[OPLINLIST] Passport Acceptance Facilities

Sat Mar 25 15:06:15 EDT 2017

Hi Mike,
My name is Amy Garrett and I am the Head of Reference at the Stow-Munroe
Falls Public Library. We have been a Passport Acceptance Facility for
almost six years.

Pros

This service provides another stream of funding for your library. The U.S.
Department of State has issued what they call an Execution Fee (I call it a
processing fee) of $25 / application. This fee is paid directly to the
library.
This is a unique service for libraries
It makes the library more of a community center / destination location.
This brings in people who might not normally use your library.
It allows you to provide a valuable service to your community during times
that other facilities are not open -- evenings, weekends, etc.
I highly recommend that you take pictures at your facility. We charge $12.
We have a special digital camera that has a template on it that helps us
take the correct size picture (the U.S. Dept. of State is especially picky
for how this photo should look, including overall size of photo (2X2), size
of head, background color, etc.). Our camera prints to a wireless printer,
which I also highly recommend.

Cons

People bringing in pictures from other places, such as Walgreen's, CVS,
etc. The U.S. Department of State is very particular about how photos must
look and other places often are not committed to doing things correctly.
This service is very time consuming. You need to be fully committed to
doing things right and providing a great service!
We are only allowed to accept applications for new passports or renewals
for children or adults with special circumstances (their passport is older
than 15 years, their passport has been lost / stolen, etc.). It is
difficult to explain to applicants who are doing straight renewals why we
are not allowed to accept their passport application, here.
Postage -- Envelopes must be sent via Priority Mail (traceable form). The
current cost to send one envelope is $6.65. There are separate envelopes
for regular, expedited, if you have someone on probation, etc, so you could
have multiple envelopes (we usually have 2-3) going out / day, but the
Execution Fee (mentioned under Pros) helps cover this cost.

Overall, this service has been a positive addition to our library. If you
have more questions or want to know how to get started, please do not
hesitate to contact me.

On a side note, we are in the process of redoing our Job Descriptions.
Under Qualifications (for positions in our department), I have added a line
that says, Must be a US Citizen (as per requirement to be a Passport
Acceptance Agent).

Best Regards,
Amy Garrett
Head of Reference Services
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library

-- 
Amy B. Garrett | Head of Reference Services
3512 Darrow Road, Stow, OH 44224
(330) 688-3295, ext 125 <3306883295> | FAX (330) 688-0448 | www.smfpl.org
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