As we've held Town Hall Meetings about the proposed SOLINET/PALINET merger, I've reviewed the key reasons the SOLINET Board identified the merger as a strategic step for the future of SOLINET's programs and services. One reason I have cited is the upcoming change in the network business relationship with OCLC.  Folks always want to know more about this; so I thought I'd share the background here.

SOLINET and OCLC have long worked in partnership to serve the region's libraries.  OCLC, in planning its future, has let networks know that they will be making significant changes to the business aspects of this partnership, effective July 1, 2009.  While the details of these changes are still under development, we must begin planning to accommodate these changes now.

OCLC will be introducing a rigorous program to "certify" organizations such as networks which provide support, training, consulting and administration of OCLC products. SOLINET intends to apply to be certified and believes that we have the expertise, relationships and infrastructure to achieve certification.  It is our intention to continue to serve the OCLC needs of member libraries.

One important aspect of this upcoming change is financial. OCLC will be introducing standard pricing for its services for all libraries across the U.S.  Rather than SOLINET funding its activities through an added surcharge, established by the SOLINET Board and endorsed by the SOLINET membership, there will be no added surcharge.  Instead, OCLC will provide some level of compensation to certified service providers.  While we don't yet know what the level of compensation will be, we are projecting a decrease in our operating budget of one third.  A budget cut of this magnitude undermines SOLINET's viability and will adversely affect services to our members.

Which brings me full circle: the reasons the SOLINET Board identified a strategic step of a merger with PALINET.  First, in light of this pending and significant budget cut, it is essential to control costs through consolidation and re-engineering.  A merger with a similar strong and innovative organization such as PALINET provides the opportunity for this consolidation and re-engineering.  More important, a merger allows us to increase our organizations' capacity for innovation and new programs for members in the future.

5/19/2008 1:18:21 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]