System Operations User Group Fall 2005 Minutes

1. Opening remarks. Kathleen Ashe convened the meeting and thanked everyone who agreed to be on the agenda and speak on the different topics listed. Kathleen reminded everyone that the old PALS proxy server will be discontinued at the end of the year and everyone needs to move to the new proxy server before then. She also asked all to complete the evaluation for the User Group Meeting at the end of the day.
   
   
2. Recorder. Jim Byerly could not attend the meeting and Peg Lawrence agreed to take the minutes in his place.
   
   
3. Minutes. Introductions were done and the minutes from the spring meeting were accepted as written.
   
   
4. No elections scheduled. Convener - Kathleen Ashe (SMSU) term expires Spring 2006; User Council Representative - Jan Carey (HCC) term expires Spring 2006
   
   
5. ALEPH v.17. Demonstration of the XSL Creator by Dan Honetschlager was cancelled due to the unexpected unavailability of the software on the ALEPH website.
   
   
6. Report from XSL workshop. Lori Pesik (SMU) reported on the XSL workshop. It was an all day workshop put on by Dan Honetschlager. Dan showed everyone how to find out which fields are available for any given report and notice and how to add or remove those fields from the reports and notices. He also showed the quick way to edit the reports and notices on the local pc and preview the changes before making the changes permanent on the server. Lori said the workshop was great and she learned a lot. Kathleen asked which reports were changed. Dan replied that everyone worked on different things. Rosie Mock agreed that she also learned a lot. MSU added call numbers to some reports, deleted lots of unneeded information, or re-ordered the information. Dan said another class in XSL editing would be held, if needed, after the migration is complete. The XSL Creator in version 17 may render the training unnecessary. Dan also thanked MSU for having their graduate student work on editing the overdue notices to make a tri-fold notice fit window envelopes. Keith Ewing mentioned that SCSU had done the same thing for their Acquisitions.
   
   
7. Report on ARC. Since ARC was reported on during the general session, Ashe just asked for additional comments. Rosie Mock mentioned that she didn't realize the data was static from the end of June and had tried to run more recent reports without success. She recommended more training. Joan Klanderud agreed that more training is needed and mentioned that it is easy to make a mistake working with filters. How to and step by step instructions would be helpful. Mock observed that some reports are parts of a whole and run separately as you run the whole report. Dave Wuolu agreed that the process is time-consuming, but that you can send the report as an email and then you don't have to wait for the report to finish. He noted that there are performance issues and time-out problems, but the software based on Cognos software is very sophisticated and powerful. It is a bargain at $300.
   
   Dave also mentioned that a daily ETL would be very useful. Keith Ewing asked how often the ARC data would be refreshed. Mike Barnett said it would be once a week because an ETL takes 19 hours for the 10 current libraries and uses all the resources of the server. It will take approximately 39 hours when all libraries are on Aleph. There was discussion about whether it should work that way and if anything could be done to speed it up. Michael Kirby observed that reports run on Mondays would be the most current if that schedule is followed. Wuolu said the schedule would impact circulation reports and they would have to rely more on the GUI reporting. Mock observed that ARC would work best for special or statistical reports and would work in conjunction with the GUI reports. Ewing suggested that ETLs be split up and some run each night. Barnett said it is possible but it would be difficult because of other processes already being run each night. ARC is currently installed on Harp, the production server, because it was the only location that had the space and resources to run it. The best case would be to run ARC on a separate server. Wuolu observed that ARC would be most busy on the 1st Monday in July or January and not so much used the rest of the time.
   
   Becky Bell did a demonstration of ARC and ran some of the ready-made reports. Dave mentioned that you have to choose the format for the report (html, Excel, pdf) before you run the report and that separate reports run faster than entire reports. He asked if there will be different logins for different libraries. PALS is not sure how it will be done, but ExLibris has to do it through CogNos and there will only be one username and password per institution. It was mentioned that the Aleph contract expires in 2006. Ewing asked if reports that every library runs could be added to the standard reports in ARC. Bell said they could be put in the MyLibrary folder.
   
