MnPALS ACQ-SER User Group: Spring 2008

Minutes

1.     Opening Remarks - Tammy Bobrowsky, Convener (BSU)

Tammy Bobrowsky, convener, welcomed all.

2.     Recorder

Sandy Hoffbeck (SMSU) agreed to be recorder for this meeting.

3.     Additions/Changes to Agenda

Agenda was amended to add discussion of electronic format for meeting attendance (Rosie Bunge, NDC) - #13; Adjourn moved to #14.

4.     Approve Fall 2007 Minutes

Minutes were approved unanimously. (Motion made by Rosie Bunge ; seconded by Karolyn Macaskill)

5.     PALS Report - Dee Nolan (PALS)

Reviewed the PALS Support & Training Services Report with regards to serials and acquisitions-

On pg 8 of the document there is a tentative training schedule. The training schedule is a draft. Training will take place based on resources available and the needs of the library staff.

• Year end budget rollover is being tested for Version 18 – Dee is doing the testing using Gustavus. Dee is building a Captivate demo as she goes. So far everything looks like it is working correctly. Dee hopes to have the demo complete in May but if it is not finished she will hold a web meeting on the fiscal year change. There are not many changes in the process compared to version 17.
• In August/September two-day functional training sessions will be held for new staff or for libraries adding new modules. This will be held for Acquisitions and a separate two day for Serials.
• In November there are plans to do training on Services and Reports in Acquisitions and Serials. The format of the training is yet to be determined.
• In November/December training will be held for renewing serials and standing orders. This will be a web meeting.
• The training fee has been reduced in cost to better assist libraries.

On pg. 13 of the report - Collection Manager (used by MSU-Mankato) and GOBI (used by SBJ) were discussed. It is easy to add libraries. Some re-setup by the MnPALS office will need to be done for Version 18. If libraries are interested in using these products, please contact the support center.

On pg 15 - Email lists have been reduced to two: MnPALS Announce & MnPALS Discuss. The forum and wiki are additional means for sharing information. The PALS icon on the home page is a quick link to these. The forum has boards setup for functional areas (modules). A bold icon next to the board indicates a New Post that has not been read. It is easier to follow discussion trails on the forum than through email. Dee encouraged libraries to attend the breakout sessions that will be held at 2:15 today and noon tomorrow (Friday). The breakout sessions will provide information on using the forum and wikis and also allow time for discussion on communication and the needs of the library staff.

On pg. 14 of the report is information on the mnpals-14 report. There is also some communication regarding this report on the forum. Dee would like some input from the libraries on this mnpals-14 report and whether the dates in the report should be based on the order date in the order record or the arrival date in the item record.

Dee highlighted the Draft “Reports & Services “document that was in everyone’s packet. This document will be discussed at the Systems User Group. The main point is that libraries can make a request for a new report by submitting a request to the support center.

6.     Elections

• Secretary -Michelle Ehlert (Metro State) was unanimously approved.
  
• User Council Representative-Heather Biedermann (MSU-Mankato) was unanimously approved.

Both are for 2 year terms beginning in May. Michelle will also serve as an alternate to the User Council.

Thanks to out-going officers Diane Christensen (GAC) and Anna Haase (MHS) for their service.

7.     Aleph v. 18 Q & A

Question: When will version 18 be available? Version 18 will become available June 1.

Question: If a library creates their new 2009 budgets before version 18, will they migrate to version 18 okay? New funds, etc for the new fiscal year will convert over without a problem if all changes that are made are done prior to the cutoff date on Harp. Additionally, EDI, GOBI, and other services written by PALS should just copy over.

A few of the main enhancements were noted –

For serials: Subfield y in the serials holding record (exceptions and combining issues) has been improved. Four fields were added to global changes for items: material type, arrival date, order number, and subscription number.

For Acquisitions: The Acq Index has two new indexes: publisher, AON (order # 3 field), It was noted that the order number has to be unique, but order 2 and 3 fields don’t need to be unique and can be numerical, alphabetical, or a combination.

The line item invoice will show the bib information. A print can be done showing all of the titles being paid from the General Invoice.

