All of the Epsilon/Zeta libraries have "Switched to Production". Overall the down time and STP for all of the libraries went fairly smoothly.
Aleph Training
Training for the Eta library group is underway. The training class schedule for the Eta group is posted on the PALS homepage at www.pals.msus.edu/aleph/etaclasses.html.
Refresher meeting sessions on Cataloging, Circulation, Acquisitions and Serials have been offered to the Epsilon/Zeta libraries.
Course Reserve WebMeeting training is scheduled for the Epsilon/Zeta libraries on February 8th.
Aleph ILL
The MnPALS First ILL group decided in a phone meeting on January 26th to delay the training sessions by one week. Training will occur on February 10th for ILL setup and February 17th for ILL staff functional training. The group will STP on ALEPH ILL on February 18th. The delay in training was done to allow additional time for a fix for a timeout problem on the borrow locate on serial requests on the MnPALS server and so the University of Minnesota could install additional service pack and receive a fix for a problem with multiple locates on journal requests. We have received a fix for the timeout on MnPALS server. MINITEX staff have agreed to specifications for the printing of slips on multiple locates on journal requests.
South Central College, Mankato and South Central College, Faribault have joined the MnPALS First ILL group.
A preliminary training and implementation schedule has been setup. According to the schedule we will have all of the PALS libraries moved onto ALEPH ILL by the middle of May. The PALS server will remain available for libraries to close out interlibrary loan requests until Fall 2006. As the implementation of ALEPH ILL occurs, libraries will be exchanging interlibrary loan requests with the libraries on the same ILL software. In other words, MnPALS ALEPH libraries will exchange interlibrary loan requests with other MnPALS ALEPH libraries. PALS libraries will exchange interlibrary loan requests with other PALS libraries. As the ILL implementation progresses, email messages will be sent out when libraries have moved to ALEPH ILL.
We continue to install and test service packs for interlibrary loan and report problems to ExLibris
Aleph Item Booking and Media Maintenance
Currently there is no additional information to pass along regarding Item Booking and Media Maintenance.
PALS eDesk
An Organizational View has been added to the PALS eDesk. When you are logged in to the eDesk and on the My Stuff tab check out the link to your questions. Above the list of questions there is a drop down menu that will let you choose to view either just your questions or those sent by your organization.
Trudy has begun a project to assign appropriate sub-products to all of the Aleph answer in the eDesk knowledge base. Once this is completed we can begin to turn on rules in RightNow to allow support requests to be automatically assigned to a support specialist. This will also allow more specific searching of the knowledge base to occur.
PALS eDesk Tips:
Requests that you submit are not visible to anyone other than you and staff at your institution. The Answers that are visible to the public are formulated by the PALS staff and then placed in the knowledge base for you to search.
After receiving a response to a support request that you just want to send an acknowledgement of the response but need no further action on you can do the following. After entering your text into the eDesk, prior to clicking the "Submit Update to Question" button, put a check in the box that says "Problem Solved/I no longer need an answer to this question". This will send a response to the support specialist but close the request as well.
Task Forces
Authorities Task Force - This group did not meet in January. In the past, they have met twice a month via WebMeeting and conference call. Starting in February 2006, they will have one WebMeeting each month, still on Friday from 1:00-2:00 p.m. The upcoming scheduled meeting dates are: February 17, March 3, April 7, and May 5. At this time, the information on the WebBoard is not available for MnPALS librarians (see the explanation above).
Indexing Task Force -
With the re-indexing of the production server catalog occurring at the most recent migration of the Zeta/Epsilon libraries, the following changes are now visible:
definition changes to the tab_type_config file (watch for a new Indexing document),
Series indexing. 2 browse indexes were created. The first includes $v and is accessed from a search interface in the OPAC. The second browse index omits the $v in the indexing and is only accessible from access fields in the record display. Hyperlinks in the OPAC shall only be from access fields (440, 800, 810, 811, 830) not description fields (490). Hyperlinks will cause a browse search for the series title and display a collapsed or group list for the records matching the series title,
fixed the title sort to correctly use the non-filing indicator
fixed the call number conversion for Dewey call numbers.
removed from the author browse index: 400, 410, 411, 800, 810, 811.
removed from the title browse index: 76x-78x
The task force met on January 30th to discuss the response made by the PALS office, dated Nov. 1, 2005, in regard to further recommended changes in ALEPH indexing. On Feb. 6th; the task force and PALS management will meet to discuss the implementation of these additional indexing recommendations, system implications, the effort of implementing each change, and the expected results of the change.
