Amigos Library Services

Last updated
Amigos Library Services, Inc.
Formation1974;50 years ago (1974)
Type library consortium, non-profit organization
FocusLibrary services
Location
Website www.amigos.org

Amigos Library Services, Inc. is a membership-based American not-for-profit organization chartered to serve libraries. [1] The organization was formed in 1974 in Dallas, Texas, as the AMIGOS Bibliographic Council. [2] It included 22 libraries, united to bring OCLC access to the southwestern United States. As of September 2021 Amigos is one of the largest library resource-sharing networks and a provider of information technology to libraries.

In July 2012, Amigos merged with Missouri Library Network Corporation (MLNC), an organization similar to Amigos 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 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. [4]

Amigos Library Services is similar in scope to other library-oriented consortia such as the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, OhioNet, and Lyrasis.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missouri</span> U.S. state

Missouri, officially the State of Missouri, is a double landlocked state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it borders Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas to the south and Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the west. In the south are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. The Missouri River, after which the state is named, flows through the center and into the Mississippi River, which makes up the eastern border. With over six million residents, it is the 18th-most populous state of the country. The largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. The capital is Jefferson City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midwestern United States</span> Census region of the United States

The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It was officially named the North Central Region by the U.S. Census Bureau until 1984. It is between the Northeastern United States and the Western United States, with Canada to the north and the Southern United States to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interlibrary loan</span> Patrons of one library borrowing material owned by another library

Interlibrary loan is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow materials that are held by another library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ameritech</span> Subsidiary of AT&T

AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation, is an American telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies created following the breakup of the Bell System. Ameritech was acquired in 1999 by SBC Communications, which subsequently acquired AT&T Corporation in 2006, becoming the present-day AT&T.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Hub Network</span> Proposed rail lines in the Midwestern US

The Chicago Hub Network is a collection of proposed fast conventional and high-speed rail lines in the Midwestern United States including 3,000 miles (5,000 km) of track. Since the 1990s, there have been multiple proposals to build a network from Chicago to destinations such as Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Louisville. In addition, the rail lines from the Chicago hub would connect through to cities in Canada. Eastern routes from Chicago would also blend into the Ohio Hub network. In addition to providing better connections between Midwestern cities, the projects are intended to reduce or eliminate the operating subsidies that American passenger train routes currently require.

Ozark Air Lines was a local service carrier in the United States that operated from 1950 until 1986, when it was purchased by Trans World Airlines (TWA). Ozark got a second chance to be an airline when the carrier that won the routes for which Ozark applied, Parks Air Lines, failed to start them in a timely manner. Parks had its rights revoked, Ozark won not only the routes it previously applied for, but others as well. Parks merged into Ozark and Ozark took over the Parks operation and the single route over which Parks had recently started service, thereby launching Ozark. Ozark over time became a jet carrier with a hub in St. Louis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central United States</span> Geographical region of the United States

The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern and Western as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the U.S. Census's definition of the Midwestern United States plus the western and central portions of the U.S. Census's definition of the Southern United States. The Central States are typically considered to consist of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi and Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HOK (firm)</span> American design, architecture, engineering and planning firm

HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum is an American design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm. Founded in 1955, it is now registered as HOK Group, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DSpace</span> Repository software package

DSpace is an open source repository software package typically used for creating open access repositories for scholarly and/or published digital content. While DSpace shares some feature overlap with content management systems and document management systems, the DSpace repository software serves a specific need as a digital archives system, focused on the long-term storage, access and preservation of digital content. The optional DSpace registry lists almost three thousand repositories all over the world.

Express Scripts Holding Company is a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) organization. In 2017 it was the 22nd-largest company in the United States by total revenue as well as the largest pharmacy benefit management (PBM) organization in the United States. Express Scripts had 2016 revenues of $100.752 billion. Since December 20, 2018, the company has been a direct subsidiary of Bloomfield, Connecticut-based Cigna.

The Missouri Library Network Corporation (MLNC) was a library consortium founded on October 19, 1981 by the representatives of thirty-one Missouri libraries. In July 2012, MLNC merged with Amigos Library Services of Dallas Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bally Sports Midwest</span> American regional sports network

Bally Sports Midwest is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts regional event coverage of sports teams throughout the Midwestern United States, most prominently, professional sports teams based in St. Louis, Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NELINET</span>

NELINET, Inc. was an American not-for-profit membership cooperative of academic, public, school and special libraries and other information and cultural organizations in New England. It was formed as a program of the New England Board of Higher Education in 1966, and became independently incorporated in 1979. It merged into Lyrasis in 2009.

Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR) was a regional cooperative libraries network established in 1935, headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, and active through 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AT&T</span> American multinational telecommunications holding company

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's third-largest telecommunications company by revenue and the second-largest wireless carrier in the United States behind Verizon but ahead of T-Mobile. As of 2023, AT&T was ranked 13th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations, with revenues of $122.4 billion.

Forvis Mazars, LLP ranks among the U.S. top 10 public accounting firms, providing assurance, tax, and consulting services. In June 2024, Forvis Mazars Global network was formed between FORVIS and Mazars.

A library consortium is any cooperative association of libraries that coordinates resources and/or activities on behalf of its members, whether they are academic, public, school or special libraries, and/or information centers. Library consortia have been created to service specific regions or geographic areas, e.g., local, state, regional, national or international. Many libraries commonly belong to multiple consortia. The goal of a library consortium is to amplify the capabilities and effectiveness of its member libraries through collective action, including, but not limited to, print or electronic resource sharing, reducing costs through group purchases of resources, and hosting professional development opportunities. The “bedrock principle upon which consortia operate is that libraries can accomplish more together than alone.”

DuraSpace was a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 2009 with the merger of the Fedora Commons organization and the DSpace Foundation, two of the world's largest providers of open source digital repository software. In 2011, DuraSpace launched DuraCloud, an open source digital preservation software service. In July 2019, DuraSpace merged with Lyrasis, becoming a division of that organization.

The St. Louis Stock Exchange was a regional stock exchange located in St. Louis, Missouri. Opened in 1899, in September 1949, the St. Louis Stock Exchange was acquired by the Chicago Stock Exchange, and renamed the Midwest Stock Exchange.

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.
  4. "Member Votes Finalize Amigos/MLNC Merger". Amigos Library Services. May 15, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2024.