ELUNA
06 May 2009
Richmond, VA
Wednesday Morning
Ellen Jones, Chair of Planning Committee
524 Registrants (more than anticipated)
Sandra Treadway, Librarian of Virginia
Welcome to Richmond
Janet Lute, Chair ELUNA Steering Committee
ELUNA Updates
- Support changes
- URM focus groups (mostly ILS and ERM side, SFX will be pulled in soon)
- Product Groups: more in-person meetings
- More collaborative testing
- EL Commons: joint initiative with ExLibris to share code and ideas. Encouraging people to use it.
- NERS: New Enhancement Request System. More to follow.
Be involved with ELUNA
Matti Shem Tov, President and CEO, EX Libris
What's New?
- $74M revenue in 2008
- 4,600 institutions (100 new)
- 76 Countries (2 new: Morocco: (Aleph); Vietnam (SFX))
- 37 National Libraries (3 new)
Anat Kuper, new VP for Global Support (replacing Don Muccino)
New office in Singapore
Restructured (flattened) support structure
Expanded team working on the SFX KnowledgeBase
New product integration process
Customer satisfaction survey: Resolution time and ease of product upgrade received highest complaints.
combined/flattened support teams should improve response time
Will use "upgrade kits" for future upgrades.
Assigned an escalation manager for each product
Created a clear escalation process
Survey will be completed again soon to measure progress
URM development well under way.
- Princeton University
- Boston College
- Catholic University Leuven (Belgium) (consortium and language specialty)
- Initial product requirement documents ready for work with partners and focus groups
Doubled number of Primo customers
Launching bX
- Recommender service
Major increase in Asian customers; office in Singapore.
Roadmap:
Aleph
- 2260 customers
- Version 20 launched March 2009
Voyager
- 1360 customers
- Version 7 launched June 2008
- Versions 7.1, 7.3, 8, and 9, in the pipeline
"We are committed to the continued development of Aleph and Voyager"
Primo
- 176 customers
- Version 2.1 launched September 2008
MetaLib
- 1470 customers
- Version 4.3 launched April 2009
- Primo Metasearch in the pipeline (combination of Primo and MetaLib) Scope will be determined after survey and with an advisory forum. If paying Primo maintenance, this will be included.
- Phased delivery to start in 2010.
SFX
- 1840 customers
- ongoing bi-monthly revisions
- Version 4 to be released in 2010
Verde
- 205 Customers
- ongoing bi-monthly revisions and COUNTER support
- ERM functionality in the URM
- ** in 2008, announced that ERM would be part of URM in phase 1
- Based on customer feedback, URM will have both print and electronic management
- Beta release targeted for 2011
- Verde customers paying maintenance will receive continued updates
Digitool
- 170 customers
- Version 3.2 launched in November 2008
- Rosetta for Digital asset management to be launched in 2010.
- Boundaries between digital asset management and preservation are blurring
Rosetta
- Version 1 launched October 2008
- Developed with NL New Zealand
bX
- New service launched this week!
- recommender service (like on e-commerce sites)
- Derives from research conducted by Jonan Bollen and Herbert Van de Sompel
- Based on data mining and analysis of aggregated link resolver logs
- About 20 development partners
URM
- Planned beta for 2011 (second half)
- 3 Development partners
- 4 focus groups: Acquisitions; Circulation and Patron Management; Consortia; Metadata
- (156 volunteers; ~20 selected for each group)
- Over 80 institutions will be taking part in some form.
Response to Economic pressures
- Reducing costs by using more web-based training and web and videoconferencing
- More special promotions
- Flexibility in terms and payments
- keeping maintenance cost increases below the CPI rate
Technical Seminars (Richmond)
- 160 participants from 102 institutions
EL Commons
- User Groups initiative
Blogs:
- http://commentary.exlibrisgroup.com
- http://initiatives.exlibrisgroup.com
- ExLibrisGroup on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ExLibrisGroup/
Carl Grant, President, Ex Libris NA
Ex Libris North American Update
Monthly status updates for those with active implementation
We should have a national library card valid at all libraries [what about privacy concern and all other issues that need to be worked out?]
