PrairieCat Celebrates 20th Anniversary

PrairieCat has been connecting member libraries for 20 years. The membership has grown and changed during the past 20 years, but the strong commitment to resource sharing effectively and equitably has remained. 

PrairieCat currently supports 136 member libraries, including public, school, and academic libraries. Members share an integrated library system, Sierra from Innovative, to provide automation for daily library operations including circulation, cataloging, reporting, and more. End users have access to more than 5 million items through the shared catalog.

In FY26, members across 22 counties in Illinois:

• Circulated 4,532,630 items 
• Filled 658,240 interlibrary holds 
• Completed 639,220 reciprocal borrowing transactions 

PrairieCat was formed in 2006 by the merger of HAL, NILSCatT and Quad-LINC. Some of the former NIC libraries also migrated to PrairieCat at that time, along with a group of previously standalone libraries. PrairieCat was originally on a SirsiDynix Symphony system using IBistro for the public catalog; PrairieCat went live on SirsiDynix with 193 members. PrairieCat has experienced membership changes and system changes throughout the last 20 years, and remains committed to connecting our member libraries to strengthen communities in the coming years. 

Detailed Timeline:

• December 2005 – PALSGroup / SirsiDynix contract signed.
• June 2006 – PrairieCat name adopted after vote of membership.
• February 2007 – 8 NIC libraries decided not to merge to PrairieCat and to instead stay as an independent Innovative consortium.
• April 2007 – PrairieCat went live on SirsiDynix with 193 members.
• December 2010 - PrairieCat became an Illinois Intergovernmental Instrumentality, a separate legal entity from the library system, to protect assets and ensure sustainability. 
• July 2011 – Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS) formed by merger of the Alliance Library System, the DuPage Library System, the Metropolitan Library System, the North Suburban Library System and the Prairie Area Library System.
• December 2011 – 19 libraries pulled out of PrairieCat to form RiverShare.
• March 2012 – PrairieCat signed a five-year contract with Innovative through June 30, 2017.
• June 2012 – 6 libraries pulled out of PrairieCat to form Pinnacle, and 19 Union List members chose to withdraw rather than participating in the Innovative migration.
• July 2012  – PrairieCat migrated to Innovative’s Sierra platform. 
• April 2013 – The Basic Online level of membership was added. Membership level eligibility requirements based on budget for public libraries and student enrollment for school libraries was also added. 
• September 2014 – RAILS began offering grants to libraries to join or upgrade LLSAP membership. Twenty-five libraries have joined or upgraded their membership since 2013. 
• May 2016 – Eight RiverShare (QC8) members rejoined PrairieCat and went live.
• June 2016 – PrairieCat celebrates 10 years as a consortium!
• July 2018  – As part of planned independence and sustainability project, support staff resigned from RAILS and were directly hired by PrairieCat. 
• May 2019  – The eight former NIC libraries rejoined PrairieCat.
• July 2021  –  PrairieCat joined IMRF as an organization.
• June 2026 – PrairieCat celebrates 20 years as a consortium with 136 members!