Cooperative Purchasing in Action

There are over 450 academic, school, public, and special libraries as well as cultural organizations that save time and money with WiLS’ Cooperative Purchasing service.

How do we save you money? Here’s just one example!

WiLS manages a large and growing group purchase of products from ABC-CLIO. This group has over 30 participating institutions, each of which saved hundreds of dollars on their subscription in 2023. All told, WiLS saved these libraries over $11,000!

WiLS also has worked hard to establish strong relationships with other vendors of library products in order to bring direct discounts to MyWiLS subscribers via bid or promotional codes. No fuss or hassle – just an instant discount!

"Cooperative Purchasing streamlines our subscription process and vendor relations, which saves me so much time throughout the year. WiLS staff are great to work with and are adept at negotiating discounts and finding ways to improve their service. Equally important, Cooperative Purchasing helps us learn about new resources and trials, which would be a huge challenge to keep up with on our own."

Hans Baierl, Library Services Coordinator, Moraine Park Technical College

How do we save you time?

WiLS is on the lookout for new products and vendors that will benefit our members so you don’t have to do the hunting. If you do see a new product that has you interested, just connect with us and we’ll do the research for you to find out more about the product, how it works, and how much it will cost. And we’ll even negotiate a discount and license agreement terms on your behalf!

The time savings continues after you subscribe. In 2020, our community ordered more than 2,700 subscriptions through WiLS, but we issued only 1,293 invoices. Using WiLS Cooperative Purchasing means that you can pay for multiple vendor products on one invoice, through one subscription management portal, working with just one organization. And because we understand that our community of library and cultural organizations have budgets that are often in flux and operate on specific schedules, our flexible invoicing can be customized to your preference and on the schedule that is most convenient for you.

"SCLS purchases WiLS memberships for all of its 54 members. It is a productive partnership that benefits everyone. WiLS has the relationships with the publishers and our members receive individualized customer service from WiLS on databases while freeing up the SCLS resources of time and money to be spent elsewhere. The memberships are worth every penny."

Martha Van Pelt, System Director, South Central Library System

See how it works for South Central Library System

WiLS manages nearly 300 individual subscriptions for 54 South Central Library System (SCLS) member libraries. Beginning in July, SCLS member libraries receive spreadsheets with their current subscriptions along with a timeline of important dates for the renewal process. Early planning for January 1st renewals allows libraries to allocate funds smoothly and trial new resources. Libraries receive one invoice for all of their resources from different vendors, and group subscription pricing makes accessing pricey databases such as Ancestry Library Edition and Consumer Reports affordable for even the smallest libraries.

How to access WiLS Cooperative Purchasing

The annual subscription cost for MyWiLS – and all the Cooperative Purchasing perks – for K12, public, and special libraries is $199 per year. For academic institutions, the annual cost is determined by FTE and the number of subscriptions ordered through WiLS. Contact us for more information or use this form to subscribe.

For more information about WiLS Cooperative Purchasing, contact us at coop@wils.org or 608-218-4480, check out our Frequently Asked Questions, or subscribe and join.

"I just mentioned to someone earlier how wonderful you've been to work with, and frankly, everyone at WILS. Thanks to you and everyone there for your kindness, patience, and responsiveness throughout the year."

Dan Paese, Library Media Specialist, TLS, Brookfield Central High School

"Being a part of a private academic institution means not having the collective buying power or leverage that many universities affiliated with consortia or systems often benefit from. For St. Norbert College, WiLS, and its cooperative purchasing program, is our "consortia" and the place that we expect to see the pricing and cost benefits from negotiating and purchasing as a collective. While WiLS doesn’t “win” every negotiation for us, we’ve had a lot of success working through them to negotiate pricing for new resources and renegotiate pricing for existing resources. WiLS is St. Norbert College’s biggest “vendor”, which means that the cooperative purchasing program is responsible for the majority of our electronic subscriptions and while we do sometimes benefit from “going it alone” for resources, we do often find the best prices come from the collective purchasing that WiLS makes available to us as a cooperative purchasing member institution."

Mitchell Scott, Collection Management Librarian, St. Norbert College