   
8. Open URLs and MnPALS Aleph. Ewing stated that the issue was standards and that open URLs was just an example. He requested that standards based operations be kept in mind by MNPALS staff when dealing with Aleph. If MNPALS makes sure that Aleph conforms to current standards and protocols, the dealings of member libraries with 3rd party vendors will be much easier. He used the example of the Interlibrary Loan problem that was the result of Aleph not following the standard for OpenURL. Vernon Leighton pointed out that the problem was the length of a field in the webform that was only 12 characters long and looking for the Aleph system number whereas the libraries want to use their 14 digit barcode numbers in the field. MNPALS stated that Aleph has announced the problem fixed and was probably fixed through X-Services. Ashe asked how the group should go about doing this-through ELUNA? ( ELUNA--Ex Libris Users of North America)
   
   Ewing stated that it is just a general request and MNPALS should just be aware and watch out for it.
   
   
9. PALS report. Dan Honetschlager reminded those who have not already done so to redo their Aleph passwords (all passwords must be prefixed with the institution's three letter symbol: MSUXXXX). He also reminded everyone still using the old proxy server that it will be discontinued at the end of the year. He can provide a list of the students still using it to each institution if they want to follow up and notify the students of the move to the new proxy server. He will try to do web tutorials for the automated generation of notices and print daemons. He also mentioned the pilot project for PALS support. It just involves the ETA group and PALS questions should be sent to the migration list. Marsnik expressed the need to track this information to see how successful the project is and Honetschlager stated that Michele will track the questions and enter them into the Helpdesk software.
   
   
10. Questions/problems/solutions. There were no questions from the membership. Becky Bell mentioned that tables training is being done differently for the currently migrating libraries. Everyone has to stay at the training until their tables are completed. Bell stated that it is working very well.
    
    
11. Discussion of the NAAUG enhancements. This agenda item became unnecessary because ExLibris decided to accept all of the enhancement requests for next year. The enhancements totaled 129 points-9 more than the limit of 120, so next year we will only get 111 enhancement points to make up for this year. The Systems enhancement requests were mostly server level requests and our group does not deal with those. Keith Ewing, MnLINK Systems User Group convener did not have any news regarding the upcoming MnLINK meetings. The general agenda for the day is available on the MnLINK site.
    
    
12. Ideas for future breakout sessions. Ewing suggested exploring using X-Services for manipulating data out of Aleph in different ways, for example, an Amazon like use for use with our online catalog. He would like to know how people are using the current OPAC-which clicks off the start page are being used. He would like to see assessment of it from the user perspective, more on user empowerment and using web services to enhance the user experience. Ewing also plugged the Minnesota Digital Library website-which has seen more than 11,000 users in the last few weeks. There was interest in a session on an ad hoc URL checking process for next spring, but then it was noted that Aleph v.17 has a URL checker so there won't be a need to establish a different process. Ewing asked what plans there are after version 17 is installed. Barnett said version 18 would not be looked at before January 2007. Version 18 is a major overhaul and would need to be looked at further before deciding how to proceed.
    
    
13. Other. It was reported that there was a MARCIVE loader fix last week that resolved all but one issue which is probably be resolved soon. It is likely that MARCIVE records will start being loaded within a week. Bell reported that the fix for NetLibrary is not ready yet but it is hoped that it will be available by mid November or early December. We are waiting for a fix from Ex Libris.
    
    

1. 1:45 Opening Remarks - Convener: Kathleen Ashe (SSU)
   
   
2. Recorder - Jim Byerly (MDT)
   
   
3. 1:50 Approve Spring, 2005 Minutes - April 26, 2005
   
   
4. Elections - No Elections Scheduled
   Positions Held
   • Convener - Kathleen Ashe (SSU) - Term Expires Spring, 2006
   • User Council Rep - Jan Carey (HCC) - Term Expires Spring, 2007
     
     
5. 1:55 Aleph Version 17
   • Demo XSL Creator - Dan Honetschlager (PALS)
     
