Technical Services Report October 2006

• Completed the migration to Aleph during the week of April 24th. All 63 ADMs are using Aleph in production.
• The Ex Libris ILL product was accepted and all but three libraries are using it in production.
• Installed additional storage on Harp and Lute for the version 17 upgrade.
• Added and resized Oracle rollback segments and tablespaces on Harp.
• WebPALS was shut down (8/15/1996 - 8/24/2006).
• Automated some Aleph system maintenance procedures.
• Ongoing system maintenance, security patches, and upgrades.
• Working on problems with LibProxy and Java applets.
  
  

• Luda Lindahl joined the PALS technical staff in September. She will be working with the Reports Group to develop reports.
• Continuing to update the Authorities database.
• Access to the mainframe will be turned off at the end of October.
  
  

• Ongoing installation of service packs on Lute and Harp for version 15.5, ILL, and version 17.
• Continuing to report ILL software problems to Ex Libris.
• Attending scheduled ILL conference calls with U of M and Ex Libris.
• Attending the Indexing Task Force web meetings.
• Attended the ELUNA conference and Technical seminar in Knoxville, TN on June 4-8.
• Attended LaSSSI and ILL meetings with Ex Libris at ELUNA.
• Al served as the technical representative on the ACQ/SER version 20 enhancement group for ELUNA.
• Tested fixed field indexing that was recommended by the Indexing Task Force in the 555 region on Lute to get timing impact. Co-presented the findings at the ELUNA conference in Knoxville. The session was well attended.
• Completed testing item booking and media management, and it was accepted by MnLINK. It will be available in version 17.
• Performing weekly updates to the Authorities database on Harp.
• Loaded the backlog of Marcive records on Harp for GAC and BSU.
• Suspended Marcive record loading after discovering problems with the process. After spending a considerable amount of effort with Ex Libris development staff, a solution to prevent duplicate records was accepted. Marcive agreed to re-post the files with a 909 tag in all records for the libraries that subscribe to the service. There are still issues with multiple 049 symbols, but the same workaround is possible.
• Marcive record loading for SCS, SBJ, GAC, and BSU resumed in August.
• A fix was installed to resolve the p-cir-25 and PLIF loader problem with corrupted indexes when patron activity was performed before the job was finished.
• Enhanced the PLIF loader to allow fall semester dates through June 30.
• Created a service to enable libraries to run their own item statistics reports.
• Set up the acq-25 service for GAC, BSU, and IHC.
• Loaded a special set of Early American Imprint records for WSU.
• Loaded a special set of Serial Solutions records for MSU.
• Loaded NetLibrary 2006 Academic Collection set of records for the libraries that purchased the set.
• Loaded NetLibrary 2006 Community College Collection set of records for the libraries that purchased the set.
• Loaded NetLibrary 2006 Reference Collection set of records for libraries that purchased the set.
• Completed EDI book order testing with Midwest Library Services.
• Completed EDI book order testing with Blackwell's Book Services.
• Configured, tested, and set up NHC for EDI book ordering with Baker and Taylor.
• Configured, tested, and set up IHC for EDI book ordering with Midwest Library Services.
• Configured and set up the 525 region on Lute for MSU to test Blackwell's Book Services Collection Manager.
• Created a ftp service to retrieve records from Blackwell's Book Services Collection Manager.
• Completed work on the ftp system set up for the Aleph inventory function.
• Fixed the problem with remote access to NetLibrary records in Aleph from LibProxy.
• Set up additional ILL units on Harp.
• Modified the ue_17 watcher program that monitors the process to send an email whenever the process aborts or spins.
• Testing EDI claims processing with EBSCO and problems are being reported to Ex Libris.
• Waiting for p_manage_18_p (record loader using parallel processes), p_file_99 (Marcive loader), and ue_17 (ILL process) fixes from Ex Libris.
• Waiting to hear from Ex Libris about the SIs submitted from EDI claims testing with EBSCO.
• The "golem" problem has resurfaced, and a SI was submitted to Ex Libris.
  
  

• Attending version 17 project planning meetings.
• Reading and referencing the voluminous amount of documentation for upgrade express, version 16, and version 17.
• Completed system preparation for the version 17 upgrade. Region 555 on Lute was the starting region for the upgrade process.
• Synced up version 15.5 Aleph tables from Harp in the 555 region on Lute.
• Added all ADMs in the 565 region on Lute for version 16.
• Discovered a character limit problem with the tcsh shell that is distributed by Ex Libris. A newer version of the shell was used to fix the problem, and a SI was submitted to Ex Libris to alert them about the inadequacy of the version they distribute with their product.
• Converted the Aleph tables to version 16 in the 565 region on Lute.
• Created Oracle 9i database sizing and tablespace configuration in version 16. Oracle 9i was installed on Lute for the version 17 upgrade.
• The Authorities database was refreshed in the version 17 region from the PALS Authorities database. It will be refreshed once more before moving version 17 into production.
• Completed the first upgrade from version 15 to 16 to 17.
• Encountered a limit problem when running p_manage_32 to create the logical bases. A workaround was created to get the last 172 logical bases loaded, and a SI about the problem was entered into Pivotal.
• Completed the version 17 indexing.
• Created and moved the Aleph 17 form_eng directory of files to all of the ADMs.
• Created a base set of HTML documents in the Aleph 17 region with the bulk of local modifications applied to the documents. The base set was copied to all of the ADMs.
• Working on applying ADM customization to the base set of HTML documents.
• Working on merging the job_lists from all ADMs into one and applying rep changes for parameter changes to some of the services.
• Continuing to work on system set up issues for the version 17 upgrade.
• Continuing to work on the Aleph 17 tables set up.