When orders with holds are arrived, a window will pop up.

On both serial orders and standing orders a date will populate showing the claim date. The system currently knows the date, but it isn’t visible.

On serial orders, acquisition claims are calculated based on the order date and claim information in the vendor record for new orders. Once an item is created, serial claiming takes over using serials 44.

The barcode issue of appending the system generated barcode instead of over-riding when arriving an issue hasn’t been tested. (Dee tested this in version 18 and it does work correctly. 4/22/08)

A recent fix just received on version 18 is the public requests for purchase. In order for this to work the patron has to have the relevant permissions setup. The patron can then submit an acquisition request for a non periodical document that is either not found in the local catalog or is missing from the shelf. A BIB and order record is created. Once the request is submitted, the acquisitions staff is able to identify the request through the staff GUI. The request shows up in the acq index with a status of ONW. The acq staff would need to add order information, such as vendor and fund. This hasn’t worked properly during testing and Ex Libris has been notified of the problems. The group wanted to know if the order shows who made the request – unknown at this time. More information will follow.

8.     Changing all of our subscription records with end date of 12/31/2010 to some future date (Bobby Bothmann, MSU)

It was recommended that this date be moved out another 15 years to 12/31/2025 (Motion made by Karolyn Macaskill; seconded by Todd Martinson); unanimous vote. As the change needs to be done by PALS for each ADM, they will work out problems that might occur due to local prior changing of dates. This change will occur prior to 12/31/2010.

Break

9.     Aleph Reports to share (Rosie Bunge, NDC) – Titles in a Collection – mnpals 27.

Rosie Bunge shared the process for using this report. They use this for weeding. The report shows total circulations from when the item was added. The counts migrated from PALS. There was encouragement for all to share reports, showing the process and purpose.

10.     Bowker’s Book Analysis System (Rosie Bunge, NDC) –

This is a new product that is available. It compares local holdings to “Resources for College Libraries”. Choice, Oct. 2007 issue has an article. Currently approximately 25 libraries use BIP; 6 libraries use RCL. Letters regarding pricing will come out soon. Libraries could choose either a 1 or 2 year subscription, but 2 years would be best. Questions included: comparison to other libraries, how would this work for collection development and statewide collection development. This starts with a standard. This discussion will be added to the forum.

11.     GOBI Product and Aleph (SBJ) –

Tess Kasling showed a demo of the product. Using this eliminates re-typing bib information as it is pulled into Aleph. At time of order you know the availability of the item. It is an ftp process for importing to Aleph with a one day delay from when the item is selected in GOBI to when the file is ready to ftp to ALEPH.

12.     Acquisitions/Serials Workday Planning –

This was moved to the forum for discussion.

13.     Electronic format for meeting attendance (Rosie Bunge, NDC) –

This was moved to the forum for discussion.

14.     Adjourn –

We ran out of time. Some items will be discussed on the forum.

Agenda

1. 12:00 Opening Remarks - Tammy Bobrowsky, Convener (BSU)
   
   
2. Recorder
   Please identify yourself when speaking at the meeting to ease the recorder’s job.  As the recorder you may ask someone to repeat his/her comment to verify your notes.
   
   
3. Additions/Changes to Agenda
   
   
4. Approve Fall 2007 Minutes
   
   
5. 12:15 PALS Report - Dee Nolan (PALS)
   
   
6. 12:30 Elections
   • Secretary
   • User Council Representative
     
     
7. 12:40 Aleph v. 18 Q & A
   
   
8. 12:55 Changing all of our subscription records with end date of 12/31/2010 to some future date (Bobby Bothmann, MSU)
   

• 1:10 Break
  

9. 1:20 Aleph Reports to share (Rosie Bunge, NDC)
   
   
10. 1:35 Bowker’s Book Analysis System (Rosie Bunge, NDC)
    
    
11. 1:40 GOBI Product and Aleph (SBJ)
    
    
12. 1:50 Acquisitions/Serials Workday Planning
    
    
13. 2:00 Adjourn
    
    

Discussion Notes for Agenda Items: