Power on and the system is back up as of 9:30 am

We got the system back online around 9:30 AM this morning (11 Dec 07).

THE SITE IS DOWN!

ALS and RSA lost power at 6:45 or so this morning. CILCO estimates power back on at 3 PM today (Tuesday, 11 December 2007). As soon as it's back on, we'll get RSA up and running.

Side note, in the future when the RSA website is down due to a power outage, I'll post the status of the system and estimated return times here. I can do it through my phone, slowly, but I can do it. So in case of a power loss, please look here for info.

Kendal

The last post

Tomorrow is go-live day. We are shooting for a 10am launch. Watch your email and the new RSA website System Status and Info page for the exact time and details.

This is the last post on this blog unless the system blow up tomorrow!

Say "Goodnight" Gracie

Goodnight.

3 New RSA Cat Brochures

Go to the Unicorn Documents page of the new RSA website to get pdf copies of our new patron brochures:

1. Using your library catalog
2. Using your online library account
3. Getting the materials you want with holds

I'd like to thank PALS for the brochure templates I brazenly co-opted and turned into RSA Cat brochures!

Thank you for now. More offline files tomorrow

The time is 4:24pm and we are turning off the firewall again. We have the bulk of the big library files and need turn off access to the system to process them. We will get the rest of the file tomorrow at go-live. If you didn't get to log into Workflows today, you can do so tomorrow and we'll work the files then.

From the number of them we have now we have several hours of work to process them all.

Thank you.

We need your offline files

Yea, the system is ours as of 2:30pm CST, December 5, 2007. That means we need your offline files to start the mass of processing it’s going to take to get them finished. What I’m asking you do to is log into the production server, let Workflows load, then log back out and go back into offline mode. You offline mode file is one of the files that is exchanged during the long login wait. If you get to where Workflows is working, you’ve sent us your file. Then tomorrow when we are ready you’ll login in online mode for real and start using the system.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Log into Workflows in online mode (uncheck the checkmark in the “Operate in Offline Mode” box.
2. Use the IP address of xx.xx.xx.99
3. As soon as Workflows finished loading and gets to the point where you can do things, log off and log back into offline mode until tomorrow when we give you the go-ahead for full online production.
4. If you want, you can use this afternoon to work on right click property settings (via the guide that was emailed out or in on both RSA websites) BUT YOU CAN NOT MAKE TRANSACTIONS IN ONLINE MODE! I don’t mind if you make the right click settings, but you must be in offline mode to do any transaction which means exiting Workflows, then checking the box on the login screen. So you can really only do this on non-production
machines today.

A reminder to our largest 11 libraries: Peoria, Normal, Galesburg, Kewanee, Alpha Park, Jacksonville, Illinois Prairie, Fondulac, Pekin, Morton, Washington. You do not need to do the supervisor right click settings on each workstation. You DO NEED to set up your receipt printers on each workstation that uses them. I can’t set that up for you in your profile.

So again, login, get Workflows loaded, logout, go back to offline mode.

If you call or email questions please be patient with us. It’s a madhouse around here and we are all worn out from the hours we are putting in.

Thank you.

Journal Star artical about go-live

Here is link to an article in the Dec 4th Journal Star about the RSA go-live.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/120407/TRI_BF3VKVAP.005.php

Well done and very fair. Plus I see one spelling error in the article which just makes my day. As anybody who gets me emails knows, speel-cheecker isn't always your friend.

We are at work...

RSA will be staffed this weekend and next. There will be someone at RSA from 9 - 5 minimum every day between 1 Dec and 14 Dec.

If you have any questions or comments, just let us know.

Supervisor Configuration Instructions

These are the instructions THAT MUST BE PERFORMED ON EACH COMPUTER RUNNING WORKFLOWS to ensure you can operate correctly. They must be made in online mode, so you will have to do these first thing on go-live day.

Download the instructions from the old www.alsrsa.org website under the migration section or the new website http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/rsanew/index.cfm in the unicorn documents sections (I need rename that section to "The New System" section). Or click this link for the old site download or this link for the new site download.

