We are pleased to announce that LaGrange County Public Library in LaGrange, IN has selected Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS) to provide consulting services for strategic planning this summer. We are looking forward to working with the library’s director, staff, Board, and community to guide the creation of a plan that will be relevant and impactful. …Read more »
Continuing from my May MCLS newsletter piece on artificial intelligence (AI), this month I’ll recap Western Michigan University (WMU) Libraries Associate Dean Mary O’Kelly’s excellent presentation on using AI tools for research and writing at the recent Michigan Academic Library Association (MiALA) conference. Many facets of AI and how various industries are using AI tools …Read more »
Since Fall 2020, the University of Michigan Press (UMP) has collaborated with its parent library and library consortia LYRASIS to implement the Fund to Mission open access monograph model. This program facilitates the conversion of an increasing percentage of the Press’s frontlist (currently 75% of the 80 monographs UMP publishes annually) to open access without …Read more »
Join Skilltype’s professional development tools webinar on June 11 Learn how Skilltype helps libraries advance employee professional development by attending the Tuesday, June 11 webinar from 2-3 p.m. Eastern (1-2 p.m. Central). Skilltype is a library-specific professional development tool that allows library administration to strategically assess employee skills and professional development needs by identifying strengths, gaps, …Read more »
MCLS members are invited to join Sage and MCLS for a Sage Skills discussion at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 21. We will discuss essential skills to prepare learners for academic achievement and personal development, and the classroom-to-career skills most vital to the modern workplace. Additional topic areas include the impact of bias and inequity and …Read more »
The MCLS Board of Directors Nominating Committee seeks nominations from the MCLS membership for the following Board openings for 2025-2027: At-Large Library Representative (Indiana) School Library Representative (Indiana) Research Library (Indiana) Each seat has a three-year term, beginning Jan. 1, 2025, and expiring Dec. 31, 2027. The Board meets four times per year, in February …Read more »
IMLS TALK grant funds will cover the cost of text messages for new subscribing libraries anywhere in the U.S. To receive this offer, your library must subscribe to TALK: Text and Learn for Kindergarten, a service of MCLS, no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. Grant-funded texts are distributed in blocks of 5,000 messages. …Read more »
Join the MCLS Engagement, Consulting, and Training team for a Virtual Dialogue for academic library staff on Wednesday, July 17 from 10:30 a.m.-noon Eastern (9:30-11 a.m. Central). We invite those working in academic libraries – at all levels and in all positions – to come together to talk and share your strategies, insights, and experiences …Read more »
The next meeting of the MCLS Agreements Group will be on Thursday, June 13, 2-3 p.m. Eastern (1-2 p.m. Central). Participants will review and discuss the MCLS generic license agreement. Open to all library types, the Agreements Group exists to help MCLS identify license agreement components of interest and concern to MCLS members. Interested librarians are …Read more »
Overdrive for Michigan Academics (OMiA) was born in 2021 when a group of four Michigan academic libraries decided to make a shared collection of eBooks and Audio books a reality. Today, OMiA consists of 10 libraries: 7 community colleges, 2 universities, and one private institution. As a collaborative endeavor, the key to OMiA’s success is the …Read more »
