Dear LYRASIS Members,
I’m writing today to personally announce to all members that the boards of LYRASIS and DuraSpace have decided that a full merger is not currently the best way for us to achieve our long-term goals. This decision follows four months of formal due diligence and six months of exploration. LYRASIS and DuraSpace will pursue more informal collaborations that benefit members of both organizations while allowing each organization to remain focused on its mission.
I want to be sure you know that there will be no reduction of services or increased costs for members as a result of this merger not taking place. All strategic licensing, hosting, training, consulting, grants and fiscal management projects will continue unhindered and our members will see no disruption in those services. This proposed “Intent to Merge” was a partnership of equals, and LYRASIS remains fiscally healthy and will continue to explore new partnership opportunities in the future.
Before signing off, I’d like to share two new pieces of exciting news:
- LYRASIS has hosted 10 Leaders’ Forums across the country this year, with two more still to come in May, focused on identifying current and future needs of archives, libraries and museums in the areas of digital content, content management and open source technology solutions. We plan to use the lessons learned in these forums to design a new strategic plan that will clearly align LYRASIS services with identified needs and opportunities for our members.
- There will be no increase in membership dues for the 2016/2017 fiscal year! After much work by my team, we are working to deliver more value for you, our members, while reducing internal costs to keep your dues down. Hooray!
In conclusion, I want to thank you all for your input, your participation and your support as we explored this exciting opportunity. We plan to continue this conversation and bring new ideas and projects your way in the coming months.
Sincerely,
Robert Miller
Chief Executive Officer, LYRASIS
robert.miller@lyrasis.org