Consortium of MnPALS Libraries

Update from the PALS Office

As has been the case for the past several years, the majority of our staff resources continue to be devoted to the Aleph implementation. We are on the verge of completing the migration of the consortium libraries from PALS to Aleph. This has been our main focus since the spring of 2001, and we at PALS are very much looking forward to its completion. Another primary focus has been Aleph ILL. After much work on the part of many, we are happy to be able to say that it is now ready for use by our libraries. The completion of the migration and beginning to use Aleph ILL are two significant milestones. Reaching them will allow us to begin to assign staff resources to other areas, including moving to new Aleph versions and supporting additional functionality such as reporting and inventory.

Staff Changes

I am happy to be able to announce the addition of two new staff members. We have added another staff member to our Online Knowledge and Learning unit to assist with implementation and support for RightNow and web discussion board software. Our new employee is Frank Embree, who comes to us from the IT department at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

We are also in the process of filling a vacant technical staff position. The successful candidate for this position will assist with technical work related to Aleph, specializing in database and reporting functions.

Aleph Implementation

Epsilon and Zeta Libraries

The 23 libraries of the Epsilon and Zeta groups began production use of Aleph in January. We took advantage of the semester break to re-index the entire database on the production server. This allowed us to include several of the indexing changes recommended by the Indexing Task Force.

Eta Libraries

Our Eta libraries, consisting primarily of libraries in the metro area, are completing their preparations and will go live on Aleph during the last week of April. This is our last group of libraries to migrate. After they join the rest of our consortium libraries on Aleph, we will have 63 administrative units, and a total of 78 libraries, on the new system.

The Aleph implementation has been in process since the signing of the contract with Ex Libris in April, 2001. We all eagerly look forward to its completion.

ILL

The PALS staff has been working with Ex Libris, MINITEX, the U of M, and MnLINK to prepare for production use of Aleph ILL. After agreement by all parties involved, training for our first group was completed on Feb. 17. These first 7 libraries went live on the system on Feb. 27. The second group followed March 23, and the third on March 28. The remaining consortium libraries will be trained in groups between now and mid-May. Our goal is to have all of the libraries using Aleph ILL before the end of May.

Working to get ILL ready for production use has been one of our top priorities for many months, and we are very happy to be able to say it is now ready for use by our libraries.

Future Aleph Versions

We have begun working on the conversion from version 15 to 16 to 17. Because of the resource demands of Aleph ILL and the migration of our final groups of libraries, we are not as far along in the process as we had hoped to be. With ILL now going into production and the implementation nearing an end, we will be devoting more resources to the upgrade to version 17.

Because version 17 brings some major changes in the Aleph software, it is important that the consortium libraries be able to test this new version on the test server before putting it into production. Although we had planned for that to happen this spring, our other priorities prevented us from accomplishing it. We are now planning to have version 17 ready for testing by September so that it is ready to go into production during the semester break in December.

Version 18 was released by Ex Libris on March 8. As we work with version 17, we will also look at the timing for the move to version 18. We will need to learn more about the migration to version 17 and the specifics of version 18 before the best time for the move to version 18 can be determined.

PALS Software

As the last of our libraries is migrated from PALS to Aleph, we will be planning for the shutdown of the PALS server. Our UNISYS license expires on February 1, 2007, so that is the latest date that we can do the shutdown. It is likely to occur sometime before then. Since Depcon is used with the PALS software, its use will be terminated at the same time.

We will continue to run PALS for some time after the Eta group migrates. It will be available to the Eta libraries for data checking and running reports. It will also be available for ILL until the requests in the system are drained out. The date of the PALS shutdown will be determined by early fall, and we will make an announcement early enough so that you have some advance warning.

Finances

As our consortium libraries are in transition with the automated system, PALS is in a transition period with regard to finances. We are moving beyond the days when significant amounts of outside income were available to offset consortium costs, first through marketing of the PALS software, then assistance from the legislature through MnLINK. Our consortium is changing with the loss of the public library systems, which also affects our income. We are continuing our efforts to keep costs down and evaluate staffing needs as we move through this period of change.

For fiscal year 2007, MnSCU and the Executive Committee have approved an increase in user fees. This is a part of the transition where the consortium member libraries and MnSCU accept a greater responsibility for financing the PALS operation. To help us through this transition period, we do have a reserve that we can rely on.

We continue to set aside funds designated for hardware replacement. We are planning for new servers for Aleph in fiscal year 2008.

LaSSSI

LaSSSI is the Large Scale Shared Systems Initiative. It is composed of the central operation and support sites for large shared Aleph systems, primarily consortia. Membership includes central office staff from New York, Florida, California, Maryland, Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. The LaSSSI group was formed in order to share with each other and with Ex Libris ideas and concerns related to running and supporting Ex Libris products in large, shared systems. Some of the topics currently being discussed include input into the new PRIMO product, reducing the total cost of ownership of Aleph, developing a reporting mechanism for Aleph that works for large consortia, testing Aleph, and resource sharing. The PALS staff is hosting a LaSSSI meeting on April 10 in Mankato.

User Group Meetings

The Spring Consortium of MnPALS Libraries User Group meetings will be held on April 20 and 21 at St. Cloud State University. Details are available on the web site at www.pals.msus.edu/pals/minutes/main0604.html. The Fall, 2006 Consortium of MnPALS Libraries User Group meetings will be held on October 23 and 24 at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Information Sources

Be sure to check the PALS web site at www.pals.msus.edu/pals for the most recent information. We post meeting minutes from Executive Committee and User Council meetings and monthly reports from our Support and Training Services unit and our Technical Services unit.

Summary

It is very rewarding to see the migration to Aleph coming to a successful completion. With our last group migrating in April and ILL in production for all libraries by May, the end is in sight. This is a great accomplishment for our consortium. We can now begin to look to the future of information technology and where it will take us as a consortium.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Consortium of MnPALS Libraries Annual Meeting 2006