Death of a blog

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This blog is going to fade away with go-live. We will move all system related information over to the new RSA website from that date forward. The front page of the site will announce general news and the System Status and Information page will update system level news. We are still populating the new site, but just about everything useful from the old site is there now, and we will finish it up in the near future.

So, 1 or 2 more postings and then it's a wrap.

Final Timeline...

Let the final countdown begin.

Friday Nov. 30th
• Last day to use CARL for circulation
• Open and log into Workflows on all computers (those with Workflows installed) to automatically clear any practice data from the computer

Saturday, Dec. 1st
• First day to use Workflows in off-line mode (revised instructions here)
• CarlWEB still available to look up catalog information only

Dec. 2nd – 4th
• Continue using Workflows in offline mode only

Wednesday, Dec. 5th
• Use Workflows in off-line mode throughout the day
• Log into production server (66.99.64.99) in on-line mode by removing the offline mode check on Workflows at end of day (instructions to follow) to automatically upload all your offline transactions. Each machine has a separate file, so every machine used in offline mode needs to connect to the production server.

Thursday, Dec. 6th
• Begin using Workflows in on-line mode

Various things for go-live

RSA is finishing up a bunch of things in preparation for go-live on Dec 6th.

1. The list of RSA Cat links. This will have each library's individual catalog link on it. You should use your link, or your main libraries link if you have branches as your entrance to RSA Cat.

2. Holds map. We are finishing up the holds map settings. We will have the 'your library only' holds working at go-live with system-wide holds by the end of March.

3. Circ map. Is finished, almost! YEA! There are a couple libraries to add still and one major library to update with all their new rules. But it's around 98% complete now.

4. Exception and end of semester dates. If you haven't sent Vicky your exception (closed) dates and End of semester dates already, please do so ASAP! Schools and academics: if you check out an item after go-live and it only checks out for 1 day or is due the same day, you are past your end of semester date. If you don't want to use EOS dates, please let us know and we will turn them off.

5. Training. Is ongoing and will continue well into the infinite future. Please check the RSA training calendar for dates and locations (accessible from the ALS front page, middle right hand side button). Please note that we sent out the offline training/usage guide last week.

6. Offline mode: YOU MUST LOG INTO THE TEST SERVER (66.xx.xx.101) ON OR BEFORE 30 NOVEMBER WITH EVERY WORKFLOWS COMPUTER IN YOUR LIBRARY FOR 2 REASONS.
A. To clear any old offline mode transactions that may be on your machine.
B. To download the latest offline mode settings onto your workstation prior to go-live.

7. Remember to start using offline mode for all your checkouts, checkins, and new user registrations on 1 Dec.

8. Read your email closely during the week of 3 - 7 Dec for instructions. Most importantly, we'll email you to let you know when we need you to log into the production server (66.xx.xx.99) to upload your offline transaction files prior to go-live. Right now that's planned for sometime on the 5th. We will need to get the majority of the offline transactions from you on the 5th to give the server time to process them prior to go-live.

9. Be patient with us. Go-live week and up until the 14th or so we will be working without a break. We will be tired and cranky. We have done everything possible to be ready for this migration, but we can't find all the issues without you using the system. We will be fixing them as quickly as possible. When you turn on a new system of any kind you have problems, now multiply that by 198 libraries and you get an idea of the scope of our headache to come.

10. Read the System Status and Info page on the new RSA website (Still under construction, now going on 6 months of off and on again work). Here is a quick link: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/rsanew/SystemStatusandInfo.cfm This page will be updated with the latest on the system status and issues we find (I hope). We are hoping to use this verses emailing every little thing out. We'll try to only email big issues and use this page for everything else.

11. Relax, take a deep breath, release the deep breath, and trust that we are doing everything possible to make this system work the way RSA wants it to work. We are pushing the boundaries of what has been done with the system due to our size and the fact that we let you do as much as possible your own way. While that isn't always optimal, it's how we operate. We will bend the system to our will, it will just take a bit of time.

