The development and planning of The Catamount Library Network (CLN) began in 2010 with an initial 5 member libraries, with seed money, initial consultation, and support provided by the
Vermont Department of Libraries. The Department of Libraries withdrew most of its assistance over several months in 2015. The primary motivation for forming the organization was cost savings from switching from proprietary to open source software, and by having one shared system (as opposed to each library maintaining, and paying for, its own separate system). Additionally, a unified catalog allows easier resource sharing between libraries. Initially, the CLN planned to use the
Evergreen Integrated Library System, but later selected
Koha as its
ILS. The first 5 libraries switched to the new system in the spring and summer of 2013. An additional 12 libraries have since joined the organization, 9 of which, have added their holdings to the unified catalog. 3 other libraries are currently in various stages of preparation. One library,
Lawrence Memorial Library in
Bristol, VT initially joined, but left before being added to the consortium's catalog. It has since joined
VOKAL instead. As a result of concern over unrecovered transition costs from Lawrence Memorial leaving CLN, the board voted on September 22, 2014, to require new members to pay a non-refundable deposit of $350(US). The CLN continues to seek additional members. == Database hosting ==