Process for Joining the North Star Library Consortium

1.      Request your district’s cost scenarios and a Letter of Understanding from Bob Wheeler (bob@region1.k12.mn.us) at Region 1. This will give your district specific information about the initial costs of migrating to the Consortium and the anticipated time of migration. It will also include the software hosting costs for Region 1, and ongoing Destiny  software support costs from Follett. Pricing information is for Consortium members only. This information can be used to make your decision. Returning a signed Letter of Understanding to Region 1 will begin the process of joining the Consortium.

      Contact Shelley Jilek (Follett Sales) or refer to the NSLC wiki at http://nlsc.pbwiki.com for special Consortium pricing for additional subscription items such as TitlePeek or OneSearch.

2.      After the Letter of Understanding has been signed and returned to Region 1, Follett will follow up with a request to the District for a purchase order for Destiny. Purchase orders must be returned to Region 1 before implementation can begin.

3.      Migration implementation will be done by Follett on a timeline established by the Consortium and Follett. Generally there will be 2 implementation cycles per year – one in Fall/Winter and one in Spring/Summer. Follett’s customer representative will contact the District and begin the process and outline the necessary steps that are involved for full implementation.

4.      A District’s bibliographic and patron records will be extracted, cleaned up, enhanced, converted, and migrated to Destiny at Region 1. This is followed by a 2-day training in use of the Destiny software. The cost of this training is included in the migration process and is required in order to receive future Follett software support.

5.      Districts which already have a Destiny license and would like to join the Consortium may migrate to the Destiny software hosted at Region 1 for a one-time fee. As Consortium members they will be able to take advantage of the Consortium pricing for on-going Follett software support costs and additional subscriptions for enhanced Destiny services. Request a Letter of Understanding from Bob Wheeler at Region 1 to begin this process.

6.     Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange and the Northern Lights Library Network provide ongoing opportunities for staff development/continuing education which are available to all Consortium members.