Books will become more fluid
Library as a place
What is the role of the User Group, especially in this new economic environment?
Should we have a national agenda for libraries?
OCLC entry proves that next generation systems are needed and validated the URM development
Share similar concepts.
How will OCLC Record use policy be affected by their ILS development?
Phased plan and no pricing structure.
Low number of WorldCat Local subscribers. Will this increase market share? Will it be a low-level generic solution that isn't effective.
There is room for all the vendors, but ExLibris has been doing this for a long time.
Discounts available to conference attendees on new products.
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eXtensible Catalog
University of Rochester
David Lindahl
Next generation catalog/discovery tool
This isn't like other discovery tools like Primo
Includes a platform for the library website.
Completely customizable based on your function.
Pulls in metadada from different sources
Open Source; supported by the library community.
Project timeline extended through January 2010
Some released, but will have more.
U. Rochester, Cornell, Ohio State, Yale
Technology Development Partners: Notre Dame, SUNY Buffalo, RIT, Oregon State, CARLI
Project:
Webcast: http://www.extensiblecatalog.org/blog/2009/03/05/extensible-catalog-xc-webcast
Rochester studying users.
Survey of 68 representative libraries
Wanted to address not-yet-identified user needs
20 interviews at each site
Building the Software
Next generation library website and search interface. (ILS doesn't allow searching across various metadata schema)
Metadata tools allow searching form across platforms
Created open standards for interfacing with ILS.
XC tries to limit barriers for those who contribute code
How is XC different?
Metadada management: aggregates, FRBRizes and improves other discovery interfaces (it can also work with, for eg, Primo)
Uses standards: allows for greater integration
Native Web Content: takes library metadata and transforms into native web content that can be managed by a CMS
User generated metadata
Software Overview
User interface: Drupal Toolkit and LMS Toolkit
Metadata Tools: Metadata Services Toolkit (record cleanup, FRBR, Authority control, Aggregation)
Connectivity: OAI Toolkit and NCIP Toolkit (specifically for ILS). These toolkits reside next to the ILS
Moves metadata with OAI-PMH
Existing sources
OAI Toolkit + ILS
OAI Toolkit + repository
All XC Components can talk OAI-PMH
Works with ANY metadata schema
Synchronizes
Integrates circulation with NCIP
NCIP Toolkit + ILS
XC discovery interface talks NCIP
Live circulation status
Place circ requests (like holds and recalls)
Can connect currently with Aleph, Evergreen, III, Koha, Voyager, Illiad, Fedora, Digitool
Planning functionality to convert Item record data into a standard format.
NCIP Toolkit based on Java script.
Metadata Services Toolkit
New type of cataloging tool
Services are automated, configurable and pluggable
User interface if for library staff, but public users
Add repositories
Schedule harvests (as often as every minute)
Orchestrate services (which metadata goes through which services)
Browse records
Make improved metadata available
Developing the XC Schema, based largely on RDA. All metadata will be converted to XC schema, which will evolve. Schema uses about 50 of the RDA elements. XC schema is designed for discovery.
User Interface not yet done, but will be done by the end of the project (January 2010). Preview version expected in fall 2009.
Drupal Toolkit
Out of the box search interface
Faceted browsing
Include traditional, digital AND web resources
FRBRization: group related resources by "work"
Easy and robust search customization
Platform for your library website
Capture and display user-generated metadata
Integrates discovery with the library website
Free add-on features (many through Drupal)
Build custom applications and applications that may be shared with others
LMS Toolkit Built in a way to support many/any LMS with little effort, but building Bb widget
User interface for librarians and instructors to
Associate a resource with a course or range of courses
Migrate associations
Display library resources within the LMS (web service)
Blackboard plug-in included
All code currently available
XC looking for library and corporate partners
XC will be the next generation catalog at Rochester
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Service Oriented Librarianship: Back to Basics
Oren Beit-Arie
http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/URM_ResourceCenter
We must think about the library's future in the context of the academy
Trend 1: More research and more data
Trend 2: More interdisciplinary work/research
Atkins report (2003) NSF report need for distributed resources
Trend 3: Changes in Scholarly Communications Models (Crisis: increased prices, more restricted access and control, but also research and publishing models including new publishing on blogs, wikis, even on YouTube)
Trend 4: Changes in technology models: Open interfaces; SOA; Cloud Computing (Computing as a Service)
What does it mean for libraries? new models of providing services.
