Amigos Library Services

Amigos Library Services, Inc. is a membership-based American not-for-profit chartered to serve libraries.[1] The organization was formed in 1974 in Dallas, Texas, United States, as the AMIGOS Bibliographic Council[2] was included 22 libraries, united to bring OCLC access to the southwestern United States. Today, Amigos is one of the nation’s largest library resource-sharing networks and a provider of information technology to libraries.

Amigos Library Services, Inc.
Founded1974
Typelibrary consortium, Non-profit organization
FocusLibrary Services
Location
Area served
National
Website

In July 2012, Amigos merged with Missouri Library Network Corporation (MLNC), a member-based organization similar to Amigos and headquartered in St. Louis. The action followed votes to approve the merger in April 2012 by MLNC members and May 2012 by Amigos members.[3] The prime motivation of the MLNC Board was to meet the needs of MLNC's members and fulfill the organization's mission. The Board conducted a thorough analysis of options and concluded that this merger best helps MLNC achieve that goal.

Both Amigos and MLNC brought strong continuing education programs to the new organization. MLNC and Amigos members immediately began to benefit from an increased ability to leverage library resources for purchasing thousands of library products and services from leading providers. The combined organization retained the Amigos name with Dallas as its headquarters and an office in the St. Louis area. The new organization became the largest library network west of the Mississippi River, comprising libraries and cultural heritage institutions in 22 states.

The Amigos membership consists of over 750 libraries and cultural-heritage institutions, located primarily in the southwestern United States, who use Amigos' line of services, including cataloging, reference, resource sharing, preservation, digital imaging, consulting, and training.

The mission of Amigos Library Services is to:

  • Provide services to libraries
  • Promote library cooperation and resource sharing
  • Strengthen libraries as leaders of their community
  • Support libraries as education and information providers

Amigos Library Services is similar in scope to other library-oriented consortia such as Bibliographical Center for Research, OhioLINK, PALINET and LYRASIS.

References
  1. "About Amigos". Amigos Library Services. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  2. Robinson, Barbara M. (Nov 1980). "Cooperation and Competition among Library Networks". Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 31 (6): 413–425. doi:10.1002/asi.4630310607.
  3. "Amigos/MLNC Merger Update". Amigos Library Services. 12 Apr 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
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