IUG 16 notes

 

High points:

• 2007 release: 190+ enhancements and 10 new products:  Goes into general release May 6, 2008.
• In the next release (2008/9) III will begin to break Millennium up into smaller pieces.  It’s their hope this will enable them to update the application(s) more quickly.
• New Printing Program!!  It’s based on a third party product by JasperSoft (Jasper Reports).  Another template based product.  Use the template to generate local changes.  III developed a wiki (connect from CSDirect) to facilitate exchanging templates that work or asking for help to make a template work and to post questions and answers to the user group/developers.  III will also be offering a class on using the program and will offer template development services.
• New ability to retain the previous 4 users.  Must be turned on by III.  For use to help identify patron who damaged materials.
• Clark County, NV PL has clerk attend the self-checks to aid patrons having problems including resolving Stop issues such as updating patron registration, fines, etc.
• Ryerson University Library adding catalog access to Facebook (both a library account and the ability to add a gadget to the user’s account to access the libraries resources).  See: http://www.ryerson.ca/library/library20/

 

 

 

Classes:

 

2008 Development Update

 

System highlights:

• Creation of a single sign-on
• Really begins the work of breaking Millennium up into parts.  They’ve been creating new products as modules that “hang” off of Millennium, but they’ve come to realize that Millennium itself is too large and it would be easier to manage and develop as smaller modules.
• Begin cleaning up and removing old coding.
• Session settings will be retained by login.

 

Acquisition/Serial highlights:

• Search invoices by several new options
• All Columns will be sortable
• Will create popup messages for both Acquisitions and Serials
• Expand the number of check-in boxes to over 365.
• System will display the name of other Acquisition units that have orders against a title.

 

Circulation highlights:

• All popup messages in patron records will display in a single popup window
• Will create a new check-in mode for damaged materials that won’t disturb outstanding holds
• Will be able to view/print the holdshelf.  The list won’t automatically disappear after printing.
• Pull lists will be sortable by call number.
• Mandate and enforce required field data for specific fields

 

Printing highlights:

• Continue releasing and extending the new printing module.
• Release Circ Notices and Paging Slips as Print Templates

 

My Millennium:

• The My Millennium account will tell you how many renewals you have left available for use.
• My List fields will be sortable.
• My List fields will be exportable and you’ll be able to choose which fields you want to export.
• Looking to create “web services” for My Millennium account information.  Something along the lines of an RSS feed.

 

Holds Highlights:

• Are planning to create an optional Volume Record.  Systems will have to purchase the record form as it’s a new record type.  When invoked, it will sit between the bib and the item records.  Related copies of a volume will hang off the volume record.  This is being created in order to ease the patron placement of volume item holds.

 

Cataloging Highlights:

• The cursor will remember where it was when moving from a browse list to bib record and back.

 

Printing in Release 2007

 

• New printing program is not required.  All of the current print processes will remain available.

   

• New program requires the use of a “graphics capable” printer.  Many dot matrix printers will not work with the new print program.

   

• 3^rd party product by JasperSoft.  Development tool (IReports) can be downloaded from CSDirect.

   

• Create a label by using one of the predefined templates.  Templates can be exported to the desktop for altering.  Minor changes can be done in Notepad.  Major changes require use of IReports.

   

• 2007 will have base templates for Purchase Orders, Monographic Labels, Hold Slips, Transit Slips, and Routing Slips.

   

• WebEx classes will run for 2 hours and will cost $200 per class.

   

 

You’ve Got Mail: Acquisition Reports

• Used Perl scripts to cull order information from the database to generate Financial Balance reports, Fund reports, Open Orders reports, etc. that were then sent to selectors or collection managers via email; most selectors didn’t have access to Web Management Reports.

 

Cataloging Forum

• Overdrive will provide customized bib records adding mode commands to the 856 fields.
• Can Millennium collect Overdrive statistics?  No… but… one could use an Apache web server to collect stats via redirects, etc.  No one seemed happy with this solution and expressed the need to be able to collect statistics from all of these various hosted and streaming sites in order to demonstrate use and need.
• An alternative would be to use an ERM (electronic resource management) product to gather statistics.  Would require Overdrive to host a SUSHI server.
• Spell check is coming to the Cataloging client.  III is looking for suggestions on how to implement spell check (limit to specific fields, etc.).  Include as a filter on a load table?  (generate a report of potential misspellings, etc).
• Suggest to “double index” the 245 field with second indicator greater than zero in order to find titles regardless with the title includes a leading article.
• New to 2007.  The system will remember the login of the user who edits a bib record.  The system will retain the ID of the last 5 users (or the last 5 saves).  This will be extended to all records in upcoming releases.