Contact info for go-live week:
-----------------------------
Your main point of contact for Workflows operational issues will be John Howard at extension 2121.

Your main point of contact for cataloging issues will be Martha Troxell at extension 2131.

Your main point of contact for end of semester dates, closed dates, and Union Listing (web cataloger) cataloging problems will be Vicky Edwards at extension 2137.

Martha and Vicky will also be working various other Workflows issues as time allows.

If you have errors with the system, or the system isn't checking out correctly, or isn't operating correctly, and the issue isn't anything listed above, we will ask you to email the RSA Support box so Kendal, Jon and DiAnn can handle the problem. Please use RSAsupport@alliancelibrarysystem.com to send your issues instead of emailing a particular member of the RSA staff. This way you have a better chance of somebody seeing your issue in a timely manner.

Go-live schedule update

In addition to the below dates I need to clarify what will happen on Saturday the 1st of December with Workflows.

On 30 Nov we need everybody to log into the test server in Workflows (66.99.64.101) to clear out your offline lines. We MUST do this to make sure that any data that may have been collected in offline mode prior to this date is removed from Workflows. If you don’t do this, you run a huge risk of getting test/play data inserted into the production server at go-live. That would be bad.

As of 1 Dec, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONNECT TO EITHER THE TEST OR PRODUCTION SERVERS IN WORKFLOWS! You will be operating in offline mode ONLY. ANYTHING YOU CHECK IN OR OUT IN THIS MODE WILL BE UPLOADED ON 5 DEC TO THE PRODUCTION SERVER. In other work, DO NOT play or practice in Workflows after 30 Nov. Anything you do in Workflows starting on 1 Dec will transfer into the production system. Offline mode instructions are coming soon. I would suggest you play around in offline mode a bit prior to the 29th of Nov to get a feel for it.

On 1 Dec, you will use Workflows in offline mode for checkin/checkout/new patrons. CARL.solutions will be dead. CARL Web will be available but RSA Cat will not accurate yet since all the data will not have been loaded at this time.

On 5 Dec you will use Workflows to log into the production server and upload your offline files. Then on the evening of the 5th, we’ll have the production server go through all those files on recreate every transaction done at every library in offline mode. I hope this will be finished by 8 am or so on the 6th so that we can let everybody log in. There will be a considerable amount of processing needed for these files and we don’t want to go live until they are done.

Also on 5 Dec you will switch to RSA Cat as your catalog. Links are coming soon. Each library has a direct link that automatically limits the results of a search to display just your library or group of libraries. If a patron wants to expand their search they can do that, but by default, a search will return hits only in your library. A patron will not need to log in to do this using your library’s link, but they will need to log in to place a book on hold. Logging in will also limit a patron’s search to their library or group of libraries by default.

Bookmarks and Brochures in the mail...

Well, more like delivery, but you get the drift.

Union Listers will get about 50 bookmarks each.

Basic Onlines will get 50 - 100 bookmarks and 15 or so brochures each.

Onlines will get 100 or more bookmarks and 35 or more brochures each.

Give or take a few, of course. They will be put in the delivery bins tomorrow and will start going out on Monday.

We printed 35,000 bookmarks and 5,000 brochures which seemed like a lot until you try to break them out by 198 libraries.

1/2 hour TV interview about the new system

I did a 1/2 hour TV interview with Fondulac PL 2 weeks ago. That interview is now available online at http://blip.tv/file/482377. We cover what ALS and RSA are, what and why we are upgrading, and talk about new capabilities and what the new website will do.

Other than being uncomfortable for me to watch, I think it turned out well. Please click the link and look at the show, I think it might answer lots of questions. Also, if you have staff members or patrons wondering what is going on, please direct them to the link for more information.

On now, the last thing we need info on to set up...

I'm sending out an email to ask you for information about how you want your libraries holds setup. This is the last thing we need to configure for go-love. Yea!

