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Consortium of MnPALS Libraries Annual Meeting 2005

Aleph Implementation Report
For the Annual Meeting
March 31, 2005


Becky Bell

Delta Libraries in Production:

  1. The Delta Library group of libraries switched to production on Aleph during the first two weeks of January. They are:
    • Crown College
    • Department of Natural Resources
    • Minnesota Dept. of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)
    • Fire/EMS Center
    • Attorney General Library
    • Department of Revenue
    • Department of Transportation
    • Minnesota West, Canby
    • Minnesota West, Granite Falls
    • Minnesota West, Jackson
    • Minnesota West, Pipestone
    • Minnesota West, Worthington
    • Pollution Control Agency
    • Ridgewater, Hutchinson
    • Ridgewater, Willmar
    • Minnesota State Southeast Technical College, Red Wing
    • St. Mary's University
    • Southwest State University
    • Minnesota State Southeast Technical College, Winona
  2. These 19 libraries formed 13 new Administrative Libraries. The 5 Minnesota West campuses were merged into one Administrative Library; the 2 Ridgewater campuses were merged into one; and the 2 Minnesota State Southeast Technical College campuses were merged into one.
  3. The Department of Human Services library dropped out of this group due to the library being discontinued. DHS bibliographic records have not yet been deleted from PALS.
  4. Down time for migrating libraries was approximately two weeks in December. Aleph was available for the libraries the last week of December, although many chose to switch to production during the first two weeks of January.
  5. Down time for Aleph libraries already in production was minimized during the Delta Libraries migration. Depending on campus and/or library schedules, Aleph was available within 5 working days due in part to the end of semester and in part to the holidays.
  6. The Delta library group migration was completed on schedule!
  7. Thanks goes to everyone involved in this migration!

Aleph Development:
  1. Interlibrary Loan
    1. The current version of ILL was delivered in August, 2004 and because of substantial setup changes, it took about two months to properly configure the software.
    2. Testing began in October. Deficiencies and bugs have been documented and reported to Ex Libris.
    3. Members of the MnLINK ILL Development and the MnLINK ILL Testing groups met with Ex Libris staff on March 21 and 22, 2005, regarding ILL development. Broad categories describing missing and/or malfunctioning software were identified. The existing problem reports will be evaluated and aligned with one of the broad categories so Ex Libris can approach similar issues at the same time.
    4. Ex Libris agreed to provide a development plan for the identified issues to MnLINK by April 1 that describes their approach for completion of ILL.
  2. Item Booking and Media Management
    1. The Item Booking and Media Management specifications are still being negotiated between MnLINK and Ex Libris.
    2. The MnLINK Booking Development Group will meet via conference call with Ex Libris on Monday, March 28 to discuss outstanding questions about the specifications and, hopefully, to agree to them.
    3. Ex Libris has configured two libraries (SCS and MSU) in version 17 for item booking based on information supplied by the libraries through a booking questionnaire.
  3. Aleph Reporting Center (ARC)
    1. The installation of the Aleph Reporting Center was delayed from its original date in December, 2004.
    2. The delay was due to the amount of disk space Ex Libris required for the version 15.5 to version 17 upgrade, there was not enough disk space to install and test ARC in the multi-ADM environment.
    3. Additional disk and processors have been ordered; we are now waiting for their delivery, installation and configuration.
    4. After the additional equipment is ready, Ex Libris will install ARC.
    5. Once ARC has been successfully installed and data has been successfully extracted and transformed into the ARC format, and PALS staff has verified that the software is ready, testing by the libraries can begin. Our expectation is that testing will begin sometime in May.
    6. Licensing for ARC continues to be an issue that the MnLINK office is pursuing with Ex Libris.

