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Technical Services Report: September 2007

System news and work completed

  • New Harp has been prepped and set up. So far, no memory issues have been encountered, but we will not know for sure until it is the production server. We are planning to cutover from old Harp on Sunday, 9/16/07. More details about the switch will be planned during the week.
  • After the cutover, a zone will be set up on new Harp for Ex Libris to install version 18. It is scheduled for install on September 20, 2007.
  • After the switch to new Harp has been completed, we will be working on upgrading old Harp to new Lute.
  • A purchase order has been issued to license EZProxy, and we have received a temporary license in the interim.
  • Paul has been asked to spec prices on two new x86 servers that will run Linux and VMware for sundry projects such as the proxy server.
  • Loaded NetLibrary records for Alexandria Technical College (ATC), Inver Hills Community College (IHC), St. Cloud State University (SCS), Winona State University (WSU), University Center Rochester (UCR), St. Cloud Technical College (SCT), Riverland Community Colleges (RVL): Austin (RAU), College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University (SBJ) St. John’s University (SJU) and St. Ben’s (CSB), Ridgewater College Libraries (RCL): Hutchinson (RCH) and Willmar (RCW), and South Central College Libraries (SCC): Faribault (SCF) and Mankato (SCM).
  • Sent completed request forms for version 18 and ARC2 installations to Ex Libris.

Work in progress

  • Ongoing system maintenance and upgrades.
  • Ongoing installation of service packs on Lute and Harp for version 17 and ILL.
  • Attending Indexing Task Force meetings.
  • Continuing to work on PALS Support Center tickets.
  • Continuing to work with the UNIX system monitoring software.
  • Continuing to work on LibProxy.
  • Continuing to perform weekly updates to the Authorities database on Harp.
  • Continuing to report ILL and Aleph version 17 software problems to Ex Libris.
  • Working on SQL reports and services recommended by the Reports Group.
  • Working on the file transfer from the business office and reformatting it for input to Aleph.
  • Working on installing the hardware upgrades.
  • Fixed the OWN code in the NetLibrary holdings records for Bethany Lutheran College (BLC) and Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCT).
  • Loading NetLibrary records for Minnesota School of Business (MSB), Vermillion Community College (VCC), and Minnesota State Community and Technical College Libraries (CTC): Detroit Lakes (DLC), Fergus Falls (FFC), Moorhead (MTC), Wadena (WCT).
  • Preparing to upgrade to Solaris 10 and ORACLE 10G for version 18.
  • Working on the version 18 project plan. A draft was prepared and presented to the User Council and Executive Committee.
  • Discussing outstanding Support Incidents with Greg Gosselin, Manager of Support Services for Ex Libris.
  • Working on tweaking the Discovery Tool and learning more about the underlying open source search engine toolkit, Lucene.
  • Working with Yankee Book Peddler to set up St. John’s/St. Ben’s (SBJ) for EDI and using their Gobi product which is similar to Blackwell’s Collection Manager.
  • Working with Baker and Taylor to enable text EDI order acknowledgements.
  • Will be installing a test version of EZProxy as an option to replace LibProxy.
  • Reported a problem with the Marcive loader matching routine. Working with Ex Libris to find a solution. Suspended loading the Marcive records until a resolution is received. The Marcive records have been loaded through July 2007 for all libraries that have subscribed to the service.
  • Waiting for p_manage_18_p (record loader using parallel processes), and “golem” fixes from Ex Libris.
  • Waiting to hear from Ex Libris about problems with discounts and funds when using Blackwell’s Book Services Collection Manager to create order records in Aleph.
  • Waiting to hear from ISRS about testing the cash file process.
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