Technical Freeze Starts This Weekend – So What Can I Do??

What is going to happen this weekend? What will I be able to do? What can be done during the Technical Services freeze? These are all valid and reasonable questions, which I will try to address in this post. No fear, though – you will still be able to work!

Starting this weekend (June 22/23), as soon as Mary Ellen completes the fiscal year roll over (after which she will notify myself), I will launch several scripts on the Acorn server in order to do the full extract of our Symphony data. This is a server-load intensive process and requires several hours of work, during which time Workflows/Acorn will be impacted. You may see slowness. You may have difficulty logging into Workflows. Acorn (web catalog) may be down. DiscoverLibrary will only be impacted if it has trouble picking up the Real-Time Availability information from Symphony, but searching should be fine. My Account feature may also be impacted. But please be patient. We have to do this because Ex Libris needs the data no later than Wednesday, June 27; but our goal is to get the extract done by Monday, June 25, so we can review the data for any errors.

In addition to Acorn, we also need to provide Ex Libris a full extract of our SFX and Verde data. Those processes do not take too long to complete and since they are on separate servers, will not have a huge impact on library services.

But Symphony is a different beast. You may wonder why it takes so long. This is because not only are we extracting all of the data (which, by the way, are millions of records), but we also have to modify some of the data in order to meet Ex Libris’s data requirements (specifically, the Invoices and Orders). This is where it gets tricky, which is why we want a day or two in order to review the data to make sure it is as accurate as we can get it before sending it off. We know from experience that we cannot always depend on the scripts to run correctly all of the time, so we need to be able to re-run the scripts if it obvious there was a problem.

During this time, we specifically request that no large reports be ran because that will slow the process down even further. If it is apparent that a report is running and it taking longer than normal, I will kill the report which means you will need to re-run it once the extract completes. We want to get this done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. In order to do that, we need to minimize the number of processes running on the server, which includes reports.

Once the extract is complete, everything should return to normal. However, if you modify a bibliographic record, add an item record, pay an invoice or any other Technical Services activity after the extract completes, that data will be LOST because we will not be doing another extract of our entire system. On July 18, there will be a Circulation Freeze after which we will need to use Alma’s Offline Circulation Utility for circulation transactions. This means all functions within Symphony should be discontinued. At this time, I will extract patrons, loans, and holds from Symphony and send to Ex Libris. And on July 20, we go live with Alma.

Between June 22 and July 20, you can still use Symphony for running reports, as long as they are read-only reports (not writing). This would be a good time for any statistical data you need to gather. You could also be looking for problems that are currently in Symphony (problem records, diacritics, etc.) and make note of these so that at Go Live, you have a list of items you can check to see if they are any better. You can also compare with our Alma instance at that time to see how the data looks. Alma will be available during most of this time until Ex Libris copies over the data, so you can continue testing and training and honing your skills. This would also be a good time to go through the various training modules available from Ex Libris (https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/), especially if you are unclear on how to do something, so there is plenty of work to be done.

We are trying to make this as painless as possible, but take a deep breath. Learn. Live. Laugh – and have fun. We are all in this together!

ILLiad upgraded on May 20th

The ILLiad server was upgraded on May 20th after discussions with ILL.  The timing of the upgrade was moved up in order to allow ILL (Central ILL, Law, and Biomed), the ILS Implementation team, and LTDS to work on integration with Alma.  The upgrade went well and most clients were updated without any incident (right mouse click on the icon an select run as administrator).  LTDS has received a couple of issue reports since the upgrade.  The initial issue with sending out notifications has been corrected.  We are still investigating an issue when attempting to view library information in the OCLC Holdings tab.  We hope to have this resolved shortly.

Please contact LTDS if you have any questions or concerns.

Zip File Importer for Islandora Now Available

Step by step instructions are now available for ingesting ZIP files into Vanderbilt’s Digital Collections, the central access point for the Vanderbilt Libraries’ digitized special collections.  Instructions can be found here. https://ltds.library.vanderbilt.edu/library-staff-pages/islandora-ingest/ You must be logged in to access the link.

Additional updates and changes are in store for Digital Collections in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned!

Post conference report for ELUNA 2018

Ex Libris User group North America (ELUNA) 2018 conference was held at Spokane, WA during May 1st to May 5th, 2018.  here are some takeaways from me.

General Impression: 

The conference was well organized,  in addition to a nice conference program booklet, all presentation slides are made available to attendee in Sched; it was well attended, this is the first time more than 1000+ people attended the conference.  It is a friendly and enthusiastic community, no matter whom you met, whether they are in the process of migration, a newly migrated customers, or an experienced users, everyone is willing to help, to share tips and tricks, to provide suggestions, and to voice concerns.

