Viewpoint from the Chair: The Continuing Value of Amigos Membership

In the wake of the announcement earlier this year that OCLC billing services will transition from Amigos to OCLC beginning this July 1, I’ve been asked by a number of member libraries about the continuing value of their Amigos membership. Here are my thoughts.

Amigos offers a variety of programs, not all of which are required by every member all the time. A number of these programs work much like insurance policies: your annual membership fee – which Amigos works hard to keep as low as possible – ensures continued access to programs that you only occasionally need. These include training on a wide variety of topics as well as imaging, preservation, and disaster planning services, and of course the Amigos disaster recovery services that all members hope they will never need!

Other programs are utilized more consistently and long term, but not by all members. These include e-resource subscription discounts and the courier service. The broader Amigos Member Discount Program includes a lengthy list of library suppliers who sell directly to you at a discount when you identify your library as an Amigos member. Only you can know if your library benefits from this "discount direct" program because, to keep overhead low, Amigos receives no usage info from its vendor partners. And Amigos continues to develop new programs that benefit from collaboration, such as the pilot project currently underway to provide hosted open-source ILS systems for members.

I’ve been asked about Amigos deposit accounts. For many members, the Amigos Deposit Account program will continue to be an important tool in managing library budgets over the course of each year. Amigos welcomes your continued use of the Amigos Deposit Account program and encourages you to retain this service, adding to your account as necessary to provide you with the security, convenience, and timeliness it offers. You alone control your deposit account with Amigos, and your deposited funds can be used to pay for third-party services as well as Amigos services.

I’ve also been asked about fees being paid to Amigos for current OCLC-related services. In the current structure, in which Amigos processes your OCLC payments, you pay no fees to Amigos for this support activity. This will of course apply going forward when your invoices come directly from OCLC. Amigos will continue to provide training on all OCLC-related topics, which will be available to you at member prices.

Is it necessary to be an Amigos Member to use OCLC ILL and FirstSearch? The answer is no, Amigos membership isn’t required to access these services, which will be invoiced directly by OCLC in the future. But Amigos continues to be closely involved in and supportive of resource-sharing among its members. Amigos will continue to sponsor the Amigos Resource-Sharing Agreement, wherein participating members agree not to charge each other for ILL items or shipping.

Attendance at the annual online Amigos Member Conference is free to members. Broader networking and relationship-building among librarians from member libraries continues to be of great value to Amigos members. No matter which specific Amigos programs you utilize at any given time, a major value of Amigos membership continues to be about relationships, resource sharing, and collaborative opportunity. As long as Amigos Members need the organization and benefit from working collaboratively to solve mutual problems, Amigos will be there for you.

I hope these reminders about the value of Amigos membership will encourage you to retain your membership as Amigos continues to evolve. Please let me know if you have any questions, or feel free to contact Amigos President and CEO Bonnie Juergens.

We sincerely hope you’ll remain a strong and active Amigos member!

Bill Hair, Chair, Amigos Board of Directors