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Aleph 18 Go Live Information

Important Dates

  • Production server unavailable – May 30, 1:00 am – June 1 (plan to be back up early in the day)
  • Final version 18 and ILL conversion – May 29 - June 1
  • Go live on Version 18 and Integrated ILL – June 1

During the downtime of May 30, 1:00 am through May 31:

  • Aleph Web OPAC will be redirected to our v.17 Development/Test Server (Lute). Patrons will not be able to create ILL requests through the Web OPAC.
  • SFX or Serials Solutions links will not work while the Aleph upgrade is occurring on Harp.
  • SFX or Serials Solutions ILL links will not be authenticated.
  • The url to send interlibrary loan requests from SFX and Serials Solutions to Aleph ILL should be changed to aleph.mnpals.net . This change should be made sometime between the evening of May 29th and the morning of June 1st.
  • Proxy server will be working during the down time, but authenticating against Lute patron data (two weeks old).
  • The MnLINK Gateway will be pointed to Lute for searching the backup OPAC. MnLINK Gateway ILL links will work and requests that are entered during the downtime will be queued for processing in v.18 Aleph ILL once the system comes back up on June 1.
  • Libraries with a blank ILL request form on a home page will need to redirect the request to a staff person’s email address during the down time OR disable the link.
    • Clarification: During the downtime 5/30th to 6/1, you will need to:
      Remove the blank ILL request form link from your library homepage
      OR
      Change the link so it goes to a page that says Interlibrary Loan is not available at this time
      OR
      Reroute to a form that can be sent to an email address.
    • After ALEPH is running again on June 1, all links to blank ILL forms will be redirected to the proper blank form using the link you used with Aleph version 17. The manual redirect described above is only happening while MnPALS is down.
  • If you choose to use Aleph offline circulation, use the Aleph v.18 circulation client. See Support Center answer #3079 for instructions on using offline circulation.
  • Using offline circulation is not required. Alternatives are tracking via paper, Excel spreadsheet, Word document, etc., and manually updating in Aleph when v.18 is in production (June 1).

Required tasks for each module after upgrade to version 18 when Aleph is available (June 1):

SYSTEMS

  • This Step MUST be done first. In the AlephADM, change the server address in Libraries Configuration to aleph.mnpals.net:<port#>. This needs to be done on each work station. See Support Center answer #3238, which will be updated for v.18.
  • If you use Acquisitions, verify that the Budget and Sublibrary permissions for the appropriate staff copied over.

CIRCULATION

  • The following steps must be done before you begin using Circulation on the v.18 production server to loan, return materials, etc.
  • Load any new non-PLIF patron records acquired during the downtime. Patron records loaded via PLIF will be loaded when v.18 comes live.
  • Send your v.18 Offline Circulation file:
  • Click on “Send File” to send your Offline Circulation
  • Click on the “2.Offline Circulation-Check Report" tab
  • Print the report. You will need to look at each of the error messages on the report and fix the ones you can.

CATALOGING

  • In your cataloging utility (Connexion or Connexion Browser) set up the export destination to the hostname: aleph.mnpals.net. The OCLC port number for your library is the same as with the last version; e.g. nnn60. (NOTE: The first 3 numbers represent your library and the last 2 numbers (60) represent the OCLC door to the server).
  • You will not be able to export bib records from OCLC after 5:00 p.m. Thursday, May 29, 2008. The system will be migrated to ver. 18 over the weekend and will be down during this time period. Switch to production date is Sunday, June 1, 2008. On this date, you can begin exporting bib records from OCLC to your Aleph library.
  • If you had done any cataloging in OCLC over the weekend, you would have had to save the records in your OCLC Local file. Once the Aleph ver. 18 system is up and running, you can export your OCLC bib records and create a holding and item record.
  • This is not new, but a reminder. If you have created any new holding/shelflist codes at OCLC and export (xpo) your bib records to the Aleph catalog, they come through the oclc_loader. For your library's OWN code to be added to the bib records, you must have any and all OCLC holding/shelflist codes in your ADM's tab_z30.

ACQUISITIONS

  • No changes or steps needed at this time. Begin normal acquisitions work.

SERIALS

  • No changes or steps needed at this time. Begin normal serials work.

WEB OPAC

  • No changes or steps needed at this time.

ILL

  • ILL blank form link from library homepage
    • If your library has a link to the ILL request blank form from your web site, we will redirect the link so that it will work correctly with integrated ILL when version 18 goes live on June 1. After June 1, we will provide information on the change you will need to make to this link so that it will work in the future. We will keep the redirect in place for a period of time to give everyone a chance to make this change.
  • EBSCO
    • The url to send interlibrary loan requests from EBSCO into ALEPH ILL2 will be changed by EBSCO during the downtime.
  • Interlibrary loan requests from MnLINK Gateway
    • Interlibrary loan requests made on the MnLINK Gateway during the downtime will be stored and processed after the version 18 is running.

COURSE RESERVES

  • The URL for ver. 18 Course Reserves, that will change on June 1st to: aleph.mnpals.net
    • Further clarification on getting to the web Course Reserves page.
      1. To get to the tables and services page, go to the NEW URL for the production server - http://aleph.mnpals.net/. Formerly this was http://harp.msus.edu/. From the Services (right hand column of links), you can choose your individual library and then choose 'Course Reading Management'.
      2. Once you choose 'Course Reading Management', notice the URL now is your WebOPAC URL plus /S. For example, in Normandale's case, it will say http://mnpals.normandale.edu/S/. This Course Reserve address remains the same as it did in Aleph version 17.

Important Dates Already Passed

  • Last day to update tables in version 17 – May 16
  • Date of data used to refresh lute (for OPAC during downtime) – May 17
  • Last day to update tables and forms on dev18 – May 23
  • Last day to update privileges on dev18 – May 30

Recommended tasks for libraries prior to May 29

  • ILL Privileges in ALEPH Version 18
    • Open Staff Privileges – Highlight a staff member - select “Modify User” – identify the ILL Unit to be used with this staff member.
    • Open “Access Rights” – select XXX40 – under “All Functions”, select “All Sub-functions” and click the ALLOW button.
    • If needed, review the rights for Integrated ILL and Services-ILL. All are allowed by following the steps defined above. Deny as determined by your library policies.
    • We recommend removing the “Old” ILL privileges that were used in the web-based ILL. They generally did not follow the naming convention we used in the GUI. The correct naming configuration is with a 3 digit institution code then the staff member name.
    • We will export the privilege records from the dev18 implementation. The current version 17 privileges will not be converted. We will use the privileges that exist in dev18 on May 30.
  • Emailing interlibrary loan notices to a patron - This is an individual staff workstation setup.
    • For emailing interlibrary loan notices, the Mail column in Print configuration (print_ini) should be set to M (email). The "Patron letter" file controls the patron notification letters connected to borrowing Print. The Arrival letter controls the delivery of arrival notice generated with the Receive. In addition, ALEPHADM/Configuration/Common Headings change DefaultPrintConfig, Mail Server, From Address and Mailer name to your interlibrary loan library settings.
  • ILL Print in ALEPH Version 18 – Multi-ILL unit institutions
    • The ILL server used to configure the print notices PER ILL UNIT. NOW this is found in the GUI Client, the print.ini found under Interlibrary Loan 2 defines the form to send out. Institution “A” may send out a letter defining a pick-up location using ArrivalLetter-00. Institution “B” will send out ArrivalLetter-01 which defines their own pick-up location. This will have to be configured on the PC that produces the letter. In print_ini the column titled "ID" should have the proper letter extension number for your interlibrary loan unit.

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