Sarah Quimby, Legislative Reference Library Cataloger, has taken a new librarian job out of the MnPALS consortium. Therefore, she has resigned from the task force. We thank her for the time, effort, and contribution she made to the group.
At this time, the information on the WebBoard is not available for MnPALS librarians (see the explanation below).
Validation Work Group - The group met on January 18th.
They presented progress reports on SYS01 (bib library) work implemented, ready to be implemented, and additions/revisions for the following areas: tag validations and content validations. Because the tag and content validations being implemented have an immediate effect upon the system, a report will be made to the consortium summarizing these changes.
The dependency portions of the validation checks are being implemented and tested on Lute, the development server, before moving to Harp, the production server.
The next meeting is planned for February 1, 2006 with work to start on SYS60 validation tables.
At this time, the information on the WebBoard is not available for MnPALS librarians (see the explanation below on message board changes).
MnPALS Access Task Force - A meeting had been planned for January 26th, but was canceled when several members had scheduling conflicts. So far, that meeting has not been rescheduled. Keith Ewing, Task Force Chair, has asked the group to look at the study completed by the Bibliographic Services Task Force of the University of California entitled "Rethinking How We Provide Bibliographic Services"
http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/sopag/BSTF/Final.pdf (you can get the gist of the report in the Executive Summary) and at the new North Carolina State catalog (http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog).
Message Board Changes
WebBoard has been the messaging board for the Authorities Task Force, Indexing Task Force, Validation Work Group and MnPALS Access Task Force. Provided on the board for each of these groups has been their discussion list, area for agenda and minutes, and list of completed work for each group. WebBoard is no longer active or used by MnSCU. MnSCU and the PALS office are in the process of moving to another web messaging system. Workstudy students will manually move all the content for the boards of these 3 groups to the new board system. Once MnSCU and PALS have moved to the new board system, all members of these groups will be informed how to communicate on the new system. Additionally, PALS librarians will be told how to access these boards to read the conference posts made by task force and work group members.
We are also working to clear up some housekeeping issues necessary due to the migration from the WebBoard software to the FuseTalk software. Because the mailing list functionality is not available on FuseTalk yet and the MATF generally are more email-centered rather than message forum-centered, Perry has been looking into alternatives, such as a PALS hosted mailing list or Wiki (allowing the committee members to also update pages) for things such as supporting documents.
Web OPAC Changes
ILL links on Web OPAC: Based on the recommendations of several of our ILL testers, we are looking at moving the ILL link button from the top line of the header (which displays on all pages), to the Your Borrowing Record Screen (which will only come up when they log on to the system). We intend to leave the ILL link on the individual record page.
Basic Search Page Examples: Just a reminder that Perry is changing the basic search page to allow the libraries to choose their own search examples. This is happening for now on a case-by-case basis as the libraries ask for the change. If your library would like to change its search examples, send the request to the PALSHelp eDesk.
Advanced Search Page Format dropdown: Perry is also changing the choices in the Formats dropdown menu on the Advanced Search page. There have been a couple of glitches reported including a problem with the DVD format; it turns out the Aleph software has a problem with upper vs lower case, and originally didn't properly recognize the format for DVDwe had defined. We have fixed the DVD format, but it won't reflect that change unless the bib records are newly cataloged or edited after January 27th. As of February 1, only about 220 of the 7000+ DVD records in MnPALS were being found with the DVD format limit. Perry has asked the MATF to recommend whether or not to temporarily remove the DVD format until April, when the full catalog will be reindexed.
Note that each library has its own formats dropdown menu, so Perry has to make this change 63 (for each ADM) times, and then someone on the tech staff has to copied the changed files over to the production servers.
Change from Chippewa to Ojibwa: Also on the Advanced Search Page, under the Languages dropdown, Perry is changing the label for the Chippewa language to Ojibwa. This change is also must be made for each ADM, but at least the file is the same one as for the Formats menu, so Perry can do both at the same time.
Eta Library Web OPAC Customizations and Logical Bases: This process is now beginning, and the Eta libraries are starting to send in logos, logical base requests and other customization requests for their WebOPACs. The first deadline for logical bases is February 10th (Eta libraries only?). March 17th will be the deadline for all libraries to make changes to their logical bases, except for the exceptions spelled out below.
New logical base requests (ALL LIBRARIES): If your library would like to change or create a new logical base that contains 2000 or fewer bib records, send the request to the PALSHELP eDesk. The process to create and reindex these small logical bases can be completed over a weekend in most cases.