Need for collaboration (No brief candle, p. 10) Need more ad-hoc partnerships in addition to the formal consortia model.
Local and networked (common to more people; from which all will benefit) focus needed by libraries.
Collaborations is a common theme in all the reports.
Areas of collaboration:
Traditional: keep the important pieces of the library's role. But need to examine process and workflows to see if they can be done differently and perhaps better.
Transitional: doing new things in support of traditional functions.
Transformational: doing entirely new and different things in support of the institutions' missions.
The framework:
Users need for ease of discovery and delivery
Unified management of resources
Data services (metadata management, knowledgebase, etc.)
Mining and other services (preservation, etc)
Open Platform
Moving to the Network Level
Cloud Computing. Computing as a Utility
Software hosted
Lower TCO
Enables data-as-a-service
Above the Clouds: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2009/EECS-2009-28.html
Metadata Management Service
Library Zone (for local holdings)
Community Zone: for creation and/or linking to shared descriptive metadata.
New Model for Bibliographic Control. the hybrid model provides options for libraries.
Focus groups will look at MMS record ownership and use policy
New Support for Library Tasks such as
Cooperative collection development
Shared purchasing
Integrated usage data from like institutions
Expert communities and forums (forum discussion can be attached to metadata description)
bX
Recommender service
Preservation: sustaining the digital investment
Librarians curate, manage and use data.
provide end-to-end services
Current: bibliographer, acquisitions, cataloger, reference, fulfillment expert
Future: more of a project based approach to research and research help
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Taking Your Customers to the Cleaners: Historical Patron Data Cleanup
Roy Zimmer
Voyager does have a patron extract utility, but it is limited in the number of patron group barcodes it will extract (3 per patron). patronsif.pl will extract an unlimited number of combinations.
3M Self-check will not work if there are multiple active barcodes in the patron record.
Will patron purge delete records for patrons who are proxy for someone else? Most likely not. Would have to run a query to find those records and remove the proxy relationship manually.
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EMA
November 5 – 6 (Thursday – Friday)
Binghamton, NY
Ray Schwartz elected Chair
Some ideas for programs.
Needs to be more inclusive
Will send google groups information out to other non-voyager lists (Janet and Edward)
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Preserving Access Now and In the Future
Carl Grant, Edward Corrado, Yaniv Levi
http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/
What is digital preservation?
Digital library is first step in digital preservation, but not the only step.
Preservation is a policy decision that leads to practice. But do your homework first.
ALA has short/medium/long term definition of digital preservation. DP is a long term commitment. Not just about static content (pdf files, books, etc. also about websites, videos, YouTube clips, etc.)
What is a preservation-worthy asset? Local policy decision. Not doing anything is not a solution. We gain knowledge and experience by trying.
Magnolia and Journalspace.com were back-up services that both failed. A back-up alone is not sufficient.
What are some of the legal issues involved?
IP and permissions issues are critical.
there may be legal or institutional requirements TO preserve some things.
How are copyright issues resolved?
harvest the information but don't provide access until the IP issues are resolved (Google model)
See RLG (OCLC) report: http://www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/past/repositorycert.htm
Should have a preservation officer who owns and champions the need for digital preservation.
Espida: http://www.gla.ac.uk/espida/model_download.shtml
There is a significant cost for digital preservation. Why shouldn't I wait?
Institutional decision based on risk assessment. What will happen during the time that you're waiting? You can be in planning mode - developing the policies that will govern the actions.
Why not use Amazon S3 (http://aws.amazon.com/s3/) for digital preservation?
Need to take a more active approach.
Amazon addresses the passive preservation. What are their policies and what assurances do they guarantee.