Last Minute Cataloging

Well, well, well. Everybody is working on getting their last records added into the catalog before the cutoff this week. It's nice to see folks using the extra 4 or 5 days of time to get items added in. We've been processing 3 times the normal amount of records over the last couple of weeks.

Great work everybody.

Webcatalogers or Basic Onlines Cataloging Dates Update!

The last data migration of item records will take place Sunday, November 18.

The final date to send OCLC files or files created using A2 program to RSA to be loaded will be Thursday, November 15.
This will give Vicky and DiAnn all day Thursday and Friday to do the preprocessing and load the records.

Any files received after Thursday, November 15 will be returned to the sending library.

Do not use the A2 program after you send in your final item record files.

You will need to attend Union Listing Catalog training (if you are remaining an offline library) or Online catalog training if you are becoming an Online or Basic Online member to learn how to add your items in the new system.

Register for catalog training on CLeO.

Please let Martha or Vicky know if you have any questions.

Online Library Cataloging Dates UPDATE!

The last data migration of item records will take place Sunday, November 18. This is a week later than we originally thought. Yeah!!

The final date to send OCLC files to RSA to be loaded will be Thursday, November 15.
This will give Vicky and DiAnn all day Thursday and Friday to do the preprocessing and load the records.

Any files received after Thursday, November 15 will be returned to the sending library.

You will still be able to use bib maintenance in CARL.Solutions (moving from global to local, editing, adding copies and deleting) through 12:00 noon on Friday, November 16.

Bib maintenance functions will be shut off at noon on Friday, November 16. If your try to use bib maintenance after that time, you will receive a message saying you cannot connect to the ITS server.

During the bib maintenance shut down (from November 16 until Go Live) you will still be able to go to OCLC and export records. Any records exported from OCLC during bib maintenance shut down must use the new 949 tags. Any OCLC records using the old 949 tags will not load into the new system. The records you export during shut down must be saved either to your hard drive, on a disc, or on a flash drive. After Go Live you will then load the saved files into the new system. Do not send any OCLC records saved during the shut down to RSA!

Directions on using the new 949 tags are distributed during the Online and Basic Online Cataloging workshop

Register for cataloging training on CLeO.

Please call Martha or Vicky with any questions.

The New RSA Cat website

After 2 days with the SirsiDynix website folks, we have the framework for the new RSA Cat OPAC website. We got our money’s worth from the trainer, we were here until 8 PM last night getting everything the right size and some last minute coding examples finished.

I’d like to thank Lisa Poignant from Chillicothe, Jill Gray from Kewanee, and Theresa Sloan from Fondulac for joining in the festivities. I forgot to send the email canceling the web training yesterday, so they showed up and agreed to work in our “coding sweatshop” creating library information pages for each of our 198 libraries. Not what they expected, but it saved RSA staff about 2 days of work entering data. A big Thank You to them.

While the site isn’t finished, it is much closer than before. We have some more work to do ensuring a consistent look and feel on each page and behind the scenes coding, but the front page is a good representation of who it will look throughout. We chose something at carries a bit of Carl Web into the future and tried to make the site not look like many of the other OPAC sites as much as the software would allow. It will develop more in the future as we add more functionality in and expand out what the individual libraries can do to their pages.

If you would like to brand your page with a picture in the banner (that would replace the RSA logo in the top center of the screen), please send me a logo, picture or whatever you’d like as a .jpg or .gif file. The picture MUST BE 400 pixels wide x 170 pixel tall (note to Lisa, Jill, and Theresa that’s changed from yesterday by 5 pixels) or it will not fit.

Here is the link to the new RSA Cat website: http://rsacat.alsrsa.org

If you have questions or comments, just let me know.

Website Work

Good Day RSA,

Yesterday (Tuesday) and today we are working on the RSA Cat website. We spent all day yesterday looking at our options and designing a good base starting point for the site. Today we will continue to work on it, finalizing the look and feel and starting to set up the individual links for each library. If you'd like to track our progress, open up: http://rsacat.alsrsa.org and take a look. Don't be surprised if it changes every 10 minutes or so today.

