News

With the completion of the implementation of the Aleph software, the Consortium of MnPALS Libraries is moving into a new era. Much of our work will continue to be centered on the ILS, as we learn how to make the most effective use of our new software. In addition, though, we will be investigating new technology and discussing how we might take advantage of it so that we can effectively serve our customers in the future.

I am happy to announce that we have a new addition to the Technical Services Unit. Luda Lindahl joined the PALS staff on September 12. She comes to us with experience in databases and report development and is eager to learn about information technology in the library world. Luda is busy learning the Aleph ropes and has been enlisted into the Reports Group to gain a deeper understanding about library reporting needs. As she gains experience, she will also assist with other Aleph related technical work.

During the summer and fall, we have been working hard on the upgrade from version 15.5 to version 17 of Aleph. We have made good progress and are close to having version 17 ready for your review on the test server. The software is installed and the data has been converted and indexed for all consortium libraries. We are in the final stages of testing what Ex Libris calls “indexing the delta”, in which only records that have changed are indexed after reloading the database. If this works successfully, it will allow us to significantly shorten the downtime needed when version 17 is moved into production.

We are nearing completion of the setup required in order to have version 17 ready for you to work with. Some of the remaining work can be done while libraries are testing. We are continuing to work on tables, job lists, and web pages. We are also continuing to evaluate and adjust resource allocations.

As most of you know, training for version 17 is in progress. The final group of classes scheduled prior to production use focuses on the new features of version 17, and will be held from Nov. 15 through Dec. 8.

The upgrade to version 17 has proven to be challenging. We have encountered several areas where information did not convert through the use of the provided scripts and had to be manually migrated to the new version. We have run into some problems, which we have worked through with the aid of Ex Libris. Although we anticipated there would be some unforeseen issues, it was impossible to estimate what the impact might be when tentative schedules were developed. As it is, we are a bit behind where we had expected to be at this point. However, most of the issues that we have encountered have been resolved and we are moving closer to having a test instance of version 17 ready. Even though we have encountered some setbacks, we anticipate that we will be able to move version 17 into production over the semester break in late December or early January, as planned.

Although it is desirable to move to version 18 as quickly as possible, we have determined that it will not be possible to do so by the beginning of spring semester. We have been preparing for necessary system upgrades and studying version 18 documentation so that we will be ready to begin the version 18 upgrade process as soon as version 17 is in production and running satisfactorily. We expect the upgrade to version 18 to be much easier than the move from 15.5 to 17.

The last day for access to the PALS server will be October 31, 2006. Any work you would like to do on PALS, including running reports, looking at data, and closing out ILL transactions, must be completed by this date. This is also the last date that the Depcon server will be available to provide access to reports.

The PALS staff spent some time over the summer beginning to look at what’s next (not that we don’t have enough to do!). Specifically, we looked at what we should be paying attention to beyond the ILS. This is not something that is new for our consortium of libraries, but it is something we haven’t had a lot of time to devote to during the migration.

As our staff talked about future services, our ideas began to focus on the future of searching. Through attendance at conferences and reading the literature, it is apparent that searching the OPAC is becoming a smaller and smaller part of the search environment that our patrons are accessing. Many new applications which enhance searching are appearing in the information technology arena. Features such as meta-searching, open URL linking, tagging, enhanced content (table of contents, book covers, reviews), relevancy ranking, and faceted browsing are becoming more widely available both within the library world and the larger world of the web.

After some internal discussions, I took the topic of the future of searching to the Executive Committee meeting in September. I asked whether they agreed that these new features were important to the future of searching and what role the consortium should play in providing them to our patrons. The group had a very lively discussion and agreed that they needed to move in this direction and that the consortium did have a role. Further discussions on the topic will be part of the strategic planning process planned for November.

At its September 7^th meeting, the Executive Committee decided to proceed with two strategic planning sessions to plan for the future of the Consortium of MnPALS Libraries. The all day meetings will take place on November 16 and November 28, and will include both the Executive Committee and the User Council. Barb Deming, a consultant from the Management Analysis Division at the Department of Administration will facilitate the meetings. The first meeting will consist of identifying the consortium’s vision. The second meeting will be determining a strategic plan for how to achieve the vision.

The strategic planning sessions will follow on the work of the Executive Committee and the User Council in previous years, which included discussion of the purpose of the consortium and the development of a mission and goals statement.

The Spring, 2007 Consortium of MnPALS Libraries User Group meetings will be held on April 16 and 17 at St. Cloud State University. Be sure to fill out an evaluation form to help the PALS staff and the User Council in planning for our next meeting. We would like to make it beneficial for you!

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.

Over the next several months, a primary focus for the PALS staff will be the update to version 17, followed by the move to version 18. In conjunction with that work, we will continue our efforts to make the most effective use of the Aleph system, including enhancements to reporting capabilities. In some sense, we might view this as the final year of the transition from PALS to Aleph, as we get on the latest version and implement the last major piece of functionality with Booking. As we are beginning to investigate and envision with our strategic planning sessions, the next step is a plan for the future. What is the role of the ILS in our libraries and our consortium? In what other ways can we collaborate to meet the needs of our patrons? It is time to look to the future of information technology and where it will take us as a consortium.

Director's Report for Fall 2006 User Group Meetings