     
6. 2:00 Report from XSL workshop, discussion and questions - Lori Pesik (SMU)
   
   
7. 2:20 Report on ARC, discussion and questions - Anna Hulseberg (GAC)
   
   
8. 2:40 OpenURL's and MnPALS Aleph - Keith Ewing (SCS)
   
   
9. 3:00 PALS Report - PALS Staff - Dan Honetschlager
   • Aleph Staff Usernames/Passwords
   • Aleph Advanced Systems Classes - V.15.5
   • Old proxy server drop dead date
     
     
10. 3:10 Questions/Problems/Solutions: Aleph Systems Issues
    An opportunity for new Aleph users to ask questions of experienced Aleph users - Jan Carey (HCC) and David Wuolu (SBJ?)
    
    
11. 3:25 Discussion of proposed NAAUG enhancements and voting. Recommendations for MnLINK? Replacement of NAAUG with new organization - Keith Ewing, Convener, MnLINK Systems User Group
    
    
12. 3:35 Discussion - ideas for future breakout sessions - Kathleen Ashe (SSU)
    • URL checking in ALEPH catalog (LRL)?
      
      
13. 3:45 Other/Adjourn
    
    

8. OpenURL's and MnPALS Aleph - Keith Ewing (SCS)
   • I'm growing increasingly concerned with how the ILS and its modules, specifically ILL, does or does not integrate with external services, such as an OpenURL service (e.g., SFX) using standard and widely accepted protocols. The problem is less with Ex Libris Aleph per se than with the version of Aleph in MnPALS. For example, the development of ILL has been terribly slow; by the time the retrofit is implemented in v. 15.5.2, there will be less than one year of functionality available. Unfortunately, ILL functionality will be limited to the book catalog for those of us who are using an OpenURL service to link among indexes and fulltext sources. I have not heard how OpenURL services will work with ILL in the MnPALS multi-ADM environment. A similar concern arises from integrated Aleph with federated search services (e.g., MetaLib), with acquisition vendor services (e.g., Gobi), and other developments on the horizon.
     
     
11. NAAUG Enhancements & Voting
    • The final NAAUG Enhancements for 2005-2006 Version 19 have been posted.
    • There are a total of 15 proposed enhancements: three each for Acquisition/Serials, Cataloging/Authorities, Circulation/Reserves, OPAC, and Systems/Administration.
    • You will notice that Ex Libris has assigned development weights to each proposed enhancement. Ex Libris has agreed to do 120 development weights for Version 19, due out in January of 2007. Each of the two server sites for MnLINK is allowed 100 votes for a total of 200 votes.
    • The MnPALS User Groups will submit their recommendations to the chairs of the MnLINK subsystem user groups.
    • The MnLINK User Groups will meet on October 31 to discuss the enhancements. They will submit recommendations to the ILS Operations Committee and the Policy Advisory Council. The ILS Operations Committee and the Policy Advisory Council will meet the beginning of November to decide where to place our 200 votes.
    • The 200 votes can be distributed to many of the enhancements or only a few. Those votes must be submitted to the NAAUG chairs by November 15. The votes are then tallied and submitted to Ex Libris for Version 19.
      
      
    Action: Each individual subsystem group should review their 3 enhancements and discuss them. It is also a good idea to be aware of the enhancement requests from other subsystems as that enhancement may also be beneficial in your area. After discussion, a motion or recommendation from your subsystem group should be made and forwarded to the MnLINK meetings on October 31.
    
    
12. Future Breakout Sessions
    • This agenda item came from User Council.
    • The User Council would like to see the MnPALS User Groups as an opportunity to discuss software issues as well as other issues related to functional areas.
    • These breakout sessions could be planned for just a particular subsystem meeting or if it is something other people would be interested in it could be scheduled as a separate breakout session.
    • By discussing it now, people would have time to plan for the next user group meeting in April.
      
      
    Action: The group should discuss possible ideas for breakout sessions either for everyone or just that particular subsystem. Volunteers to do these breakout sessions would also be needed. It may be necessary to form a task group to work on this.