 

Digital Assets Management: Options for Handling Digital Collections

• Need to control  management & access of electronic documents, government documents, online files, etc. 
• Want to expose collections without a hassle in both creation, determining who may access, and patron access.  Shouldn’t require staff intervention to enable appropriate patron access.
• Needs to be standards compliant (Dublin Core, OAI, etc.)
• Should have a controlled vocabulary likely in addition to tagging.
• III solutions include Content Pro and Harvesting for Encore.
• Content Pro can either be hosted or set up locally.  Can be set up to either store data files or just the metadata.
• Harvesting for Encore stores data in XML.  Uses XML Harvester to crosswalk to and from MARC.
• Can DM application index Word, PDF files, sheet music files to access lyrics?

 

Circulation Update

• New to 2007: Paging list will use the 245 field for title information, but will include subfields H (medium), N (# of work), and P (#part of work)
• New to 2007:  Ability to remove patrons from an email queue to a print queue and will retain the original orders in both the email and print queues.
• New to 2007:  Ecommerce is being added to self-check systems.
• New to 2007:  Can set self-check to patrons can checkout items at statuses other than Available (e.g. Missing, Lost, with Holds – but not on hold for someone else).
• New to 2007:  SIP2 pass through local media types (relates local media types to standard SIP2 media types).
• New to 2007:  Adds SSL encryption to Patron API (part of SIP2).
• New to 2007:  Adds new Item Status API to SIP2 for use with RFID tags.  Used to determine state of RFID tag (on/off) and change the state of the tag.  Currently works with Bibliotech and Libramation.  In testing with 3M, Envisionware, and Techlogic.
• 2008+:  Working on new strategies for agency holds to give precedence to fill holds with items closest to pick up agency.
• New to 2007:  Streamline multiple renewals
• New to 2007:  Patron Checkout History.  System will display the previous 4 patrons who checked out an item.  This is to assist determining who damaged an item.  It must be turned on by III.
• 2008+:  Ability to check in items without triggering hold (use for damaged items).
• 2008+:  Multiple messages will appear in pop-up window.  Currently only the first message in patron record displays in pop-up window.

 

What’s Happening in Tech Services

• New to 2007:  Track users editing bib records
• New to 2007:  Print Templates
• New to 2007:  Edit unposted invoices
• New to 2007:  LDR/09 output for Unicode storage
• New to 2007:  Authority headings display in Webpac.

 

• Tracking Bib Record Editors:
  • Optional.  Requires III turn this on.
  • Data is not stored in the bib record but in a separate MySQL database
  • Requires authorization to see this information
  • Will display who created the record and who made the last 5 edits (saves).
• Editing Unposted Invoices:
  • Requires authorization
  • Can edit line items, delete items, change accounts/funds
  • Will distinguish between suspended and not yet posted invoices
• Authority Headings in Webpac:
  • Improves support for MARC 21 standard cross-references
• Serials:
  • Electronic Resouces/Subscription Dates will be stored in the Paid fields.
  • User can key-in Start and End dates for subscriptions
  • Can use EDI to generate/maintain Start & End dates for subscriptions
  • System will allow 125 paid fields per order record
  • The notes area in the paid field has been expanded to 35 characters

 

Fund Activity Reports: Not Just for Binders

• Described a process to exporting FAR data to Excel, then using Pivot Tables to generate financial reports.

 

Public Library Forum

• New to 2007:  My List.  A new feature of My Account.  Add things to this list you want to remember for whatever reason.  The entries are live, you can move from the entry to place holds, etc.  A title must already be in the database in order for it to be added to My List.  This is not the place to enter a title that the patron would like to have the library purchase.  You will be able to email you’re My List.
• New for 2008:  Patron ID Alias.  Patrons can set up an alternate ID of their own choosing for use wherever a barcode is requested.  Libraries concerned that the Alias ID won’t pass through 3^rd party software.  III stated that the vendors will have to determine if they want to validate the ID.  Alias selected by patron will be deduped against all current IDs.  If patron selects an ID already in use, they’ll be informed and requested to select another ID.
• New to 2007:  Forgot My PIN.  Patron can click and will be emailed a temporary PIN.
• III sees My List and Patron Alias ID as products that they will continue to enhance along social software lines.
• New for 2008:  Frozen holds won’t appear on paging lists until  the hold is unfrozen.  Until then, a workaround is to transfer the hold via a fake item, then transfer back.  (Delete the fake item.)
• Wants: 
  • The ability to enable patrons to place holds on specific formats
  • The ability to enable patrons to set some sort of flow controls on how quickly their holds are filled
  • Millennium has an incomplete implementation of non-Roman alphabets, why doesn’t it just use Unicode?
  • The ability for staff to search for elements within patron accounts, bookings, etc.
• III is under contractual development (due to New York Public Library system) to implement some form of volume record.  This will be a new record type.  Libraries interested in using a volume record type will have to pay to access the new record type.  The actual implementation of how the volume records will work is still in development.