Getting "stuff" to Amazon would also be difficult.
S3 does not currently guarantee data integrity.
You need to have a system that can be replaced by another system and make sure that you have a good exit strategy for when you need or want to replace the system.
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Access E-Resources Through the OPAC with SFX
Sharon Hu
Making the OPAC the search interface for ALL full-text resources.
Chicago State
2/3 of acquisitions budget on electronic resources
Using SFK link resolver and also SFX for A-Z serials list generation and integration.
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Voyager Product Group
Emily Batista
What is the Voyager Product Group?
Provides input to ExLibris on
Enhancement process is still evolving.
Group is about communication. But how can the group do this effectively.
NERS: New Enhancement Request System
EL gathers enhancement requests from all users, but these are not shared with the users groups for any ranking, etc.
User Groups are hoping to develop a method for soliciting enhancement requests so they can be ranked, and priorotized.
For users:
Still submit requests to Ex Libris via e-service (there is no way of knowing what others have requested)
Also submit requests to user group form, NERS (to be ready this summer?)
Aleph has a different contractual arrangement with EL that top 6 requests will be acted upon.
Voyager has no such agreement.
Check the EL Commons and especially the wiki to share information.
Emily: we will have Voyager for at least the next 4 or 5 years.
ELUNA is independent of ExLibris, IGeLU is not.
ExLibris will continue to share information about what updates are in the pipeline and which are not feasible.
Global Data Change Advisory Group
Institutions will have 120 points that they can use to determine the relative value of enhancement requests.
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Voyager 7 OPAC Customization
Steven Mussett (University of Evansville)
University of Evansville Customization http://library.evansville.edu/vwebv/searchBasic?sk=en_US.
Added text, Tabs, Changed Banner, and colors
WebVoyage.properties Easy file to edit.
Don't delete lines from webvoyage.properties; comment them out to see what was there before.
Editing in Metapad gives line numbers (as does releases from ExLibris). Having this is good when doing upgrades/making changes.
Go easy on the tabs.
Add Firefox web developer toolbar:
http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/
800x600 resolution is the lowest common denominator
Use Firebug when doing Customization http://getfirebug.com
Header Tab Images and Search Tab images have different naming conventions and
http://www.gimp.org Image Manipulation Program
Reformatting for printing results in some generic labels appearing in the footer. Reported as a bug to ExLibris. May be part of the 7.0.4 fix? printcCommon.xsl
Creating a Favicon will work well in Firefox, but not well in IE.
Keep a log of all changes/edits that are made. Note file name, line number, reason for the change.
Paul Asay (Indiana State University)
Change style and color in css; change content in xsl
May have multiple skins for dinnferent libraries
http://paulasay.indstate.edu/voyager7
http://paulasay.indstate.edu/7changes.txt
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Ex Libris Management Q&A
Q. Why spend so much time to build a system to build a system that handles what we have now when publishing will change so fast like it had leading to the need for an ERM, for example.
A. Sure there is a risk, but we have to do something. We also need to be able to dow hat we're doing now more effectively. System will be build in a way to incorporate new elements as we move forward. Openness and extensibility are key.
Q. Concern about the amount of development time being spent on the URM. Is this at the expense of Voyager and Aleph development? Is there an end of life plan for these two products
A. The number of customers using these two products. Development staff on these products has increased. We are committees to developing Aleph and Voyager for many, many years.
Q. The URM will work well with PRIMO, so where do the other products fit in?
A. PRIMO is the front-end that will work with the URM (back-end) and there are continued enhancements to PRIMO.
MetaLib will have a new release to have a metasearch system with a PRIMO based front-end. Goal is to integrate products. PRIMO Metasearch will be next release.
DigiTool will be integrated into Rosetta for digital preservation.
Q. Where is Verde headed?
A. At 2008 Eluna, announced version 1 would be released. But it made sense to release the ERM management in the URM. But plan changed to have all management included in initial release of URM.
Verde continues to be supported and will be until such time.
Verde customers can upgrade to the URM for no additional licensing cost.
