At MCLS, we believe openness to changes in the information ecosystem that aim to make more information openly available to more people, at a lower cost, is simply required for libraries and the consortia that serve them. Research and scholarly work published in open access (OA), and open educational resources (OER; or as some prefer, …Read more »

Like me, you may be trying to balance living in a moment to be thankful, being cautious, reflecting as an exhausting 2020 draws to a close, and hoping for a better 2021. While the past several months may have been among the most challenging of our lives, they have also shown us just how adaptable, …Read more »

Mark your calendars for the MCLS Annual Membership Meeting to take place from 10-11am Eastern (9-10am Central) on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020. This year’s membership meeting will take place online using Zoom, and will feature reports from MCLS President Paul Gallagher, Executive Director Scott Garrison, and Treasurer (and Audit Committee Chair) Arlene Weismantel. There is …Read more »

On behalf of everyone at the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS), I’d like to welcome you to the Indiana Library Federation (ILF) 2020 Annual Conference. We are pleased to support ILF in offering you the best online conference experience possible, at this time when so many, including our staff, would much prefer being together …Read more »

To help library staff understand, track, and maintain their own well-being in a challenging 2020, MCLS and our Board of Directors are offering a brief confidential survey from The Wellbeing Lab. Just take the survey by November 10, and receive a customized report and well-being plan tailored for you. I usually use this space to …Read more »

On behalf of everyone at the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS), I’d like to welcome you to the Michigan Library Association (MLA) 2020 Annual Conference. We are pleased to support MLA in offering you the best online conference experience possible, at this time when so many, including our staff, would much prefer being together …Read more »

Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) is an emerging approach for libraries to legally lend digital copies of in-copyright print books. Though there is some controversy around CDL, it holds promise to help readers get to content they need when access to physical collections may be very limited. Some libraries and digital collections have already been using …Read more »

By an overwhelming majority vote, our member representatives elected the proposed slate of board members. The elected slate includes: Academic Library Representative (Indiana) – Denise Shorey, Director of Library Services, Franklin College Special Library Representative (Indiana) – Patricia A. Lunsford, Librarian, Franciscan Health Lafayette At-Large Library Representative (Michigan) – Kate Pohjola Andrade, Director, Woodlands Library …Read more »

John Sterbenz has been an instructor with MCLS (and previously, MLC) for 15 years. He has taught several OCLC classes and Excel workshops in the past and currently teaches the ever-popular MARC: An Introduction along with MeLCat Cataloging and Advanced MeLCat Cataloging. We featured John in the MCLS newsletter back in March 2018. Now seemed …Read more »

The MCLS Board of Directors has accepted the Nominating Committee’s proposed slate of candidates for the five seats with terms expiring at the end of December 2020. Electronic voting to approve the slate of candidates begins on Sept. 16. All Member Representatives should receive an email on Sept. 16 with voting instructions. Votes will be …Read more »