Minitex Library Webpage Terminology Survey
Several MnPALS libraries participated in the Minitex Library Webpage Terminology Survey, including the Minnesota State Community and Technical Colleges (Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Moorhead, Wadena), MN Department of Transportation, MN Department of Employment and Economic Development, Pollution Control Agency, MN State Law Library, MN Historical Society, Ridgewater College (Hutchinson and Willmar), Riverland Community and Technical Colleges (Austin and Albert Lea), South Central College (Mankato and Faribault) and College of St. Benedict/St. John's University . The survey link was also on the Union Catalog Basic Search page and the opening page for WebPALS.
MARCIVE loader - A fix for the loader was received from ExLibris, but it hasn't tested as working correctly.
We continue to test with Gustavus Adolphus College on the load of the bib records and automatic creation of the holding and item record. The backfiles (to February 2004) of their MARCIVE records has not been loaded to the production server.
The loader does not work with multiple symbols in the 049 tag, as St .Cloud State University (SCS) uses. An incident was sent to ExLibris about this...we await their fix.
SCS January MARCIVE records were loaded on the production server, Harp, without the automatic creation of items/holdings by using the old MARCIVE loader.
Because of all the testing with GAC and the failed loader with SCS and its multiple 049's, the last time we have had the time to load records for St. John's/St. Benedict's (SBJ) was the November file. Therefore, December and January files have not been loaded. *** Due to the continual problems with the MARCIVE loader and the growing backfile of records not loaded, PALS Management will be bringing the issue to the MnPALS User Council meeting, February 2, 2006, with possible options and a recommendation of what should be done with the load of MARCIVE records.
netLibrary loader - PALS received a fix for the netLibrary loader. On January 9, 2006, MnPALS ALEPH libraries were informed that the netLibrary shared collection set IV and shared reference collection had been loaded. These were sets that had been purchased in July 2005, but could not be loaded for libraries on ALEPH. All the bib records were loaded with the successful, automatic creation of the holding and item record.
MnLINK Gateway Update
MnLINK had intended to add a link from "My Requests" in ZPORTAL to direct the patron into the user interface of the ILL module in PALS (and eventually, Aleph), so they could check the status of their requests there. It was brought to MnLINK's attention that this functionality has never been developed. MnLINK will pursue this with Fretwell-Downing, the vendor.
The "Get-It" button on ZPORTAL was missing for the MnSCU/PALS institutions for a period of time at the first of the year, but has been restored.
The "Get-It" button on ZPORTAL was turned off for Minnesota State Mankato, as requested.
Changes were requested and made to the Collection/Host URL links for the MnPALS server in ZPORTAL.
Changes were requested and made to point ZPORTAL back to harp.msus.edu in both the live and test systems for the MnPALS target.
Learning Management RightNow - Demand for the RightNow application continues to increase. This month Kyle and Frank began the implementation for Metropolitan State University. Implementations for the eFolio and DARS interfaces have been scheduled for February and March. Minnesota Online recently purchased RightNow's Marketing module and training has been slated for March as well. ISeek's interface will be implemented in early spring.
FuseTalk Forums - The new FuseTalk discussion forums have been installed in a pilot level phase where testing and implementation continues on daily basis. FuseTalk was chosen to replace the WebBoard system that went down in December.
Meeting/Training/Workshop Attendance
Aleph Migration (Eta) Kickoff/Systems Librarian - December 6-8, Dan & Dee
GUI OPAC WebMeeting Training - December 13, Mary Ann
Aleph Migration (Eta) Kickoff/Systems Librarian - December 13-15, Dan & Cathy
GUI OPAC WebMeeting Training - January, 4, 5, & 6 Mary Ann
Advanced WebOPAC WebMeeting Training - January 4, 5, & 6 Perry
Professional Development Day, Minnesota State University, Mankato - January 11, Cathy, Dee, Mary Ann
Epsilon/Zeta Cataloging Refresher WebMeeting - January 11 & 12, Mary Ann
Eta Cataloging Training - January 18-20, Mary Ann & Cathy (20th only)
Epsilon/Zeta Circulation Refresher WebMeeting - January 24, Susan & Sonja
Eta Cataloging Training - January 24-26, Mary Ann & Cathy (26th only)
Epsilon/Zeta Serial Refresher WebMeeting - January 25, Dee
Eta Cataloging Training - January 31 - February 2, Mary Ann & Cathy
Epsilon/Zeta Acquisitions Refresher WebMeeting - January 31, Dee
CISCO Training - January 31 - February 3, Dan & Paul
Questions?
Please send any questions regarding the Support & Training Report to http://pals.custhelp.com/
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