Version 17 Update:
  1. Ex Libris began working on upgrading version 15 to version 17 in a test region in October, 2004. Version 17 was released to PALS for preliminary testing in mid-February.
  2. Staff has been diligently testing the functionality.
  3. One of the major changes in version 17 is the architecture change. We are in the process of learning the changes and identifying areas (such as privileges and profiles) that are significantly different with the new architecture.
  4. The MnLINK office is organizing groups to conduct formal acceptance testing for three contractual issues: Interlibrary Loan, Item Booking and Media Management, and the Aleph Reporting Center.
  5. Determination of a production date for version 17 on the MnPALS server has not yet been made. Factors that will be considered will include the acceptance testing results, the architecture changes, additional functional testing results, the time needed for installing and configuring the version 17 software on the test and the production servers, the remaining PALS libraries' migration, and the time estimated for re-writing the data conversion scripts.

Migration Plans:
  1. The Epsilon and Zeta groups of libraries have been combined into one group and will migrate to Aleph in fall.
  2. Work will begin during the summer, 2005, on the Epsilon and Zeta groups. The server environment will be configured and the first data conversion will be completed before training begins.
  3. The training schedule is being developed.
  4. The Epsilon/Zeta group of libraries will be switched to Aleph by the end of 2005.
  5. The Eta group of libraries will be the final group to migrate. Most of these libraries are located in the Twin Cities region. The expected production date for this group is spring 2006.

Planning:
  1. Work plan
    1. The PALS work plan has been updated and posted on the PALS home page.
    2. The PALS staff is using the work plan as a guide to establishing priorities and identifying the most pressing issues to be completed.
    3. Progress is tracked during monthly unit meetings.
    4. The work plan is reviewed at each MnPALS Users Group meeting where suggestions for priority changes and additions are made by the users.
  2. Aleph maintenance agreement
    1. Since the contract with Ex Libris is nearing closure, the MnLINK office has recommended that each server site begin working on their respective maintenance agreements.
    2. Linda Richter and Becky Bell met recently with Greg Huwe of the Attorney General's office to discuss the process of negotiating the maintenance agreement.
    3. The next step is to review the base maintenance agreement and identify additions to the agreement.
    4. Legal counsel will review our revisions to ensure the agreement meets state rules.
    5. Negotiations with our Ex Libris account manager Bill Easton are expected to begin in late April.

North American Aleph Users Group:
  1. The 2005 North American Aleph Users Group (NAAUG) conference will be hosted by the University of Maryland, Silver Spring, MD on June 5-7.
  2. Dee Nolan has been named the chair of the 2005-2006 combined Acquisitions/Serials Enhancement Group.
  3. Mary Ann Greenwald is a member of the 2005-2006 Cataloging Enhancement Group.
  4. Al Ryhkus is the systems advisor on the 2005-2006 Circulation Enhancement Group.
  5. Peg Lawrence, MSU, is a member of the 2005-2006 Systems Enhancement Group.
  6. Becky Bell will be a panelist at a NAAUG session called Experiences with Implementing ALEPH v. 17 - A panel discussion.

Large Scale Shared Systems Initiative (LaSSSI):
  1. A group of consortia administrators met with Ex Libris during the Midwinter American Library Association meeting. The consortia represented at this meeting included SUNY, CCLA, FCLA, CUNY, SDLN, Maryland, and PALS. The purpose of the meeting was to identify strategic issues that are impeding the effectiveness of Aleph 500 shared systems and to establish a series of meetings to collectively address common issues.
  2. Following the initial meeting with Ex Libris, this group decided to continue meeting to further explore common issues before meeting with Ex Libris a second time. The group adopted the name Large Scale Shared Systems Initiative, or LaSSSI prior to its next meeting.
  3. LaSSSI met on March 3 and 4 in Tallahassee, Florida. The meeting scope and purpose was to identify common strategic and operational issues facing multi-campus Aleph clients; to determine the feasibility and desirability of collaborative action to address common concerns; and to decide the organizational structure and near-term agenda. In addition to the organizations listed above, the Virginia Community College System and the California Digital Library were represented at this meeting. MALC (University of Notre Dame/Michiana Academic Library Consortium) was unable to attend this meeting. We identified PALNI as another consortium to add to the group.
  4. Lou Wetherbee facilitated the meeting to help the group focus on the primary issues.
  5. A summary of the meeting will be posted in the Aleph Secure Documents area on the PALS home page.

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