Training next week...

Here is the list of training next week and the names attached to all the courses except the Monday AM Essential skills class. Times are all: 9 AM – noon and 1:30 – 4:30 PM. As you can see, there are 3 openings in the Monday reports class, first come, first served.

WEEK 3, MASS TRAINING – MONDAY 15 OCT – THURSDAY 18 OCT

Mon AM: Essential Skills – open to all

Mon PM: Unicorn Built-in Reports (Class 2)
1. Ann Turnbull (Toulon)
2. Ruth Reeves (Normal)
3. Joanne Cox (Princeville)
4. Pam Clow (Quincy)
5. Pam Van Kirk (Galesburg)
6. Marla Turgeon (Spoon River College)
7. Debbie Wenzel (Alpha Park)
8. Nancy Scott (Eurka)
9. Melissa Brown (Blessing School of Nursing)
10.
11.
12.

Tues: Cataloging (Class 3)
1. Peoria - Jennifer Choate
2. Normal – Enoch Ben-Abraham
3. Kewanee – Jean Craig
4. Alpha Park – Deb Wenzel
5. Illinois Praire - Erin Roberts
6. Fondulac – Susan Sullivan
7. Pekin – Betty Wethington
8. Jacksonville
9. Washington
10. Deb Young – Roanoke-Benson High School
11 Sara Wade (Peoria Hights)
12 Beth Nau (Illini Bluffs)

Wed: Circulation (Class 3)
1. Peoria – Maria Garcia
2. Normal – Ruth Reeves
3. Galesburg – Pam Van Kirk
4. Alpha Park – Corey Shannon
5. Illinois Praire – Sharon Thornton
6. Fondulac – Dodie Lukachik
7. Pekin – Betty Wethington
8. Jacksonville
9. Morton – Rebecca Graves
10. Washington
11. Deb Young – Roanoke-Benson High School
12. Beth Nau (Illini Bluffs)

Thurs AM: Unicorn Built-in Reports (Class 3)
1. Peoria - Randy Turner
2. Normal – Ruth Reeves
3. Cate Parish (Beardstown Houston Memorial)
4. Kewanee – Jill Grey
5. Alpha Park – Sandy Lingenfelter
6. Fondulac – Amy Falasz-Peterson
7. Pekin – Betty Wethington
8. Jacksonville
9. Morton - Janice Sherman
10. Washington
11. Beth Nau (Illini Bluffs)
12. Patti Streitmatter

Some questions from a future Basic Online Members

This is of more interest to our WebCatalogers and Basic Online Members. But I thought the following questions might be of use to all of you. My answers are in blue. If you have any questions, just let me know.

-----------------------------------

I had thought when we do not plan to "go" online until Spring at the earliest, we would not really need to attend all these meetings at this time and that more training in cataloging, reporting, etc., might be offered later when the first onslaught was up and running. Now it does not look that way. When are some of the rest of us going to be able to get cataloging training, reporting instruction, etc.? Or are we going to just be ignored if we are not one of the "big" libraries?

There will be ongoing cataloging and circ training after go-live. The training that is running next week is the last of the 3 weeks of training the Sirsi is doing onsite. These training sessions were designed to get our trainers trained. Since the large libraries have numerous staff members to train, we are training one more person in each of these libraries with the expectation that they will train the remaining staff at that library. After go-live, the trainers will still be available to train anybody who needs training or refresher training. As always, RSA staff members are available for training visits as well. The training that will stop after go-live is John Howard’s essential skills/basic circ training. We hired John on a temporary basis and can’t afford to keep him after the end of the year. Having said that, we will provided the same training that John is doing now in the future, it just will not be John doing the training.

