The MCLS management team has created a new MCLS Staff AI Use Policy that we will begin implementing in October, and I’m sharing information about it so our community is aware and can ask questions. We know AI comes with many questions (as studies from Pew Research Center, Gallup, and others have found) and it’s …Read more »
This month I’m asking MCLS members for help: the MCLS Board of Directors will issue a brief 5-question survey focusing on the future to all of our member libraries on Wednesday, Sept. 3, and needs one response per member by Wednesday, Sept. 24. Please take this important survey to give our Board input they can …Read more »
Update: on July 31, 2025, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s spending bill, which included $291,800,000 in total funding for IMLS (see pp. 329-330 for a budget activity breakdown for programs such as Grants to States). With the U.S. Congress in recess until September, now …Read more »
The Indiana State Library (ISL) and the Library of Michigan (LM) provide critical funding from federal and state sources that power infrastructure supporting the work of hundreds of libraries. The Indiana Library Federation (ILF), the Michigan Library Association (MLA), and others have been advocating for support for ISL and LM. Both states’ legislatures have made …Read more »
Defining the Library Consortium Libraries today operate in complex environments, navigating evolving community expectations, and a growing set of unknowns. Whether large or small, urban or rural, all libraries share the common challenge of delivering high-quality services in a sustainable and impactful way. In this context, library consortia like the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services …Read more »
If you’re going to be at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Philadelphia in June, keep an eye out for Executive Director Scott Garrison and eLicensing and Collection Resources Manager Sarah Beaubien, who plan to attend the conference. And even if you’re not going to ALA Annual this year, the MCLS Engagement, Consulting, and …Read more »
From before and through the print era to today’s digital world, libraries and other cultural memory organizations have preserved data, information, and more for centuries, which is critically important work especially in times of major transition. As the Michigan Digital Preservation Network (MDPN), the world’s first production LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe) 2.0 …Read more »
Staff from Ypsilanti District Library (YDL) and MCLS will promote Text and Learn for Kindergarten (TALK) at the Public Library Association (PLA) 2024 conference April 2-5 in Columbus, OH. Based on Every Child Ready to Read, TALK is a text messaging service that prompts parents and caregivers to talk, sing, read, write, and play with …Read more »
The Michigan Digital Preservation Network (MDPN), a program of MCLS, is making great progress toward establishing the first production LOCKSS 2.0 network thanks to efforts from MDPN Coordinator Chelsea Denault, MDPN’s members, and the extended LOCKSS community. This month I’ll offer a few updates on this impactful work that will benefit libraries, museums, archives, historical …Read more »
This month I’ll recap the spring 2023 Think Space program from the Michigan Library Association (MLA), which featured journalist Ron French from Bridge Michigan, lobbyist Bob DeVries from GCSI, pollster Bernie Porn from EPIC-MRA, former politician Arlan Meekhof, and passionate librarians including the award-winning Amanda Jones from Louisiana. The speakers and participants offered an array …Read more »
