This month, I have a simple ask: if you received a link to our MCLS member or partner/vendor survey and haven’t completed it yet, please do so before May 15. We want to hear from you about how we’re doing toward achieving our current strategic plan objectives and how we might improve. Not sure if …Read more »
As MCLS Executive Director, I lead staff who truly care about providing the best possible services and value to libraries, including through partnerships with other organizations and the many vendors we work with. The investment you make in MCLS in terms of membership and/or the time you spend working and communicating with our staff is invaluable to us as an organization. …Read more »
Spring conference and event season is just around the corner, and I encourage you to engage with MCLS staff at conferences and events that you may be attending. Have a question, idea, or story to share? I hope you’ll find us! In March, the following MCLS staff will be at the following conferences and events: Electronic Resources & …Read more »
Writing a personal remembrance of Randy Riley is something I’d never expected I would do during my career. It’s difficult because his passing was sudden and is so much to process as someone who knew and worked closely with him. It’s also not difficult because of how grateful I am for him and everything he gave so many as a leader and colleague, …Read more »
Things remain busy at MCLS in this time of transitions, and I hope to see many members at the MCLS Annual Meeting on Dec. 2, 2025 at 10 a.m. Eastern (9 a.m. Central) on Zoom (please register here) where topics will include revised MCLS Bylaws and our Board of Directors’ next steps following their September member survey and recent retreat. Following a Board vote on Nov.14 to …Read more »
This month I thank the 232 people who responded to the MCLS Board of Directors’ survey in September, and will share next steps the Board will take. The Board and I really appreciate the data MCLS members took the time to submit, including hundreds of comments. As I mentioned in September, MCLS’s member libraries own MCLS as an organization. According to MCLS’s governance system, …Read more »
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 »