I would have John H. come out to your library and give you his training now if you have time. Even though you aren’t going-live until spring (a good move by the way), it would still benefit you to have the training now. Then when you get trained in the future, you’ll have some background experience already. Also, once you have the training from John, you’ll be able to look at your RSA holdings in the system software which is much nicer for staff than trying to do so through the OPAC.

Reports training is another issue. We are working on a method to allow everybody access to the reports module that will allow you to see the templates that have been created. We have some issues with the technique at the moment, so RSA will continue to provide monthly report and run additional reports as libraries need. Once we get the bugs worked out, we’ll run some reports classes for everybody.

The last time I volunteered to experiment with something, we got into all kinds of trouble so I have not been really excited about going with the first on this venture. We also might get a bookmobile which will present an additional problem which I do not think too many people within the system deal with. How do we check books out from this source? How do we track these materials? System can tell you a satellite dish on a vehicle does not work well. I really don't want to pay RSA and Follett both for check out systems if it is at all possible to avoid this expense. Do you have any good ideas as to how to handle this problem?

Ah the book mobile. Lovely things that cause no end of technology issues. The satellite dish on the ALS van never did work right. The New System has an offline mode which should work well for your book mobile. It’s not nearly as nice as being online, but it does allow you to add patrons, checkout items, check in items, and has some information about blocked patrons, etc. It’s not perfect by any means, but other book mobiles will be using it as well. What it does is record all the transactions while it’s out. At the end of the day when it’s back at the library and is connected to the internet, it uploads that file to the server here at RSA and all the transactions run. If you don’t ever have an internet connection in the bookmobile, we should be able to give you instructions on where the file is and how to get it to us via email.

You can use a book mobile in two ways that I can see, other methods might work as well. One way is to have the bookmobile be its own branch of your library. That’s how Peoria is doing theirs. There would be an additional charge for that as we discussed. This would allow it to be completely separate statistically wise. The other way (no additional charge) is to make it a location code in your library. You could still separate a lot of the statistics by giving the bookmobile patrons a different user type or code. This is something we’ll need to work out once we get closer to getting ready to get you online. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

When we reviewed our holdings on the RSA listing we are considerably short of titles and cataloging does not match. I know we need to get you a revised list of work areas, but how do we get information to match? Are we circulating from what you have loaded or our list? I guess I have not been paying maximum attention on all of this because I thought we were going later and could get the info after some of the bugs were out, but it appears that if we haven't been at meetings all along we are not going to get information beyond what we acquire by reading what has been sent out.

We show about 36,000 items for your library. What your Follett number is, I don’t know. What we have found is that over the years, many libraries that were Web catalogers didn’t keep the RSA side of the catalog as up to date as their local catalog. We can do a data load from your Follett system for a couple hundred dollars that will get a lot of the items in your Follett system. But it’s not perfect, a lot depends on how things are cataloged in your Follett system.

We can run you list of your items in our system, but with the number of items you have, that might not be as useful as if you were a small library. Before you go live, we’ll need to make sure your data is as accurate to your actual holdings as possible, that will help smooth things a lot. This would be something to work on early next year. Again, we don’t want to turn you on until you are comfortable with the data.

As to paying attention, I’m asking for things now because the majority of libraries are going live in Dec and the work must be done now. Since you aren’t going live in December, many of the emails can wait. The 4 part system config email can wait, the two part circ rules and map email can wait, and the two part data review email is valid to help you review your RSA holdings. Once you get closer to deciding on a date to move over, I’ll be reviewing all your settings with you and getting information to set you up correctly. By the way, most of what we discuss at the meetings is what info we need now and how to provide it. Then we spend time clarifying my somewhat confusing emails.

Early next year, if you’d like, I’d love to come visit your library. That would be an ideal time to work through your parameters and circulation settings. It’s so much easier to explain in person then through email.

Is there some kind of check list as to what steps need to be covered to prepare our library for going online? How do we know when we have achieved the required level? Who "throws the switch" to make our library active? I guess I may have missed the answers to many of these questions, but I was planning to work into all this after the initial membership was up and active and the bugs were worked out? If we are going to participate, are we a resource for other library requests even if our patrons can not request items online? I really do not understand exactly how this is going to work and when we are responsible for what?

