PALS Director’s Report: Summer 2007

Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.
(Alexander Graham Bell)

July 30, 2007

To: Consortium of MnPALS Libraries
From: Linda Richter
Re: Summer Update

As my term as interim director nears an end, I thought it would be a fitting time to provide an update.

Aleph Version 17

Following the recommendation of the Executive Committee, PALS resources have been primarily devoted to improving the functioning of Aleph version 17, which is the version currently in production. Some features are undergoing testing over the summer, including Inventory and Summary Holdings. In addition, we continue to work with Ex Libris on outstanding issues. Progress is being made as we strive to meet the needs of our customers the best we can. As I will detail below, we have decided to purchase a new production server. We expect the move to the new server to improve the performance of the system, which we know has been slow since the move to version 17. The new server will be in place sometime this fall.

Booking

Although we continue to move forward on several areas of version 17, unfortunately I can’t report similar progress on the Booking module. With the ILL module still consuming significant staff resources, we have been unable to assign resources to complete the testing and create training materials for Booking. Booking is still high on our priority list; however, we will do our best to ready it for production use as soon as we can.

Aleph Version 18

You may recall that the PALS Office conducted a survey in the spring where we asked consortium members for their preference regarding the upgrade to version 18 of Aleph. The results were presented to the User Council and Executive Committee in April. Although a significant number of members preferred to skip version 18, the majority indicated a desire to move to version 18 after version 17 becomes more stable. Using this information, we are planning for the upgrade to version 18.

After some initial investigation, we determined that we do not have enough hardware resources to install version 18. In considering alternatives and factoring in the sluggishness of version 17, the decision was made to purchase new servers for both production and test/migration purposes. Although the plan was to make these purchases in FY2008, several factors led to the decision to purchase new servers now:

the inability to install version 18 without a hardware upgrade.
the high cost of a hardware upgrade sufficient to handle version 18.
the cost savings of a FY2007 purchase.

We will trade in our test server and upgrade our production server, which will provide us with two robust and upgradeable servers. One will handle our production needs, and the other gives us the ability to perform the version 18 upgrade, along with current functions such as indexing and a test region for version 17. We also considered the requirements for ARC (the Aleph Reporting Center) in establishing the system specifications.

The new servers have been delivered and we are in the process of preparing them for software installation. At this time, we are estimating that the new test server will be ready to have version 18 of Aleph installed on it in early September. After the support specialists have had time to use the new version, they will make a determination on the extent of training that is needed for each module. In the meantime, the technical staff will be reviewing the background processes such as data conversion, table changes, and indexing to determine timelines for those activities. Only then will we be able to estimate a date for production use of version 18.

One decision that will need to be made is when to migrate from web ILL to the ILL module available in the client in version 18 of Aleph. Options are to migrate at the same time as the move to version 18, or we could choose to migrate the ILL module separately later. There are advantages to each option, which will need to be considered.

PALS Organizational Structure

PALS has contracted with the Management Analysis and Development Division of the Department of Administration to assist us with determining the best organizational structure for the PALS Office. The first step in the process was to conduct interviews with each member of the PALS staff. The next step, which is to interview several of our customers, is nearly complete. In August, further meetings will be held with the consultant to discuss significant findings and determine the next steps in the process.

New Executive Director

Stephen Elfstrand will join us as the new PALS Executive Director beginning August 1. Stephen comes to us from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, where he most recently served as the Head of Library Systems and Circulation. We welcome Stephen to share in our mission of providing our customers with the best possible library automation services.

Thank you

I chose the opening quote to this letter from Alexander Graham Bell to help me say thank you. I’ve enjoyed serving as the PALS Director and I greatly appreciate all who helped me during these past six years. The PALS staff is an incredibly talented and enjoyable group to work with. The consortium members, especially those that served on the Executive Committee, User Council, and Task Forces, were tremendously helpful to me. I believe the work that we do requires a true team effort, and I am grateful for the support that I have received from staff and customers during my term as director.

Although I will be leaving the director’s position, I will be remaining part of PALS. I will return to my faculty position within the PALS organization to continue to help in whatever ways I can to fulfill our mission and serve our customers.

Leave ‘em Laughing

Since I don’t know if I will have a venue for sharing Ole and Lena jokes with you in the future, I am taking this opportunity to share one that Kathy Forsberg of Bethany Lutheran College was kind enough to send me. Thanks, Kathy!

A Norwegian took a trip to Fargo, North Dakota. While in a bar, an Indian on the next stool spoke to the Norwegian in a friendly manner. “Look,” he said, “let’s have a little game. I’ll ask you a riddle. If you can answer it, I’ll buy YOU a drink. If you can’t then you buy ME one. OK?” “Ja, dat sounds purty good,” said the Norwegian. Said the Indian, “My father and mother had one child. It wasn’t my brother. It wasn’t my sister. Who was it?” The Norwegian scratched his head and finally said, “I give up. Who vas it?” It was ME,” chortled the Indian. So, the Norwegian paid for the drinks.

Back in Sioux Falls the Norwegian went into the bar and spotted one of his cronies, Sven Sandvik. “Sven,” he said, “I got a game. If you can answer a question, I’ll buy you a drink. If you can’t, YOU have to buy ME vun. Fair enough?” “Fair enough,” said Sven. “Ok . . .my father and mudder had vun child. It vasn’t my brudder. It vasn’t my sister. Who vas it?” “Search me,” said Sven. “I give up, who was it?” Said the Norwegian, “It was some Indian up in Fargo, North Dakota.”