Review of MeL Funding

Midwest Collaborative for Library Services MeL Training Materials

2/1/11 SR

These statements are taken from mel.org, from the About link near the top of the page. Please review the funding and mission statements at the beginning of class.

The Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS) is under contract to the Library of Michigan to provide implementation, training and support for the MeL Databases and MeLCat.

FUNDING FOR MEL:

This service is funded by the Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) via the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library of Michigan. The cost of MeL is approximately $5 million per year with a savings to the state's libraries, schools, colleges and universities of over $72 million per year.

The Library of Michigan negotiates all MeL contracts for the databases. The current contract expires on September 30, 2011. The process of selecting vendors and databases and negotiating new contracts is underway. For questions on that process, please contact the MeL Coordinator at the Library of Michigan, Deb Biggs Thomas at biggsthomasd@michigan.gov.

MISSION STATEMENT FOR MEL:

Administered by the Library of Michigan in partnership with Michigan's libraries of all types, the Michigan eLibrary will provide all Michigan residents with free access to online full-text articles, full-text books, digital images, and other valuable research information at any time via the Internet; and provide an easy-to-use interlibrary loan system to allow Michigan residents to borrow books and other library materials for free from participating Michigan libraries.