We have exchanged a great deal of information with INCOLSA and have learned much about Indiana libraries. We are convinced, now more than ever, that the merger will allow MLC to thrive, grow, and better adapt to an ever-changing environment.

We hope you will join us for our Annual Meeting. It promises to be a lively and informative day. If you cannot attend, but have questions about the merger, you can leave a comment here or send email to Pamela Grudzien, MLC Board Chair, or Randy Dykhuis, MLC Executive Director.

Lansing, MI – August 12, 2009 – Building on the collaborative relationship of the past year, the Michigan Library Consortium (MLC) and INCOLSA, Inc., announced that they have entered into a formal investigation to merge the two organizations.

Over the next several months the merger design team will explore all aspects of the merger. “A critical component of the potential merger is gathering input from the members of both organizations,” said Maxwell. “INCOLSA and MLC will hold regional meetings later this year to ensure our members have a chance to make their voices heard as we embark on this next phase of delivering the highest quality service to our libraries.”

I’m very excited about the potential merger with INCOLSA. We still have a long way to go but so far things look promising.

We live in exceptionally uncertain times and given the changes we’ve already seen, I think it makes a lot of sense to look at a larger membership and geographic region. The merger will allow us to offer new services that will benefit libraries and library users in both states as well as create more favorable economies of scale for existing services. It’s a win-win-win proposition for our members, our members’ users, and us.

Links to an overview of CADL’s promotion as well as the winning video can be found at the URLs below.
http://www.overdrive.com/products/dlr/PS-OutreachProgramWinners.asp
http://www.cadl.org/news/videos/thomjayneandthenomads.html/

I never had the opportunity to work for Dick but I count myself as one of the many he touched. I first met Dick in 1986, when he was nearing the end of his career and I was at the beginning of mine. He was one of the speakers at MLA’s Leadership Academy that year. I still remember his talk and I have the book he recommended so highly. It was Max DePree’s Leadership is An Art. I won’t say it taught me everything I needed to know about leadership but it certainly set me on the path. And that was how Dick viewed his job: mentoring librarians so that they could discover on their own how to become excellent librarians.

It’s not an overstatement to say that without Dick’s guiding hand at MSU all those, Michigan libraries wouldn’t have the rich array of resources available to them through MeL and other statewide programs. He wasn’t interested in just building up MSU but he had a keen interest in working with other libraries to move the state forward. In 1974, Dick, along with Vern Pings, then dean of libraries at Wayne State University, were primarily responsible for founding the Michigan Library Consortium. I remember one of Dick’s stories about the meeting at the Kellogg Center that year. He told me that the director at the University of Michigan needed some convincing that MLC was a good idea. So he grabbed one arm; Vern Pings grabbed the other and Dick said, “C’mon we’re going to get this done.” And off they marched. So like Dick Chapin. He rarely let anything stand in his way when something important needed to be done.

Dick did not quietly disappear after retirement. He continued to keep a hand in the library world. In 1997, when the Capital Area District Library was struggling to be born, Dick jumped in and worked with us on the millage campaign committee. He wrote letters and even appeared on a local cable television show to answer questions.

I’ll always be grateful to Dick Chapin. He laid so much of the groundwork for us to build on. Without his vision and hard work, our ability to share resources, electronic and print, would be far poorer. Thanks, Dick.

Last year, MLC and INCOLSA began to share work on some services. In September 2008, MLC extended its group licensing for databases, ejournals, and ebooks to INCOLSA members and opened up a number of new e-resources to them. This spring, with the introduction of OCLC’s new service model, we agreed to work together to implement the changes for our two states. MLC is providing billing information to INCOLSA members and INCOLSA is providing marketing information about OCLC products and services to MLC members. Exploring a merger is the next logical step.

Following Kevin’s talk, Jeff Moyers of National Archives Publishing Company and Eric Alstrom of Michigan State University will discuss specific preservation projects involving library-vendor partnerships.

For detailed information on the two-day Preservation Conference, and to register online, see MLC’s Workshop Registration page: https://members.mlcnet.org/workshops/viewcourse.html?id=197

For questions about the Conference or for assistance with registration, please contact Heather Thomas (thomash@mlcnet.org or 800-530-9019 ext. 133).

We are so pleased to announce that Ruth is MLA’s 2009 Librarian of the year! The letter from the MLA awards committee cited Ruth’s outstanding achievements over her years of providing service to Michigan libraries. In her award letter, Kristen Valyi-Hax, Awards Committee chair, wrote, “We appreciate your hard work and dedication on behalf of Michigan libraries, and we are impressed with what you have accomplished.” Having worked with Ruth for many years, I can only say that this is an award Ruth richly deserves. Every day she shows her dedication to libraries. Congratulations Ruth!