[Michlib-l] New MAP Partner/Destination (Number 384) Added AND One Month In: Update

[Jim Flury]

All,

I am very pleased to announce the addition of a brand new partner venue to the Michigan Activity Pass program. Michigan's Heritage Park in Whitehall http://www.lakeshoremuseum.org/project/michigan-heritage-park/ is our 384th MAP destination. Welcome to MAP, MHP! And, we are talking to a potential 385th partner! I won't name them yet, as this is still tentative, but I can tell you that their base of operation is about as far north in the Lower Peninsula, or about as far south in the Upper Peninsula, as you can go, and that their name is similar to that of the first name of the character named Horshack from the Welcome Back, Kotter television series of the 1970's, and... 

Statewide, Year 3 of MAP went live one month ago, on May 24. I perused the checkout stats a bit, and was very pleased to see that thanks to your hard work to promote the program, MAP checkouts for the first month stand at nearly 66% of the TOTAL circulation for the FULL 12 MONTHS of last year's program. Two-thirds as many passes were borrowed in the first month of new MAP as were issued in 12 months of old MAP! Keep up the great work, everyone! We will distribute MAP stats for the period late May and June, 2015 during the first week of July. 

Last week a TLN library sent us a plastic display holder that contained a copy of a MAP promotional piece from 2012. In looking at this now historic artifact, we were reminded as to how far the program has come in a very short time. The MAP program debuted in Fall, 2007 with 30 partner destinations and public libraries in six metro Detroit counties. That program ran very successfully for five years. At the end of the five year period the sponsor decided to go in a different direction, leaving us with a decision to make. Since MAP usage was and still is, highest during the summer months, we opted to run an abbreviated version of the program for the period May 25, 2012 through September 3, 2012, again with public libraries in six counties. We had 24 partner venues, including some who've been with us since 2007 such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, Howell Nature Center, Arts & Scraps, Anton Art Center, and the Arab American National Museum. At the end of the abbreviated official MAP 2012 season the circulation numbers were good enough that we decided to extend the program into the Fall, knowing we still had to make a decision regarding the future. For Spring, 2013 we decided to take the program from paper checkout cards and passes to all online, and to include all of Michigan's nearly 400 public libraries in 640 buildings in 83 counties, with 60 cultural partner venues. As word caught on that MAP could offer potential cultural partners good promotional value at little or no cost, more destinations joined, which brought us to 100+. This year brought new sponsors, in the form of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Department of Natural Resources, and Michigan Recreation and Parks Association, and the huge expansion of the program with the addition of the nearly 240 DNR sites, bringing us to where we are today, with 640 library buildings and 384 partner destinations. Tomorrow, who knows?

Soar and Explore! Thank you for your support and promotion of the Michigan Activity Pass program.

Sincerely,

Jim Flury

Jim Flury
Technical Services Manager
The Library Network
41365 Vincenti Court 
Novi, MI 48375
248-536-3100 x133 
Fax 248-536-3098 
jflury at tln.lib.mi.us