Support and Training Services Report: November 2007

Aleph Version 17

List of Services Document - The PALS Support Specialists have assembled a document of all the Aleph Services that are currently available to you on our production server. You can access this spreadsheet from the PALS homepage at http://www.mnpals.org/sections/Aleph_Docs.html and from the PALS Support Center knowledge base as answer number 3211. The document is an Excel spreadsheet and can be sorted by Report Name, Report ID, Module, and Category. A description of each Service is also included.

As services are added we will update this spreadsheet to include those additions. We have identified Services that PALS has created that need some additional help added. We will continue to work on updating that information.

This document was created based on a need expressed in more than one of the User Group meetings and we hope that it helps everyone get a handle on what is available to you for Aleph Services.

Aleph Version 18 Upgrade

Support and Training Specialists have been reviewing release notes and documentation in preparation for the upgrade to version 18. After considering the new features of version 18 the decision was made to offer several 1 hour information sessions for each module of Aleph via Adobe Connect. Preliminary dates have been designated for these sessions with the plan to open them up for registration in late November. Support Specialists have not yet actually seen the version 18 client and would like to have a brief look at it prior to opening sessions up for registration. Once Support is able to work with the Version 18 client documentation will need to be modified and content of information sessions will be more closely defined.

Aleph Training

Preliminary dates have been set for Version 18 Upgrade information sessions. All sessions will be offered via Adobe Connect as Web sessions. Tentatively registration information will be announced the week of December 3. Watch for potential date changes as we progress with version 18.

-Draft-

Aleph Version 18 Upgrade Information Sessions

	9:00-10:00	10:30-11:30	1:30-2:30	3:00-4:00
Wednesday, Jan. 16	Systems	Acquisitions/Serials	Circulation	Cataloging
Thursday, Jan. 17	Acquisitions/Serials	Circulation	Cataloging
Friday, Jan. 18	Circulation	Cataloging		Acquisitons/Serials
Tuesday, Jan. 22	Systems	Cataloging	Acquisitons/Serials	Circulations
Wednesday, Jan. 23	Cataloging	Acquisitions/Serials	Circulation	Systems
Thursday, Jan. 24	Acquisitions/Serials	Circulation	Systems	Cataloging
Friday, Jan. 25	Circulation	Systems	Cataloging	Acquisitons/Serials
Monday, Jan. 28	Systems	Cataloging	Acquisitons/Serials	Circulations
Tuesday, Jan. 29		WebOPAC	Systems
Wednesday, Jan. 30		Systems	WebOPAC
Thursday, Jan. 31	WebOPAC			WebOPAC
Friday, Feb. 1		WebOPAC

Check out the following link from the PALS homepage for a full listing of training offerings and links to registration 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.
Customized Training or Training for adding a new module of Aleph to your library is available upon request. Please contact the PALS Support Center http://pals.custhelp.com.

Task Forces

MnPALS Access Task Force: Keith Ewing resigned as chair of the Access Task Force at the Fall 2007 Reference User Group meeting. So far no one has stepped forward to take this position, and the User Council has recommended that the Reference Steering Committee ask for a volunteer.

In the meantime, Perry continues to post topics to the Access Task Force's message board on the PALS Forums( http://forums.mnpals.org/ ). He encourages anyone with an opinion on the topics he is posting about to comment.

Recent topics that have been commented on include:

Web OPAC message: The library does not have accessible items
Available Status: Changing the wording
Save/Email template document
856 $$3 and netLibrary records
Updates to Keith's Discovery Tool Document

Wikis and Forums

Many staff members from MnPALS libraries have already registered for the MnPALS Wiki and Forum. For those of you that have not had the opportunity to do this yet please see the following link for instructions and information about both http://www.mnpals.org/sections/wikiforum.html.

There are links to the Wiki and Forum from the PALS homepage both from the MnPALS Support page and from the MnPALS Consortium page.

PALS is in the process of creating some very basic help documents for using both the Wiki and the Forum. Watch for announcements when they become available.

Consortium of MnPALS Libraries User Groups

MnPALS Fall User Groups were well attended by approximately 150 people. For those of you that missed the days we have made available a podcast of the general session for each of the days. Minutes for all of the subsystems have been posted to the PALS homepage.

PALS Support Center

New Answers added to the PALS Support Center Knowledge Base:
- Global Patron Not Found Error #3194
- Issue Titles That Have Bee Browsed (mnpals-36) # 3195
- Brief Bibliographic Records and default Book Format #3196
- All Titles - Barcode in a Collection (mnpals-38) #3197
- Inventory Management in Version #3199
- Clearing defaults in Order Records #3200
- Cannot find login for Wiki or Forum #3201
- Item Record Buttons #3202
- Using the serial bar to search by title #3203
- Deleting Strange Profiles in Circulation #3204
- Summary Holdings set up requirements #3205
- Record Lock Time Period Settings #3206
- Defining New Currency #3207
- Bowker's Book Analysis System #3208
- Patron Pincode and Barcode Verification Defaults #3210
- Services Available in Aleph #3211
Site Visits - November seems to be the month for site visits for this Fall. Mary Ann Greenwald visited St. Cloud State University, College of St. Benedict, St. John’s University, and St. Cloud Technical. Perry Madden visited Minnesota State University Moorhead, Concordia College and Minnesota State Community and Technical College Moorhead and Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Fergus Falls. Susan Dueis visited Ridgewater College Willmar & Ridgewater College Hutchinson. Support Staff will continue to do site visits as time allows. Most of our attention will now turn to the version 18 upgrade returning to site visits in early spring.
PALS Support Center Urgency Level – Posted to the PALS homepage is a chart and document detailing the urgency levels in the PALS Support Center http://www.mnpals.org/sections/supportcenter_urgency.html. This document provides information regarding what each urgency level means, what libraries can expect and what the goals of the PALS Support Center are for each one.
Customer Feedback – A very brief customer feedback survey (3 questions) has been activated from the PALS Support Center. When a request that you have sent to the PALS Support Center has been completed you will occasionally receive a customer feedback survey. We are interested in the feedback that you provide and appreciate the time you take to do so.

MnLINK Gateway

The MnLINK Gateway Operations group is working on adjusting the funding for the upcoming fiscal year. It is likely that the server site payment to the PALS server site will be going down.

MnLINK User Groups were attended by Susan Dueis and Perry Madden.

Questions?

Please send any questions regarding the Support & Training Report to http://pals.custhelp.com.