 

Enhancement Forum

• Reviewed the Mantis system implemented to manage enhancement requests to Millennium from users
• Non-winning enhancement suggestions will be rolled over into the next year’s enhancement requests.  They won’t leave until either the system has incorporated the request or the library making the request wishes to remove the request.  Also, if after a few years, no one comments on an enhancement request to add support or further the suggestion by embellishing it, the request will be dropped.
• In addition to library staff making suggestions to enhance Millennium, III staff have their own balloting system that works very similarly to the “public” side.  After they review their winning ballots, the winning ballots from both polls are brought together with the programmer to determine what’s implementable.  If suggestions are not considered as something that can be implemented, they will discuss why and determine if there are alternatives including a rewrite of the code.

 

Public Library Consortium Forum I

 

            Program Registration  (see Scottsdale Public Library as an example)

·         Program Registration is a new module that is to be used to manage registration for in-house programming.  It has a ton of features:

o       Staff control program descriptions, when the program appears on calendars, when the program drops off calendars.

o       Patrons can be enabled to self-register (or not)

o       Staff can establish times when patron’s cannot self-register (which can be used to establish times for only in-house registration)

o       Can establish a waiting list if the program registration is limited by size

o       Programmer can get a list of registrants prior to the program time.

o       Programs appear in the catalog just like books, but they always float to the top of the list during keyword searches.

o       Can be set to automatically generate a web calendar of events in several formats:  calendar view, list view, title view only, detail view

o       Module can be hosted locally or on III’s servers.

o       Calendars can be branded

o       Patrons/Staff can limit searches of programs by program type (children’s/adults, etc), location, language, topic, number of open seats.

o       Patrons can select the number of seats they wish to register for (simplifies for parents registering for their children)

o       Patrons have a place to enter notes for the programmer.

o       A guest account can be established to enable non-registered to sign up for programs.

o       Patrons can see what programs they’ve signed up for in their My Millennium accounts.

o       Staff can limit program registrants to just their users (home agency set to their library.

o       Can be used to book meeting rooms, offsite programs, etc.

o       Use Create List and MilStats to collect and generate program use statistics.

o       Staff can link bibliographies to program details

o       If programs are set not to drop off calendars, patrons can view old programs.

o       Staff can suppress programs from public view.

 

2007 Changes Highlights

·         New field: Patron Alias.  (see above)

·         “Forgot My PIN” button to access My Millennium.  The temp PIN is good for 3 hours.  If patron fails to re-access their account within the three hours, they’ll have to request a new PIN.

·         My List.  Patron can mark items of interest already in the catalog to this list.  My List is sort-able, exportable, printable, and you can place holds from within My List.

 

Problems:

·         Want more than 32 format codes.  It didn’t make this year’s ballot, but it might still be doable.

·         Scoping:  add another B-code.  Libraries need more than 3 of them.

·         Divide E-commerce between libraries.  Libraries need more information about what library generated the circulation and which library owns the item in order to determine how to divvy up the funds collected.

·         Ability to partition patron records:  Some libraries do not want to share their patron records with other libraries in the same consortium.

·         Be notified of changes to CS Direct website.  Perhaps some form of push technology.

·         Want all woptions to be scopable.

·         There are too many frozen holds!  III agrees and has a short range plan and a long range plan.  Short range:  There are specific conditions when a frozen hold can be resolved locally.  III will work to define the when and how these can be resolved locally.  There are times when a hold is frozen due to multiple problems.  These will continue to be resolved by III staff.  In the long run, III programmers are re-writing the entire code relating to holds.  Partly to resolve the programming structures that allow holds to freeze and partly to bring about better management options for holds.

 

III is no longer shipping Sun computers.

           

Beyond Our Binders: More Fun with Exported Fund Activity Data

• A continuation of the previous day’s program on making use of FAR data with Excel pivot tables.

 

Introducing Encore and Product Update

• http://www.iii.com/encore/splash.html

 

Encore is III’s new catalog searching and discovery interface.  It’s simple, appealing, and integrates Web 2.0 and social technologies.  The interface incorporates/highlights tag clouds, recent acquisitions, facets, patron tagging, suggested links, federated search results without the need for additional searches.  It sits on top of your current database so it can be used with other vendor’s ILSes.  Millennium public libraries with current implementations of Encore include Nashville Public Library, Deschutes Public Library, Scottsdale Public Library System, Springfield-Greene County Library, and Westerville Public Library.

 

The search box can be placed anywhere on a page.  See:  Westerville PL, Springfield-Greene, or Scottsdale PL

 

Encore is still a program in development.  And it’s very cool.