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.

Libraries all around the world are feeling the pinch of the global financial crisis and economic slowdown. In Michigan, we’ve been feeling the pain for quite some time now. This statement couldn’t have come at a better time as we struggle to maintain collections at their current levels.

The statements makes several important points:

• We expect significant and widespread cuts in budget levels for libraries and consortia: reductions unlike the sporadic or regional episodes experienced from year to year, with real and permanent reductions to base budgets. It may not be uncommon for library and consortia budgets to decline by double digits year over year.
• These cuts will be prolonged. The public and education sectors will likely lag in funding recovery.
• Putting price first will help all parties, because budget pressures will drive decisions in a way never seen before. Real price reductions will be welcomed and can help to sustain relationships through the hard times.
• Multi-year contracts will be possible only with clear opt-out and/or reduction clauses.

I think this is a powerful statement. It addresses our worries in a straight-forward, no-nonsense way, and asks publishers to take our environment into consideration. We cannot afford stiff price increases in our ejournal and database subscriptions. Modesty is the order of the day, but getting vendors to listen and believe us when we say we can afford no more than we already spend may require some tough decisions.

To that end, we will convene a meeting later this spring to discuss these issues further and decide how we can reinforce this message, as a group, to the publishers and database vendors which whom we have contracts. It will be a challenge for all of us to hang together. But if we can, we have the best chance of negotiating better deals and preserving our collections of e-resources.

Greetings! As your elected delegates to OCLC Members Council, we wanted to draw your immediate attention to the major changes that OCLC has made to its Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat® Records. The Policy explains what may be done with WorldCat records, listing guidelines for OCLC member and non-member institutions, and even discusses how commercial ventures and individuals may work with the records. The policy was announced at the Members Council meeting in October 2008, and several delegates expressed concern that the membership had not had an opportunity to examine the significant implications of such a major change and provide feedback.

Several delegates have since offered suggestions for clarification and improvement that have been incorporated in the Policy. However, we remain uncomfortable with some sections in the new policy.

One concern is that the policy is written in the form of a license agreement, which assumes that libraries are licensing records from OCLC, not actually owing them. Another area of concern is OCLC’s plan to include a link to the updated policy directly into all new catalog records.

Specifically, in section C.3.a. the Policy states “use of WorldCat Records authorized by this Policy is limited to Reasonable Use except as otherwise authorized by written agreement with OCLC.” The definition of “reasonable use” is at the discretion of OCLC and they may interpret “reasonable use” as they choose. We are very concerned about this language.

In section D)3. the Policy states ”OCLC’s approval of the Transfer described in the WorldCat Record Use Form: (i) must be in writing; (ii) may be conditioned upon agreement to additional terms and conditions determined by OCLC; and (iii) may be withheld by OCLC, without liability, within its sole discretion.” This language gives OCLC unilateral power to disallow any records transfer at their sole discretion and gives libraries very little control over their records.

This policy has generated much debate in the library community (this article and this wiki provide good summaries). We urge you to review this policy carefully and send your questions and comments to recorduse@oclc.org. If you wish to take further action, there are two online petitions for you to review here and here.

Please feel free to contact either one of us (George Bishop or Ishwar Laxminarayan) or MLC Executive Director Randy Dykhuis if you need further information or clarification about this very important matter. We look forward to hearing from you.

With warm wishes for the holidays and a very happy New Year!

George Bishop
Ovid Elsie Area Schools
The Information Center
8989 E. Colony Rd.
Elsie, MI 48831
Phone: 989-834-2271 x 1204
Fax: 989-862-4463
E-mail: georgeb@oe.edzone.net

Ishwar Laxminarayan
Jackson District Library
244 W. Michigan Ave.
Jackson, MI 49201
Phone: 517-788-4199
Fax: 517-788-6024
E-mail: ishwar@myjdl.com

As the press release said, OCLC has adopted a new service model for support, training, marketing, and billing. The directors of the Regional Networks were informed of the changes at a meeting with OCLC staff on September 9. We were given documents that outline three areas for MLC and the other Regional Networks to continue working with OCLC: billing, marketing, and training/implementation. We were not given any options for other services that we currently provide, such as phone and email support for cataloging and ILL.

