Update               July, 2005

v    Since the March update, we have added 31 more sites to the consortium catalog, for a total of 54 library sites on the catalog. These include 26 different public and private school districts/special libraries.

v    The union catalog now has over 657,756 copies representing 302,437 bibliographic records.

v    The value of the collections is over $13,000,000 and the average age is 20 years – this age of collection number has remained pretty steady since the beginning.

v    We have done extensive Destiny software training for the staff in individual libraries, in addition to a number of staff development workshops at MEMO midwinter, Spotlight on Books, Nuts and Bolts of Library Management, and the MEMO Leadership workshop. Attendance has been good and the workshops have been excellent. More will be offered this Fall. 

v    Cost for the first year of participation in the Consortium is currently covered by the E2T2 grant. The costs for participation are divided into two units: software support and software hosting. Follett provides the software support while Region I in Moorhead hosts the software and supports the telecommunications network that makes the software available to Consortium members via the Internet and a web browser.  

v    Licensing of the Destiny software is covered by the E2T2 grant for the first 90 sites.

v    Costs for on-going Follett software support is based on a formula that includes a per site charge for each library site in the district and then a per student charge ($.065) for the entire district’s population.  There are minimums ($450) and maximums ($750) costs for sites.  Annual support costs vary from a minimum of $450 for a small district to a high of $3500 for a district with 5 buildings and a student population of 2700 students.

v    Costs for hosting follows a similar formula with the site cost set at $125 and a per student charge of $.50; minimum is $200 and maximum is $350 per site for hosting.  The low end cost for a small district would be $200 and a large district would probably hit the $350 maximum per site. 

v    Total on-going costs per year for a small district would be $650; for a larger district with 2700 students and five buildings, the cost would be about $5,000 at most.  This is an affordable, sustainable system. We continue to negotiate with Follett on the support costs in order to include the very smallest districts that operate in more than one town.

v    A Destiny Users Group has been formed and will be meeting in August to discuss on-going issues, best practices, share concerns, and look to the future of the Consortium.  The Users Group is scheduled to meet quarterly.

v    A website and a listserv also support the North Star Library Consortium members.

 Ruth Solie
July 2005