WiLS is excited to share that we have developed a new model for how we charge for cooperative purchasing services for our academic members. With input from our Board, our Cooperative Purchasing Advisory Committee, and other users of the service, we will no longer base our service fees on what vendors charge for their products.
Instead, we are adopting a model based on member institution characteristics and service volume to more accurately reflect the amount of work that goes into service provision. This change will benefit both our members and the consortium in a number of ways and aligns our business model with our values, which is to place our members at the center of all our business decisions. At WiLS, we are not motivated by profit, but instead driven by our mission to save our members time and money.
Beginning July 1st, members will no longer see a service fee attached to individual subscriptions. Instead, a single flat fee will be assessed annually, based on your institution’s FTE and the average number of subscriptions managed by WiLS in the previous two fiscal years. 80% of our academic members will see a reduction in service fees paid to WiLS and overall, average service fees assessed to members will drop by 30%.Â
In addition, this spring, we are making significant updates and improvements to MyWiLS to ensure that managing your subscriptions through WiLS is easy and convenient.
These changes both align our business model with our organizational values and benefit our members in:
- Cost savings: We hope that reducing these fees will mean that you can take advantage of other cost-saving opportunities with WiLS and that increased volume gives us more leverage to negotiate bigger discounts and better terms with vendor partners.
- Time savings: Accessing our subscription management service for one flat service fee and unified invoicing through a streamlined MyWiLS interface will reduce the time you spend managing your own subscriptions, their payment, and vendor relationships.
- Predictability and transparency: Our full service fee will be clearly communicated, known well in advance of your next renewal, and will not be subject to annual dramatic fluctuation.
We know that our members will want to see what their annual service fee will be for the next year. In the coming days, each library will receive a direct email that lays out the specific changes for that institution. Also, when their membership renewal is entered into MyWiLS, it will be for this new amount.
We will be hosting two live opportunities for members to ask questions and share feedback with us on these changes:
- February 23rd at 11:00 AM Central (Registration Link)
- March 9th at 1:00 PM Central (Registration Link)
Feel free to reach out to Jeff Brunner (brunnerj@wils.org) with any feedback or questions.
As always, thank you for being a WiLS member!