Support and Training Services Report December 2006

• Final production conversion began Saturday, December 16 and will be completed in the next couple of weeks. Watch the PALS discussion lists for announcements regarding the version 17 upgrade progress.
• Remember to use offline circulation in version 17 during the January 1-5 downtime.
  
  

• Advanced Module Navigation (New Features) Aleph Ver.17 for Acquisitions/Serials, Cataloging/Items and Circulation have been completed.
• Version 17 Question and Answer web sessions will be offered for:
  • Cataloging (Mary Ann Greenwald)
  • Circulation (Susan Dueis)
  • Serials & Acquisitions (Dee Nolan)
  • Tables and Systems (Dan Honetschlager & Becky Bell)
  • Web OPAC (Perry Madden)
  If you have questions you would like addressed during these Q & A sessions or questions about how things are working in the Web OPAC, please send them in via the PALS Support Center http://pals.custhelp.com/.
• PALS Support and Training Specialists have placed recorded sessions of each of their Version 17 upgrade web training sessions on the PALS homepage. Recorded web training sessions and accompanying documentation are now available from the following link http://www.pals.msus.edu/aleph/syslibs/docs/17docs/. Click on the link for the module you are interested in, under each module you will find links to documentation and recorded sessions. In addition to the documentation created by PALS Staff are links to the Staff User Guides from Ex Libris.
• Training for the Booking and Media Maintenance module is scheduled for January 25-26 in the PALS office and February 8-9 at Hennepin Technical College, Eden Prairie Campus. Registration is open and has been announced.
• Version 17 Upgrade Training Calendar http://www.pals.msus.edu/aleph/syslibs/home.html
• Check out the following link off of the PALS homepage for a full listing of training offerings and links to registration forms. http://www.abcsignup.com/view/view_month.asp?as=16&wp=112&aid=PALS .
  
  

• When to call and when to place a request to the PALS eDesk - The best practice is to always put the request into the Support Center first. If the problem is an emergency or you feel you need to talk to a Support Specialist regarding the problem, follow up with a phone call (507-389-2000). Please have the reference number from your PALS Support Center request available. The Support Specialist try very hard to respond to request based on both the order in which they arrived and priority level. Even if you think that it's just a quick question please enter it into the PALS Support Center http://pals.custhelp.com. It's important to PALS that we provide the best support we can to all of our customers.
  
  

1. A version 17 Web OPAC customization template was sent out to libraries in early December. The PALS staff appreciates those libraries that quickly returned their completed Web OPAC customization template.
2. Over 30 libraries got to see at least a first draft of what their web OPAC will look like in version 17 with their web customizations. The rest will see theirs when the system goes live in January, and will be able to make additional changes at that time.
   
   

• No meetings
• The PALS office has been in contact with the Authorities Task Force convener, Anne Levin (MHS), about reviewing the OPAC Authorities displays in ver. 17. Some of the tables which were changed in ver. 15.5 appear not to have migrated to ver. 17. PALS Tech Staff is examining this.
• For Authorities Task Force minutes check out their web board http://boards.pals.msus.edu/fusetalk/forum/index.cfm?forumid=17
  
  

• They met on December 18th.
• MITF was informed that PALS Management has approved the indexing of fixed fields in ver. 17 with adjacency turned off in SYS01. The PALS Tech staff had tested the indexing of these fields and determined with adjacency turned off it only added about 4 hours to keyword indexing.
• It was determined that statistics for search engines can be found in the z69 table. A report for the past 3 months will be presented to MITF at their next meeting identifying keyword and browse searching event types for each logical base. This will help MITF determine which indexes are used and which are not used, possibly leading to turning off more indexes.
• They began the examination of adding fixed fields and fields to SYS60.
• For complete MITF minutes go to their WebBoard site at: http://boards.pals.msus.edu/fusetalk/forum/index.cfm?forumid=15. The next meeting is scheduled for February 5, 2007 from 1:30-3:00 p.m.

• Robin Horowitz (MSL) was nominated the convener of the group.
• The group discussed their proposed charge of: "The MARC Records Task Force will develop guidelines for the Consortium of MnPALS Libraries regarding sources of bibliographic records. The guidelines will be proposed for review and approval at the Spring '07 Consortium of MnPALS Libraries User Group meeting, at which time the task force will disband."
• They discussed whether their recommendation to User Group and User council should be a policy or guideline. They plan to flesh out some of the questions as relate to this issue via e-mail amongst the members.
• In advance of meeting, Carla Urban had provided some background information on the contractual obligations and principles of cooperation of OCLC members.
• Mary Ann Greenwald had provided some advance information from the perspective of the ALEPH software and availability of PALS resources as relates to importing bib records from various vendors.
• The next conference call meeting will be January 16, 2007 at 2:00 p.m.
  
  

• No meetings in Fall 2006.
  
  

• Perry has worked with the members of the Task Force via email and their Web board on various version 17 Web OPAC customization questions.
• Web board address for MATF http://boards.pals.msus.edu/fusetalk/forum/index.cfm?forumid=16
  
  

• No new developments or action at this time.
  
  

• RightNow - "Kyle and Frank are on the road for RightNow work and hope to return to the office by fiscal year '08."
  
  

• Booking and Media Maintenance module: January 25-26 in the PALS office and February 8-9 at Hennepin Technical College, Eden Prairie Campus.
• For a complete schedule of web training, hands on training and workshops available please consult the PALS homepage. Click on Announcements, Training & Workshops, select the link under Scheduled Workshops and Training Sessions or click http://www.abcsignup.com/view/view_month.asp?as=16&wp=112&aid=PALS
• Individual invitations will be sent out each time we add a new session to our offerings.
  
  

• eStudent Services Meeting at ACC, November 30 - Kyle & Frank
• RNT demos for TRM/CTC, December 1 - Kyle & Frank
• Advanced Module Training, December 4 - Dee, Mary Ann & Susan
• Advanced Module Training, December 6 - Dee, Mary Ann & Susan
• Source Link Training, December 6 - Frank
• ISRS Survey Training, December 7-8 - Kyle & Frank
• Advanced Module Training, December 8 - Dee, Mary Ann & Susan
• Century College Continuing Ed Implementation, December 11-12 - Kyle & Frank
• MnWest Tune-Up, December 13 - Kyle & Frank
• Reference User Group Steering Committee Conference Call, December 14 - Perry
• North Hennepin Demo, December 14 - Kyle
• MnOnline RNT Survey training, December 14 - Frank
• RightNow Inver Hills Presentation, December 18 - Kyle & Frank
• Agent Training MCTC, December 19 - Kyle & Frank