In Touch with Kate: an Update from LYRASIS Executive Director, Kate Nevins

I'd like to provide you with a brief update on what's happening at LYRASIS, including new programs, changes in our organization and opportunities for you to engage with other members and the LYRASIS staff. Currently, we are working with the Board of Trustees to define our Strategic Plan for 2013-2016. As part of this process, we have distributed a survey to members and many non-members for your feedback and ideas. I thank you in advance for taking the time to participate in the survey to help the Board shape the future of LYRASIS. We plan on sharing the plan with members as we finalize it later this year. Collaborative Savings with eBooks and eContent We continue to work with our vendor partners on several initiatives to make eResources available to you at cost-effective prices, leveraging the size of the membership whenever possible. In our role as the licensing partner for the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), LYRASIS has worked with an ARL team and Project MUSE to offer Project MUSE eBook collections available now. As part of our agreement with ARL, LYRASIS is able to extend the terms of any offer we negotiate to any library that is a member of a consortium that includes an ARL library. All LYRASIS members are eligible, and we are also working with other groups to bring this content to as many libraries as possible. Online orders and the license terms are available using the online order form. For more information, please contact Member Support. As with the Project MUSE effort, LYRASIS and the ARL team are working with JSTOR on a university press eBooks collection. We are negotiating for the JSTOR eBook content to be available to ARL members and LYRASIS members in consortia with ARL libraries. The LYRASIS Shared eBook Collection has seen high member participation over the past ten years. While we are no longer working with NetLibrary on the Collection, we have issued an RFP to identify a new eBook shared collection provider, factoring in price, platform and publisher model. LYRASIS is actively negotiating now and hopes to have the new LYRASIS Shared Collection available for members in the next few months. LYRASIS is exploring the possibility of supporting an eBook platform. We're excited to watch the progress that Douglas County Public Library in Colorado is making on this forefront and are evaluating potential involvement as this effort gains momentum. We are also in the process of promoting year-end offers with the following vendors, some of which are offering minimal or no increase for renewals:   3M Alexander Street Press Duke University Press Gale IGI Global   Infobase Infogroup INTELECOM Oxford University Press SAGE If you would like to update your FTE and operating budget information in order for us to accurately price upcoming database renewals and new quotes and orders, please do so via your My LYRASIS account. Digitization and Preservation Services The LYRASIS Mass Digitization Collaborative continues to offer member libraries a low-cost option to digitize collections. As more libraries participate in the Collaborative, we are expanding services with scanning of archival materials, including manuscripts, photographs, maps and large-format items. LYRASIS Technology Services The LYRASIS Technology Services (LTS) team is working with its advisory panel and members to provide technology guidance and support for open source and commercial software solutions. As part of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, LYRASIS has developed FOSS4LIB.org, the Free & Open Source Software for Libraries web site that helps all libraries determine whether and which open source software is right for them. Web use continues to increase, as content contributed by users is being added on an ongoing basis. A free webinar about FOSS4LIB is scheduled on June 29th at 11 a.m. You may register by contacting Peter Murray, Assistant Director, LYRASIS Technology Services. New York University, the University of Illinois and University of California San Diego have selected LYRASIS as the organizational home for the open source archives management system they are developing, called ArchivesSpace, replacing Archivists Tool Kit and Archon. LYRASIS will provide migration support, training, community-building and ongoing support. ArchivesSpace will be released mid-2013. Additionally, LYRASIS Technology Services has seen growing interest in our Evergreen support services. Most recently, we have signed an agreement with Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS) to provide Evergreen hosting and support to six of its member libraries. To learn more about our Evergreen support services, please contact Jennifer Bielewski. Professional Development The LYRASIS Professional Development team continues to provide classes and events on key topics, ranging from RDA to cloud computing. Below are some highlights: Our Professional Development team has created recordings of our most commonly requested training topics to make on-demand training available for member libraries. The next LYRASIS Ideas and Insights Series session is on June 15 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m ET., focusing on how libraries are using space in new ways to meet the demands of users. LYRASIS has partnered with OCLC to introduce OCLC WorldShare Services. Free events include conference presentations at state library associations, open house sessions at libraries currently using WorldShare and online sessions. To learn more and register, please click here. The 2nd Friday Series continues to be well attended by LYRASIS members. These free, informative sessions for members are on hot topics, like RDA in a Nutshell on July 13. Our Regional Programs team is also offering free, online programs, including: Latest from LYRASIS: This webinar keeps members up to date on LYRASIS programs, initiatives and special offers. Presented quarterly by LYRASIS Regional Directors and free to all members, they are scheduled in July and October. LYRASIS Member Showcase: This new program highlights the accomplishments of LYRASIS members, sharing the great things they are doing for their communities, campuses, students and staff. This free quarterly series features one or more member libraries that have made specific advancements or tackled difficult obstacles, discussing what worked and what didn't, and what they would do differently. LYRASIS Polite Debate Society:  LPDS is a webinar series that explores the varying viewpoints present in some of the more challenging issues facing our library communities. Topics vary, taken from the hot issues, like reference desk best practices, that face the profession today. Events in this series are scheduled for June, September and December. Member Services As we approach the close of this fiscal year and the new 2012-2013 fiscal year, we want to continue providing helpful services to members, including eContent, databases and membership renewals. To help members take advantage of deposit accounts, a LYRASIS member benefit, the Annual Activity Estimating Tool will be available in My LYRASIS before year end. This tool provides an overview of the transactions in a member's account from May 2011 to May 2012, to assist members with estimating transactions with LYRASIS for this coming year. Members can use the tool to generate a pro forma invoice to fund their deposit account. LYRASIS will be at ALA Anaheim booth #2001. Please stop by to meet with staff and learn more about the LYRASIS programs, products and services. Jennifer Bielewski, from LYRASIS Technology Services, will be available to discuss FOSS4LIB, Discovery Services and other LTS products. Member Representatives, Eric Zino and Hilary Fox, will also be at the booth and can answer questions about our vast arragy of eContent products and services. Don't miss the LYRASIS Lounge on Friday, June 22 at the Anabella Hotel at 7:30 pm to mix and mingle over drinks with other LYRASIS members and staff. To learn more about LYRASIS at ALA, please click here. A Major event on the fall calendar is the LYRASIS eGathering, the Annual Member Meeting, on Thursday, November 1 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm eastern. Our theme is Survive or Thrive: Connecting Libraries and Community. The keynote speaker is R. David Lankes, author of The Atlas of New Librarianship and Dean's Scholar for the New Librarianship at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. In addition to having a roundtable panel, we're inviting members to submit 1- to 2-minute videos describing how their libraries are thriving by building community in new and compelling ways. All video contest submission links will be available on our web site for you to watch. The library/institution with the winning video will receive a prize of an HD Bloggie video camera, and will be featured during the LYRASIS eGathering 2012. Please email a link to your YouTube or Vimeo video to membercommunications@lyrasis.org to be entered into the contest. For more information on eGathering and to be community viewing location, please click here. We look forward to having you participate in many of these LYRASIS programs and events, hearing from you and working to provide you with helpful services and savings. If you have any questions, please contact Member Support or email me directly. Sincerely, Kate Nevins Executive Director LYRASIS   www.lyrasis.org | 800.999.8558