All, As the subject notes, I will be presenting the concept and benefits therein of the library cooperative model to a group of international colleagues in a galaxy far, far away. Well, not quite. But pretty close. Malaysia. This presentation will take place on Sunday, July 19 at 9:00 p.m., live from our dining room table :) The title of my presentation is: The Library Cooperative Model: Maximizing Service To Patrons And Value To Member Libraries. Yes, I came up with that rather lofty sounding title all by myself. The background is this. My best friend at UM-SILS was from Malaysia. After our graduation he returned to Malaysia, but we have kept in touch for all these (33+ now) years. Last year my friend returned to the United States for the first time since 1987. He spent a day visiting The Library Network, where the current director indulged me to take part of that time to drive my friend to Commerce Township Community Library. Upon our arrival in the parking lot there my friend took out his pen and wrote in capital letters in his notebook the word COMMUNITY. He said "Jim, this is the direction in which we are going to take public libraries in Malaysia." And he has the ability to make it happen, at least in his own state, where he was recently appointed to serve on his state library board (equivalent to the LOM board here). For many years the concept of the library cooperative and the roles it plays, particularly in the public library, has been a subject of interest for my friend. That interest, combined with his return visit to the United States and recent appointment to his state library board, caused him to ask me if I would be willing to present the concept and functional role of the library cooperative to a group of his colleagues. Sure, why not! It isn't every day one gets to talk up something in which one believes, to a group of folks who are unfamiliar with yet interested in the concept. Truth be told, I don't have a clue as to what a group of Malaysian intellectuals (full disclosure, my friend has a PhD and is currently the Dean of his college at the university where he has worked and taught for many years) could possibly take away from anything I could say/share. But he has a great interest in seeing the public libraries in his home state move forward to adopt the "community" concept, and he believes the cooperative concept will help them get there. So I told him that if he is game, so am I! He has also followed the [ http://www.plymouthrockets.com/michiganactivitypass/ | http://www.plymouthrockets.com/michiganactivitypass/ ] program over the years, and even more so recently as he sees it as yet another tool to use in the "community" concept. During our most recent exchange I told my friend that while MAP was still offline, it would be coming back up on (oops, I almost slipped and told you the go live date) and that it would be functional by Sunday, July 19. As to why this is going to take place at 9:00 p.m. on a Sunday evening, Malaysia is 12 hours ahead of us, time zone wise, and he wanted to ensure that his colleagues who will be attending the presentation, who will include some of his PhD candidates, his state library board, other colleagues, as well as a group of public librarians, were going to be at their best and most fresh, ready to listen and pay attention, at 9:00 a.m. on a Monday morning. I told my friend, who is by a factor of 100 much more serious and studious than I could or would ever be, that if we don't manage to put the attendees to sleep, then we should consider our presentation a success. Jim Jim Flury Technical Services Manager The Library Network 41365 Vincenti Court Novi, MI 48375 248-536-3100, ext 133 Fax 248-536-3098 jflury@tln.lib.mi.us