Useful and amazing sessions I attended during the conferences: 

Exlibris product updates:

  • Primo VE: see the benefits of streamlining Primo and Alma
  • Extending your library with the Alma Open Platform:  Developer API

How things are done at other libraries:

  • New Book Showcases via Primo / University of Manitoba
  • Implementing new books location and a new items list / Univ. of Minnesota Duluth
  • Alma integration: connecting other systems / Williams College
  • SpringShare suite integration

Technical tips and tricks:

  • Alma Fulfillment configurations
  • Target messages using Alma letters and notifications / Oregon State University
  • Intermediate analytics and reports functions and examples

Networking:

  • Julie, Calida, Erin and I met Travis from ETSU, to learn about how ETSU manages digital databases and E- resources in Alma, and generate and maintain libguides database A-Z list using Alma records.
  • Our Alma implementation team met with Rice Alma implementation team, exchange ideas on migrating to Alma from SirsiDynix Symphony
  • Bluegrass user group and Tennessee Alma users met at Eluna

Links to conference documents: 

Presentation slides for customer presentations will be posted to the ELUNA Document Repository as soon as is possible. Likewise, Ex Libris will be posting slidedecks from its staff presentations to the Knowledge Center soon.

Make Yourself Heard! Use A Microphone

Please remember that when we are taping an event in the Community Room your voice will not be recorded if you do not speak into a microphone. We currently do not have a microphone that picks up sound for the whole room.

It is a good practice to use a microphone during an event whether or not it is being recorded to make sure that all attending can hear what is going on, making sure to hold the microphone near (but not too near) your mouth when speaking. It is also best when taking questions or comments from an audience member who does not have a microphone, to repeat what they have said before responding.

Using Lastpass for improved password security

It’s that time of year for me — VUIT is sending me an email every day saying it’s time to change my e-password. Thankfully, I have a great tool to help manage my passwords and make them more secure — and you can, too!

Lastpass is a free and easy-to-use password management tool that runs right in your browser. It is encrypted and secure — Lastpass is not able to access your passwords. (Learn more about how it works.)

The most secure passwords are unique, long, random-character strings that are not found in the dictionary. Most of us haven’t mastered the memorization of a zillion random-character strings. Thankfully, Lastpass has! It will store all of your passwords in a secure vault that is only accessible on your local machine. When you visit a site that requires a login, Lastpass will fill in your credentials automatically. You can even set it to go a step further and log you in as soon as you land on the page. Magic! And when you create a new account on a site, Lastpass will offer to generate a secure password for you. It will then save your new password in your password vault.

There are some other nice features too:

  • Form fills: Shop online much? Save your credit card information in your vault and have it auto-fill at checkout on any shopping site. Apologies in advance to your wallet.
  • Secure notes: This is a place to securely store and access other information you might need easy access to, such as social security numbers or passwords for things that aren’t websites (software, Windows, etc.).
  • Sharing: You can securely share passwords with other Lastpass users. This is great for households who share a login for things like utilities and Netflix. Never send passwords via email!
  • Security challenge: This feature analyzes the security of your vault and offers recommendations on how to improve your overall security, such as not reusing passwords and creating stronger passwords to replace weak ones.
  • Export: You can easily export your passwords at any time. This is useful not only if you plan to stop using Lastpass in the future, but also if you want to print out all of your passwords and store them with your other important financial documents, such as your will.

So stop reusing that same old password, and give Lastpass a try!

Audio-Visual Resources in the Community Room

Video recording and streaming is now available in the Community Room for your meeting or event.

The podium is height-adjustable with a lamp, microphone, computer with USB monitor, and HDMI and VGA video connections for use with laptops. Adapters are available for VGA to Mac video and HDMI to USB-C. A connection can also be made wirelessly using AirStream. Wireless laser pointers/clickers are available by request.

Also on the podium is a touchscreen control for the projector, video camera, audio levels, light settings, and retractable video screen and window shades. A duplicate touchscreen control is located in the AV closet at the back of the room.

Besides the podium microphone, the Community Room has three wireless handheld microphones and two wireless lapel microphones available, along with a floor stand and three table stands. Up to four wireless microphones can be used at one time.

What are they talking about?

Are you hearing discussions about Alma and Primo and think that people are speaking a completely new language? Well, they are! But help in understanding it is just a click away.

ExLibris has an excellent glossary on their Knowledge Center site here:

Alma Glossary

You can go to a particular term and see a definition and then click on links at the end to see more detailed information.

Give it a try! Look up “Fulfillment”, “Community Zone” or “Metadata editor”. Or get really crazy and look up “Selective package”!

Bookmark the link to the glossary and have fun learning the new language!