Here are photos of four of the concepts we’re considering.  Please feel free to comment below if you have a particular favorite!

Our new MCLS website will debut on February 15th, and the first meeting of the MCLS Board will be held on February 22 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Watch the MLC-INCOLSA merger page for updates!

As we move forward as a combined organization, I look forward to continuing the good work that both organizations have done and expanding services in both states. INCOLSA and MLC both have histories of encouraging and facilitating resource sharing and interlibrary cooperation. That will continue and become stronger. We expect to use our new combined membership to forge new and better terms for our group licenses. We will explore how to leverage our membership to expand resource sharing options for residents of both states. In short, we want to work with libraries of all sizes and types in both states to make library collections more available and access to information resources, no matter the format or location, easier.

We thank all of you for the votes of confidence and will work hard to justify your trust in the new MCLS.

INCOLSA board members approved the resolution to combine with the Michigan Library Consortium at a special meeting today in Indianapolis. MLC members approved the same resolution at a meeting yesterday. INCOLSA’s board also authorized the Executive Committee to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding with MLC and to ensure that all legal work is executed appropriately.

The new organization, the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS), will be governed by an interim board made up of 8 Indiana librarians and 8 Michigan librarians until the governing board is elected in Fall 2010. The representatives from Indiana who have been invited to serve as interim board members are Amy Harshbarger, Rose Hulman; Kelly Currie, Delphi Public Library; Patty Lunsford, St. Elizabeth Regional Health; Nancy McGriff, South Central Community Schools; Jennifer Younger, University of Notre Dame; Beverly Martin, Johnson County Public Library; Stephen Day, New Albany-Floyd County Public Library; and Roberta Brooker, Indiana State Librarian.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact the Executive Committee or me. Thank you for your participation in creating a bright future for Indiana’s libraries.

Marnie Maxwell
Interim Director

For further information, see MLC’s web page: INCOLSA and MLC.

The next step in the process will be INCOLSA’s membership vote on Thursday, December 17, 2009.  If INCOLSA’s membership approves the resolution, details regarding the transfer of INCOLSA assets and liabilities will be finalized between the MLC Board and the INCOLSA Board, with a starting date for the new organization and Interim Board on February 15, 2010.

If INCOLSA approves the resolution, Michigan members of the Interim Board will be:
Pamela Christensen, Peter White Public Library, Marquette
Pamela Grudzien, Central Michigan University Library
Denise Hooks, Mideastern Michigan Library Cooperative, Flint
Gigi Lincoln, Lakeview Schools
Nancy Robertson, State Librarian, Library of Michigan
Cliff Haka, Michigan State University Libraries
Ishwar Laxminarayan, Jackson District Library
Victor Liu, Washtenaw Community College Library

For further information, see MLC’s INCOLSA and MLC web page.

The new set has been posted to MLC’s Flickr photostream. Keynote speaker was R. David Lankes. Lankes discussed how library service should match how people build knowledge, as well as the obligation and power of libraries participating in their communities and society as a whole. Colleen Hyslop (Michigan State Univ), Larry Neal (Clinton-Macomb PL), and Anne Heidemann (Canton PL) comprised a response panel offering their views on Lankes’ theories and how such ideas can be put into practice. A stream of Lankes’ talk can be found at http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/blog/?p=826.

Following the feature presentation was MLC’s annual business meeting. This year the meeting highlighted a discussion by MLC Board Chairperson Pamela Grudzien, Interim INCOLSA Director Marnie Maxwell, and MLC’s own Randy Dykhuis regarding the current status and future of MLC/INCOLSA merger activities.

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.

Lankes’ keynote is “The Times They Are A’Changin’ – the Logic of Participatory Librarianship,” a discussion of how library service should match how people build knowledge.  He also discusses the obligation and power of libraries participating in their communities and society as a whole. The keynote will be followed by a panel of local librarians reacting to Dr. Lankes’ presentation.

After lunch, we will reconvene for the MLC Annual Meeting, which will include an update on the merger between MLC and INCOLSA, followed by the Director’s Annual Report and business meeting.

AGENDA
9:00 a.m. Registration

9:30 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
Welcome – Randy Dykhuis, MLC Executive Director
Keynote – R. David Lankes, “The Times They Are A’Changin’ – the Logic of Participatory Librarianship”
“Reactor” Panel – Colleen Hyslop, MSU Libraries; Larry Neal, Clinton-Macomb Public Library; Anne Heidemann, Canton Public Library

12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Annual Meeting
Merger Update – MLC and INCOLSA Board members
Director’s Annual Report – Randy Dykhuis
MLC Business Meeting

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.