Cooperative Purchasing
Levels of PLLS/SHARE Cooperative Purchasing
PLLS facilitates cooperative purchasing at a number of different levels:
- For the group of 22 member libraries of the system;
- For the extended SHARE Consortium group of 29 libraries across Kenosha, Racine, Rock and Walworth counties;
- In coordination with other regional library systems or partnering organizations.
By engaging in as much cooperative purchasing as practicable, libraries throughout the entire Southeastern region of Wisconsin benefit from lower costs, more resources, and greater value to the taxpayer.
Specific examples of cooperative purchasing ventures facilitated by PLLS:
- Ancestry.com (Library Edition)
- System-wide licensing of feature films for public display at member libraries
- An OverDrive-based, statewide collection of ebooks and audiobooks
- LinkedIn Learning platform
- BrainFuse HelpNow homework help platform
- Creativebug crafting tutorial platform
- Highly-functional library automation software
- One single high-bandwidth circuit shared by Prairie Lakes Library System and Southwest Wisconsin Library System
- Annual group purchases of PC and network equipment at quantity discounts
- Procurement of RFID-related supplies and equipment at quantity discounts
- Library consumable supplies
Note: List contains a few examples of past and present cooperative purchases. Not all purchases are currently available.
WiLS Cooperative Purchasing
Save time and money by purchasing products through WiLS
If you are looking to make a purchase for your library or cultural institution, join the over 450 organizations using WiLS’ Cooperative Purchasing service to save both money and time. Through the service, you get access to our negotiated discounts with dozens of vendors for hundreds of products and we will manage the complete life cycle of your electronic content purchases, from trials to invoicing. Our one-stop-shop subscription management portal, MyWiLS, makes it easy and fast to manage all your subscriptions. We also offer deposit accounts and can pay any bill you send our way with our bill pay service.