Become a Member

Requirements to Join

  1. Member libraries share non-reference materials with other members.
  2. Member libraries pay annual membership fees, which goes towards hosting expenses
    The membership fee currently includes a base fee + an amount per active user with privilege expiration before a set date. The Executive Board reconsiders this formula every year.
  3. Member libraries must send their Director (or other designee) to attend Executive Board meetings as often as possible. These meetings are held each month.
  4. Member libraries are expected to have staff participate in the Cataloging, Circulation, and Sysadmin Working Groups. These groups primarily communicate by email, and have infrequent meetings to discuss joining SCLENDS contact the current Chairman of the Executive Board.
  5. Member libraries are expected to understand and adhere to the application and implementation process, as described below.

Application + Implementation Process

  1. Before joining SCLENDS, a member of the Executive Board will meet with the Library Director to discuss membership requirements and expectations. Prospective members should provide a letter of interest and key statistics for their ILS needs including the number of bibliographic records, item records, patrons, and annual circulation.
  2. SCLENDS then performs a network evaluation and discusses the challenges of moving to a hosted ILS with the prospective library, which includes any projected migration expenses and the membership fee.
  3. If the library wishes to join SCLENDS, then the Library Director must file a Letter of Intent with the SCLENDS Executive Board.
  4. Once a Letter of Intent is filed, the Executive Board will schedule the library for a migration.
  5. Migrations to SCLENDS are done once a year. The decision as to which prospective library(ies), if any, are to migrate may be made by the Executive Board at the April meeting of each year.
  6. Migration expenses and membership/hosting fees are the responsibility of the joining library. Many libraries find migration expenses and dues cheaper than a single year on their old ILS.
  7. Migrations generally begin about 60 days out from the day of “go live.” We will discuss this in-depth with prospective libraries who are seriously interested in migrating. We can also discuss our experiences with migrating a variety of ILSes and any special concerns.
  8. Member libraries will also incur IMS fees from exchanging materials. We can provide estimates on IMS expenses based on similarly-sized libraries, but there is often substantial variation based on the borrowing patterns of local populations.