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 »

This month, Michigan Digital Preservation Network (MDPN) Coordinator Chelsea Denault and I will highlight recent work and next steps toward forming the MDPN as a community of members and set of resources for libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and other cultural heritage organizations throughout Michigan. I may be speaking for us through this piece, but …Read more »

In August 2019, the MCLS Board of Directors authorized MCLS to make a strategic investment in and become involved with Project ReShare, a new approach to resource sharing for consortia and the libraries we serve. It’s hard to believe we’re already almost a year into that work! Version 1.0 will be available this month, and …Read more »

This month, the Collaborating Partners (Michigan Cooperative Directors Association, Library of Michigan, Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, Michigan Library Association, Michigan Association of Media in Education, and Michigan Academic Libraries Association) are offering Creating Inclusive Libraries: Gender and Sexuality Awareness, a series of three online events designed to inform libraries about how to better serve …Read more »

Continued killings of Black Americans are an acutely painful reminder of systemic racism in our country, and leave many difficult questions. To me, the two most important questions are: What can I do? What can we do? Our country’s history regarding race and racism is an extremely difficult thing for many white people to talk …Read more »

Registration is now open for upcoming virtual training for Michigan library staff on foundational digital literacy topics, offered by MCLS in partnership with the Library of Michigan. This workshop is being offered multiple times throughout September and October to accommodate smaller participation limits in each session, which will allow for plenty of personal attention and …Read more »

Businesses and organizations everywhere are struggling with how to resume operating while minimizing risk to employees and customers alike. Things continue to change on a week-to-week basis, and much is still unknown. While many libraries have continued working and providing services online, it is a stressful time as staff are returning to library buildings and …Read more »

The MCLS Nominating Committee seeks nominations from the membership for the following openings on the MCLS Board of Directors: Academic Library Representative (Indiana) Special Library Representative (Indiana) At-Large Representative (Michigan) Research Library Representative (Michigan) School Library Representative (Michigan) Please note that incumbent Board Representatives in each position except Academic Library Representative (Indiana) are eligible to …Read more »

Throughout the COVID-19 shut down of libraries in Indiana and Michigan, MCLS has hosted weekly Virtual Dialogues. Each Friday since March 27, the Engagement, Consulting, and Training Team has facilitated Zoom sessions around the environment we find ourselves working in right now and what opportunities might exist as we move forward. We set out to …Read more »