Journal

About MBS

Morecambe Bay Slings (MBS) is a baby carrier library, where parents and carers can learn how to carry their babies and young children safely and comfortably, and hire out carriers for use in their everyday lives. Sling library sessions take place every other Monday from 9.30-11.00 at The Herbarium.

Why a sling library?

As with many hire services, a sling library has multiple benefits. Here are just some of them:

• A good quality, new baby carrier can cost over £100 and many are used for only a short amount of time before they are outgrown. Hiring makes sling use more affordable and allows parents to update and change their style of carrier as their child grows without the hassle of trying to sell it when it is outgrown.
• There are many different models and varieties of baby carrier out there with different types suiting different families at different times. This complexity can be confusing to parents. A library allows them to try different models so they can be sure of finding something that works for them.
• Most parents are not shown how to use a baby carrier safely and comfortably. As a result, some people avoid slings entirely while others buy one but then don’t use it because they aren’t sure if they are doing it right. With just a few minutes of hands on help in a sling library session, MBS’s expert team can give parents the skills and confidence they need so they can get all the benefits of slings in their day to day lives. 
• Parenting can be hard and lonely work. Like many other kinds of hire services, sling library sessions can be social events where members can meet other parents and find out about other local events and services that might be helpful to them e.g. breastfeeding support or different toddler groups that are running. MBS has been through times when the community aspect has been more or less prevalent depending on the location of the meets and other factors like Covid etc.

How do parents find out about MBS?

MBS has been running for over 10 years. There have been times when it has done a lot of social media promotion and collaborated with other groups such as the NCT etc. However, at the moment, most parents find out about it through word of mouth and recommendations from local health professionals who know about it. 

How does a library session work?

Sling library sessions take place every other Monday at The Herbarium, a local cafe in Lancaster. The Herb has a small side room that is not used at that time and MBS are able to use it for free. Library staff and customers buy food and drink from the cafe so this works well as a beneficial exchange. 

Customers who want to come to sling library book in advance via Bookwhen to secure a timeslot during the session where they can either get help and advice with their own sling or be helped to find a library sling that they want to hire.

Customers can hire as a member or a non-member (see pricing structure below). Hires are for a 4 week period and customers only need to come to the library if they need help as renewals happen online. Returns and swaps also happen outside of meets as parents can drop off and collect from the staff team’s homes.

Why ask customers to book in advance?

In the past, MBS operated on a drop in basis. The switch to advance booking happened in the wake of the pandemic but MBS have retained it due to a number of benefits:

• The team can be sure that they have enough staff available to help parents on the day. Before the booking system was introduced, it was hard to get the flow of customers right: staff would be rushed off their feet and struggling to give people the attention they needed or sitting there waiting. 
• There is no storage at the venue (see below). When parents book in advance, they give some information about what they are looking for so the team can bring the right kind of carriers to the meet that day.
• Having customers book in advance allows much of the hire admin to take place online in advance of the meet, making library days run more smoothly for all.

How are hires tracked and managed? And how is admin handled?

MBS uses specialist library software called MyTurn to keep track of stock levels and hires. Bookings and membership are handled through Bookwhen. Both pieces of software make admin tasks a lot easier as MBS have set things up so that, when a customer books on Bookwhen, they get an automated email which confirms their booking details and asks them to add their contact and payment details to the online system if they think they may want to hire. This means that, when a customer actually arrives at the library session, they are usually fully set up on the system and many have already decided to take out membership. Before this system was introduced, this entire process had to be handled at the library session by a dedicated admin person.

What about storage and maintenance?

Storage is not currently available at the library venue so all stock which is not currently on hire is stored at the directors’ homes. This does take up a considerable amount of space! As customers have given details of what they are looking for when they book, the staff team will only bring the relevant items to library sessions, rather than attempting to transport all the stock at once, which would be impossible!

In the past, MBS has operated from different venues where it was possible to store carriers – at least to some extent. Clearly this was advantageous in some respect but it was also not without problems: carriers still need taking home for washing, hires and swaps are not possible between meets and (one one occasion) security was an issue and some stock was lost.

Unlike clothes, baby carriers do not need regular washing so parents are asked not to wash carriers before they return them, unless there has been a major nappy leak. When an item is returned from hire, staff will wash and dry the sling themselves and check for any repairs that are needed. This also means they have control over the laundry process, which is important as fabrics can be damaged by washing at the wrong temperature, tumble drying etc. Also, some babies are sensitive to particular detergent brands so having staff do the washing avoids these issues. However, social norms around cleanliness die hard and some parents do still end up washing carriers before they return them as they feel bad not doing so! 

How does the library choose which items to stock?

There are hundreds of slings out there on the market and, at one time, MBS had a massive variety in its catalogue. However, some of these were less popular and were rarely being used so MBS made the decision to sell off much of the variety and concentrate on buying larger quantities of the most popular, high quality brands. However, they then received a donation of second hand slings which increased the variety once again. Either way, managing stock is an ongoing process with older carriers needing to be sold secondhand on eBay or other selling sites from time to time. In the past, there have been schemes collecting preloved slings for donation to vulnerable groups. However, without staff on the ground to support families in using these, it is likely that many will end up not being used, despite good intentions. 

How is the library funded?

MBS is a CIC. It has been running for over a decade and is financially self-sufficient, with income from hires and membership covering costs. The pricing structure means that, while customers can hire as a member or a non member, membership works out cheaper for anyone likely to hire more than 2 or 3 times, which most people do, and many slings are out on relatively long-term hires, with parents choosing to renew each month. A small number of customers do prefer to buy and, for this reason, MBS also stocks a small number of its most popular carriers for sale on the website, with those who have hired previously getting a 10% discount.

There are three directors – two of which are paid a small amount for the time they put into running the library and one of which is voluntary through personal choice.

As a CIC, MBS could apply for funding but this option has not been extensively pursued up until now as the library covers its costs as it is.

Pricing structure

Here is a summary of MBS’s current pricing:

• Library session costs are £1.50 to attend with the option to hire or £4 if you’d like help with your own sling. 
• Hire fees are:
  • For new baby carriers (stretchy wraps, close caboos) £8 per 4 weeks.
  • All other carriers £16 per 4 weeks.
• Membership lasts for 1 year and costs £25. The membership fee is not refundable regardless of use.
• Benefits of membership are:
  • 50% off of all hire costs
  • Help with your own carrier for front and hip carries where appropriate and at our discretion during the sling library sessions.

MBS used to take a £30 refundable cash deposit from non-members when hiring but this was cumbersome from an admin perspective. Today, the library doesn’t take cash in any form. Instead, everyone pays via card in MyTurn. This also removes the problem with people not being in touch to return or renew as they get a text message 3 days before their sling is due to remind them that, unless they get in touch to arrange otherwise, the hire will be automatically renewed for another month.