by MLC is excited to be a part of the Evergreen community!
The Michigan Library Consortium (MLC) is a non-profit membership organization comprised of nearly 600 Michigan libraries of all types. MLC provides libraries a single point of contact for training, group purchasing and technical support for OCLC Products, electronic resources and more.
MLC and the Grand Rapids Public Library (GRPL) are currently working together to develop and launch the Michigan Evergreen Project, a shared library system using the open source ILS, Evergreen. MLC and GRPL will implement and maintain the shared ILS using a cost-sharing model. Libraries participating in the Michigan Evergreen project will pool resources to share in the costs of operating and maintaining the system, which will be wholly owned by the libraries in the collaborative.
Initially, MLC set out to find an affordable ILS system compatible with the Michigan eLibrary’s catalog, MelCat. Many Michigan libraries were using ILS systems that were homegrown or no longer supported by their Vendor. After researching several commercial and open source ILS systems, and discovering a great deal of interest in Evergreen among Michigan libraries, we decided to launch the Michigan Evergreen Project.
The project will begin in 2008 with a pilot group of five or more libraries. The initial pilot group will migrate to the shared system in two phases, with the first phase going live by July 2008 and the second phase going live later in 2008. In 2009 and future years, MLC plans to add libraries to the shared system annually.
We’re open to all input and questions, so please feel free to contact us!
Evette Atkin
Systems Librarian, Michigan Evergreen Project