Q. What might be the costs of upgrading to the URM? How can libraries start planning for this upgrade financially?
A. No pricing model yet in place. May be available by the end of 2009.
Q. OCLC Record use policy. What are Ex Libris' plans for the data that will be gathered from the bX product that is going to get a lot of information about.
A. bX is based on usage log files from SFX. This data is owned by the Library who will have to give Ex Libris permission (and perhaps others) to use the data. Ex Libris considers the data as owned by the institution who is free to do whatever else they want to do with it.
Q. OCLC re-entry into the Library ILS. OLE, Everygreen, etc. What is Ex Libris' response to the OLE project?
A. EL staff attend the OLE sessions and listen to their ideas. Are interested in working with them on common areas. Incorporates good ideas that come out of those discussions.
Q. Why were URM focus group (subject matter review sessions) sessions limited in participation.
A. Wanted to ensure active participation in the groups. There will be some web sessions that will help provide much of the same information from the subject matter review sessions.
Q. Voyager support for RDA (also Aleph)?
A. Ex Libris communicating with RDA developers and also will be involved in testing. RDA is one of the first issues to be addressed in the URM. Taking the content guidelines and turning that into a metadata structure. Embodies FRBR
Q. There is good training for upgrades, etc., but is there a way to deliver refresher training or fundamental training for new staff?
A. There is regular web-based training for SFX and MetaLib. This will be expanded to the other products. Working on an LMS that will be launched for all users with pre-taped sessions.
Q. What plans are there to integrate Ex Libris products with mobile devices.
A. PRIMO is the way in which this will be delivered. Some customers have already done this and will be asked to share code on the EL Commons.
Q. Why is bX called bX
A. Black Box (on which it is based) wasn't user friendly.
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Remote Storage Implementation
Heather Scalf - UT Arlington
Remote Storage is on campus, about 3/4 mile, but inaccessible
Danuta Nitecki: Library Offsite Shelving (http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781563088858)
http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/cgi/sizer.cgi Michael Doran Shelf sizer program
Laptops and portable scanners workign in teams of two
Items shelved by size; each shelf is barcoded buy range, section, height.
Items are not fixed by location on shelf, but only 35 - 40 item son shelf.
Shelf location is noted in free text field on item record. (update program created based on Gary Strawn's program). Utility will be available after ELUNA
Using call Slip for retrieval.
Call slip only for camps users. A slight security problem for guest borrowers.
Main Circ Desk is open 24/5 and is the default pick-up location
Call Slip .ini: (Table 4.2)
Customize request print template.
Customize email stanza
Achieved 10-years growth space. Still evaluating the success
If item is requested 5 times they are pulled for review to be potentially returned to main library
At 85% capacity in LCD. Had to reset shelves, and now down to about 70%.
Other Michael Doran programs: http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/
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Circulation/Reserve/Call-Slip SIG
Krista Higham, convener
14 in attendance
No set agenda, but room for discussion on all topics.
Question: Any idea how URM will deal with fulfillment
Answer: It is too soon to tell what fulfillment will be like in the URM. First phase is about de-coupling the front and back ends and will allow for more plug-ins and integration with other systems on campus.
May be very helpful for consortia where multiple patron databases are in existence.
Reduce the need for repitive storage of information for the institution and the library
Trevor offered to be a funnel for information on functionality that folks would like to see.
Emily can also be a resource since she's involved in enhancement process that will feed informtaon into URM development.
URM should look at other ILS to see how holds/recalls are supposed to work. Current functionality in Voyager is sub-optimal even though it works the way it is supposed to. Need real-time circ status information that relies less on batch processing. Call slip currently works better as holds instead of the hold feature.
Some appreciation expressed for the ability to edit a hold in ver 7.
U. Victoria Law: All books in storage (becuase of renovation). RFID tags to be used for open reserve.
Has anyone used the 3M RFID tags for security. Oakland University is using the 3M smart tag. Only isses seems to have been with the ability to get some reports out of the 3M software.
Patron purge broken in 7.0, but 7.0.4 has fixed the patron purge problem. Several expressed satisfaction with the patron purge program that worked in version previous to 7.