There are some details for OCLC to work out in the new program so we are not sure of the complete impact on you. However, we do know that beginning July 1, 2009 you will not contact MLC with your cataloging and ILL support questions, and we know that you will no longer contract with MLC for your OCLC cataloging and ILL services. Instead you will have a direct arrangement with OCLC.

Within the next couple of weeks, we need to tell OCLC whether we are interested in being their billing, marketing, and training agent. By early 2009, we will have an agreement with OCLC about how we will work together under the new model.

We want you to be fully informed about the extent of the changes that will come with the new program. We will use our normal communication channels – this blog, our website, the Communique blog, and News@MLC – to send regular updates. As always, we welcome your comments and questions.

She gave many examples of the things libraries are doing to help people connect with each other. Many of those activities revolve around the use of technology and the web. Libraries are exploring and innovating through the use of Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. My favorite line in her talk, though, came when she was describing her epiphany about libraries and the their efforts to foster people-connections. As she was describing some of the things she’s seen and discovered, she almost had to force out the words that technology is only a means and that there are many other ways to connect people. After she sort of stumbled over the words, she looked up and said, “There, I’ve said it. It’s not about the technology. It’s about connecting people.” It was a cute moment. And a sentiment that many of us share.

Facebook and Flickr are wonderful tools. They’re a lot of fun and it’s easy to while away a couple of hours on the sites. But the type of community found there pales in comparison to the real thing. Reading and commenting on sites about Darfur may help me gather information and make a start at connecting with people. But it’s not until I go to a rally at the state capitol and hear in-person about the tragedy ongoing in the Sudan that I really connect emotionally.

It’s not an either/or proposition. Libraries need both: We need to be on Facebook. We need to share our photos on Flickr. But we also need children’s story-times. We need programs on personal finance, gardening, and henna painting. And, yes, we need book groups. All of these – from Facebook to henna painting to book groups – foster community and they connect people with each. Chrystie is right: We’re not just about content. We need to help people find connections to other like-minded folks.

Many of the libraries talking to us have implemented MeLCat and through that process realized that they wanted more than their current ILS was offering. Coupled with the recent surge of interest in open source software, we have begun to investigate whether the time is now right for MLC to offer libraries that have limited resources and choices an opportunity to join a shared system. In June, I took a small delegation to Atlanta to have a first-hand look at Evergreen and to talk to librarians actually using it. We came away impressed with what we saw and heard from users. (The delegation included Sheryl VanderWagen, Lakeland Library Cooperative, Bill Ott, Grand Rapids Public Library, and Debbi Schaubman, MLC.)

We have also had some informal talks with commercial vendors because we did not want to simply jump on a currently popular bandwagon without considering other options. Open source software offers some benefits but so do systems from established companies.

At this point, we have not made any final decisions about how or when to move forward but continue to examine our alternatives and weigh all the factors. We would love to hear from you. Are you looking for a new ILS? Would you consider an open source system that was shared among a number of other libraries? Are you more comfortable with a commercial system?

Last August we began with an envrionmental scan to try to assess what’s happening outside and might have an impact on us. We set up an internal blog for the staff, who all volunteered to monitor a web site, newspaper, magazine, TV show, or other media outlet and scan them for interesting tidbits that might portend a trend that we need to be aware of. We gathered dozens and dozens of posts every week. At the end of September, we gathered all the posts so that we could discern the important trends. The trends fit into broad categories, such as technology, social, demographics, government/political, and science.

Now we’re painting the picture, so to speak. We have four teams, each with a different worldview, based on the trends and uncertainties we face. It’s up to each team to come up with a story about how MLC copes in their world. By writing these stories and discussing them, we would like to find some unexpected opportunities or uncover organizational problems that need fixing. All to help us develop the services that will serve Michigan libraries well into the future.

We’d love to hear some of your thoughts about the trends and events that you think will affect your library over the next several years.

Today our fearless leader, Randy Dykhuis, celebrated his 50th birthday.  Staff decorated his office in a Civil War theme and prepared a special PowerPoint “This is Your Life” presentation.

This is not a joke — the fire truck and firemen did arrive! Too many candles on the cake this year, Randy?????