Support and Training Services Report: June 2008

Aleph

Acq/Serials

Held the Budget Rollover Web Training on May 29th. Fourteen libraries attended. The recorded session has been placed on the MnPALS homepage.

Cataloging

Since Inventory is part of the Aleph Cataloging module, it has been supported in this area. With a few libraries using an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader, a Y/N switch needed to be turned on in the Aleph ver. 18 client for these libraries. Yet, other libraries do not need it. When doing an UPDATE to an Item Record, if you are receiving this error "Can't find BiblioChip.dll - 126", use Knowledge Base #3240 to fix it.
Reminder that your OCLC Connexion export connection should be set up like this to use Aleph ver. 18: hostname: aleph.mnpals.net, port number: this remains the same as before. It is the 3 digit number for your library's port followed by 60 ... nnn60

Booking

Preparation for implementing Item Booking continues. Receiving input from two test libraries; Concordia College and MSU, Mankato. Web training is scheduled for June 24th and is full with eleven libraries registered. Another training will be scheduled for late Summer/early Fall. Waiting to do this until after the training on June 24th, it will be helpful to know how well the format of this session works before scheduling another. It will also give us a chance to work any bugs out that are discovered by these libraries using it in production before taking the use of Item Booking on to a larger group.

ILL

The transition to ILL2 has meant an increase in the number of tickets. The tickets range from where is functionality now to some setup issues. A number of interlibrary loan staff have commented that they like the new integrated interlibrary loan.

OPAC

Hold Problems in Web OPAC and GUI

We have had reports of problems with placing holds in v.18. In the GUI, an error message is being generated ("Item cannot be requested [Tab37]. Patron does not have permission to place a hold request"). In the web OPAC, the Place Holds link is not appearing.

We have a solution. In tab37, you need to change column 6 and beyond to actual location codes as defined in the tab_sub_library table. The PALS office maintains the tab_sub_library table, but you can view it at http://aleph.mnpals.net/tables/u18_1/alephe/tab/tab_sub_library.eng. We think tab37 should have always been set up this way, but for some reason, having it set up "wrong" didn't cause a problem until now in v.18.

You will then need to follow the usual procedures for tables changes and restarting your servers (running sys-01 for both the PC and WWW servers).

If you have questions, please contact the PALS Support Center at http://pals.custhelp.com/.

ILL Button on local Web OPAC

In version 17 for several libraries, the PALS staff commented out the ILL Button on individual records when searching your local holdings. We are not positive those changes were carried over to all version 18 Web OPACs because version 18 uses a different template page to display that particular line of buttons.

If your library would like that ILL Button commented out for your local holdings, please use the PALS Support Center at http://pals.custhelp.com/ requesting the change.

Systems

Working on a number of calls related to the version 18 release. Main topics have been in regards to Saxon, Print Daemon, ILL Privileges, E-mailing ILL Notices and Download/install the software.

EZproxy

Two more libraries have expressed interest in converting from LibProxy to EZproxy - SCT and WSU

Task Forces

Authorities - We are preparing to load a brand new Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) Authority File sometime in August. At that time, we will begin testing on the development server the authority functionality of Aleph ver. 18. Currently, we are reading documentation, communicating with other libraries (e.g. U of M, SUNY, CCLA) who have implemented this functionality, picking Mike Barnett's brain before he retires, and preparing to work with the MnPALS Authorities Task Force.
Indexing - A new Indexing document is forthcoming by August or September. With new indexes recommended by the MnPALS Indexing Task Force and being approved at your Spring '08 meeting, a new document is necessary. Yet, I'm waiting to prepare it until we have completed the Authorities set up, since Authorities needs some new indexes and some need to be removed.
Discovery Tool Task Force - Working with the MnPALS Discovery Tools Task Force and PALS office Discovery Tools Team. We are preparing for the August rollout of VuFind. You can read their most recent minutes on their Forum at http://forums.mnpals.org/index.php?topic=518.0. Watch for a flier explaining this new product and how you can get it.

PALS Support Center

Call Volume - The number of requests for assistance was actually considerably higher the week after the version 18 upgrade than when we upgraded to version 17. Almost half of the calls were related to the ILL change.
Updated & New Answers
- 3238 - Changing the Aleph server from Lute to Harp or Dev18 to aleph.mnpals.net
- 3102 - Changing order record bib information
- 3079 - Running Offline Circulation
- 3239 - V.18 Go Live Information, May 30-June 1
- 3240 - Aleph message - RFID reader
- 3226 - Holdings Prediction Pattern Template
- 2399 - Global Change Form ... Material Type
- 3171 - Scratch Directory (updated for version 18)

Meetings Attended

MINITEX Open Source ILS Workshops - Koha, 6/03/2008 Dee, Cathy, Dan

Training Received

SLE Capstone - Final training series held online, 2hours each day, 5/12,14,16/2008 Dee, Cathy, Dan, Sonja, Mary Ann, Susan
Captivate Workshop - Held in house, 3hours each day, 5/20,22/2008 Dee, Cathy, Dan, Sonja, Mary Ann, Susan, Perry