping a DePaul Law faculty member at 2 AM when I decided to check email before going to bed.  He happened to be in Australia, and with the time difference, it made more sense to pull the electronic version of the text and email it on the spot rather than wait until I returned to the office.  I can also remember dropping off books to a faculty member waiting at curb side.  DePaul is in the heart (or is it the liver) of downtown Chicago and parking is a premium commodity here.  These are typically exceptions to how we operate, courtesies when circumstances arise.  Will these types of service become more standard?

The details are in an article in the Houston Chronicle. [MG]