Carl Grant's discussion about a national library card. Will this happen?
Sharing information about patrons will be a stumbling block. However, as we move towards more cooperative models of providing service, it will become more necessary to share this information. We must, however, be concerned about FERPA and other privacy rules.
Arguments for keeping data stored and maintained locally.
Western Library Alliance moving towards the one library card model. This is the direction in which we're heading.
There is a technology component (to be sure that security, authentication and authorization are in place) and a policy/legal component that nneeds also to be address.
Bursar Transfer is a one-way transfer out of Voyager. Different models of transfer were discussed.
Monthly bursar transfer from Voyager.
Transfer only lost book charges, not fines
Idaho will also send faculty overdues to the Bursar; fees will be deducted from their paychecks.
Transfer fines/fees only for seniors; requires a separate patron category for seniors (question: how many students leave the institution before getting to senior status?)
How is accounting handled? Does the library get to keep the fines/fees collected or does it go to the institution? What impact will this have on the bursar transfer? Local/institutional policies govern.
Some considering (some do) eliminating fines and sending bills sooner
Fines are transfered in the aggregate.
Various models of addressing credits and exceptions were discussed.
Processing for the credit is also done within Voyager (negative amount added in Voyager for transfer to Voyager)
Student/City food bank contribution in exchange for fines: done at several institutions (food for fines).
Discussion of how to deal with faculty members who believe that books belong to them once they are checked out. At what point do you give up and purchase a new copy. How will patron requests be handled in the URM.
At what point do you purchase a book when ILL/CCC requests cost more than the books?
Have circulation statistics gone down?
Mixed bag. When loan periods are extended, circ stats will go down; DVD will increase circ stats; laptops, camcorders, cables, headphones, and all other items will be checked out.
Deleting calendars: DON'T DO IT!!
There was a technical seminar on writing SQL queries on individual patrons.
Some records that cannot be deleted. The phantom records that appeard with the last upgrade. Have to be done my ExLibris.
Proxy Patrons:
Used for faculty, for carrels. Very effective
Circulation Matrix issues:
Guest borrowers have check-out limit. But when books have been lost the counter isn't automatically decreased when the item is returned. The counter has to be adjusted manually.
This essentially serves as a double block, so it isn't used at some institutions.
Patron Issues:
How to bring back the search index when searching by right-clicking and going to the patron search index.
Suggestion: can we have an instance of Voyager running when next we meet.
Krista made a call for a Circ/Reserve/Call Slip SIG moderator.
Stella Richardson volunteered.
Myst reply to the program planning group that there will be a SIG meeting, listing all equipment requirements.
The training database is utterly useless. Can they use our own data when doing this sort of training?
Having a test server works effectively for larger libraries. This option may work for smaller libraries.
It is much better to be able to test using the matrices that work for your institution.
Are there other options other than Call Slip that can be used for remote storage request?
ARS, originally developed for Eastern Michigan University. Call Slip is a better option.
CIP2 protocol used in some libraries.
Emily made a plea to continue making enhancement requests through e-service and through NERS.
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Evaluating, Choosing, and Implementing a Next Generation OPAC
(NGO or Catalog 2.0) at Your Library
Merritt Lennox and Andrea Rabbin
Syracuse University
Running Voyager 6.5.4
Implemented Amazon, Google Books, Tags, spell check and other functionality, but still had requests for other functionality.
Feedback from library senate (which includes faculty), pretty negative feedback.
Used OPAC search logs for a period of time to see what was going on. Found the need for a Google-like, "did you mean"?
Two task force members were from NCSU and worked on tehier Endeca implementation.
Feedback form (10 questions, 8 of which were multiple choice) attached to website, send by email, mentioned in BI sessions.
75% of respondents wanted better ease of navigation.
65% wanted browsing capabilities in the catalog.
61% wanted advanced search capability
37% wanted to be able to pay fines online.
37% wanted to seamlessly transfer searches to other databases.
Export to RefWorks
Cost analysis: Open Source would have cost more to implement and maintain.
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