There currently isn’t a checklist of steps because we are still learning what steps need to be taken. The good part is that we are learning what we need and what we don’t need. I’m working on developing that checklist as we go along. Unfortunately, our consortial size and individuality makes everything we do unique. By not forcing all the members to circ things the same or catalog things exactly the same way, we are finding lots to extra steps that many consortia don’t have to worry about.

As to when you’ve achieved the required level to move forward, that is your call. I’d base it on the following criteria; are you comfortable with your holdings in RSA, are the majority of your heavy use patrons in the system, and is your library staff trained and as ready to go as they could be? Once you feel comfortable with those 3 issues, you make the call on when to switch over. The switch over can be made at any point after we have entered your system settings and rules into the system, but you’ll be able to do some things prior to that. For example, you’ll be able to start adding users anytime after we turn The New System on in December without circulating materials to them.

Your materials will not be available to other libraries via the automated system holds and transit functionality until you go live and the system-wide holds is turned on (that will be March). Until you fully move to the new system, you will continue to request and fill requests that same way you are currently doing it. Once you ‘turn-on’ in the new system, your patrons will be able to place holds in the system and the system will automatically route the material to you to fill those holds. You, as a library staff member, will always have the ability to place holds as well for your patrons once you are operating as an automated member. One of the reports you’ll receive once you switch to us is a pick list. This will tell you what books to pull to fulfill holds in your library and the system. Then you’ll scan those items and the system will tell you where to send them. In system holds are all handled automatically. The non-RSA online libraries will continue to use OCLC, SILC, email, and faxes to request items from your library.

Perhaps all of this was covered at some earlier time, but, as I said, I did not realize we had to take all this training early in the program and perhaps we have missed some things we should know. Making a trip to Peoria for a meeting takes all day and when we have been short of help most of the year, we have thought long and hard before we made this trip. Attendance at ALS events has been limited.

Understood. Again, we’ll make sure you have all the training you need prior to you switching from your Follett system. Your travel pains are not uncommon across RSA and ALS, and we are working to get the training in as many libraries as possible. That’s also why we try to use OPAL as much as possible during meetings. We will continue to use whatever tools we can to allow remote viewing and participation in our meetings. Late this year, the State Library is providing a new OPAL replacement, WIMBA, that should allow live desktop sharing during meetings. This will be a huge improvement as relying on PowerPoint slides doesn’t work well for software discussions.

If you can spare a ½ day for John Howard prior to the 15th of Dec or so, he’ll come to you and train as many staff as he can. Again, that’s not the only training you’ll get, but it’s a start. If that isn’t an option or doesn’t happen, we’ll get you trained at your library prior to the switch. If you can’t use the software, you can’t switch. For me, training is a bigger issue in this migration than the system software. Software can be changed or corrected, but you only get one chance to get everybody trained before negative attitudes about the system form. We are trying to do the best we can in training to eliminate as many of these negative as possible.

Sorry if I have just been observant to the point where I have missed the most of this program, but if we have going to participate we are going to need being brought "up to speed". Hopefully, this is not a complicated as it sounds.

You aren’t behind at all. In fact, since you aren’t going to move to the new system in Dec like many others, you are in a good position. You get the benefit of all the mistakes that are/will be made and learned from now. For you, at this point, ensuring your data in RSA matches your data in your Follett system is job 1. If you need reports on item numbers, or lists of your items, we can do that for you. If the numbers just don’t match with your Follett data, then we need to examine options of converting from your Follett database. Everything else can be done next year with the exception of, perhaps, beginning to enter patrons into The New System. John H’s training would teach you how to do that.

If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to email or call me. That’s what I’m here for. I realize we’re not doing as good a job as we’d like with passing along information, but we are doing the best we can with our limited time and staff. Emails like this one help be understand what isn’t getting done, so I appreciate the time you took to write it.