MLC & INCOLSA Expand Relationship

MLC to act as OCLC billing agent for INCOLSA member libraries

Lansing, MI – February 24, 2009 – Building on the e-resources group licensing collaboration begun in August 2008, the Michigan Library Consortium (MLC) and INCOLSA announced today that, beginning July 1, 2009, MLC will handle OCLC billing for INCOLSA members.  This move will provide economies of scale and help control costs for member libraries, according to Michael Piper, INCOLSA Executive Director and Randy Dykhuis, MLC Executive Director.

As MLC assumes responsibility for OCLC billing, INCOLSA will serve as the primary OCLC marketing arm for both networks.

"For the past several months, MLC and INCOLSA have been discussing options for meeting the needs of our members more efficiently,” Piper said. “Working with OCLC to provide new strategies for member services and programs has provided an opportunity to explore new avenues of cooperation that will retain the same high quality service for our members while reducing operating costs.”

According to Randy Dykhuis, the consolidation of group licensing services last summer went very smoothly and demonstrated that a closer relationship would benefit the members of both networks. “With library budgets under attack, we need to continually look for ways to operate more cost-effectively,” he commented. “By expanding our collaboration with INCOLSA we will allow both organizations to reduce duplicative costs and free up resources to develop new services for our members.”

About INCOLSA
INCOLSA is the statewide network providing leadership in cooperative activities for Indiana libraries. INCOLSA serves 768 member institutions, representing more than 2,200 libraries throughout Indiana. More information is available at http://www.incolsa.net.

About MLC
MLC is a non-profit membership organization providing over 600 Michigan libraries of all types with a convenient, single point of contact for training, group purchasing and technical support for electronic resources. More information is available at http://mlcnet.org.

CONTACTS:
Randy Dykhuis
Executive Director
Michigan Library Consortium
517-394-2420 ext 119
dykhuisr@mlcnet.org

Michael Piper
Executive Director
INCOLSA
317-298-6570 ext 128
Michael@incolsa.net

[27 Feb 2009]