RSA Cat Emergency Broadcast System

Big Storm = Down

2011-08-08T20:16:00.000-05:00

Good Evening Everyone,

Thank goodness my phone has internet on it so I can post this update.

There has been a rather large, rainy, windy storm go through East Peoria this evening. The building has lost one phase of our power which makes all the lights flicker like crazy and killed anything that needs both phases to get 220volts. Our system needs 220 volts, so we are down. We also have no internet at the moment, but that may just be a power issue.

I'm not surprised after the drive in. The technical institute at the end of our road lost it's big steel girder sign, it's now twisted all over the road, and there are tree's down all over the place here. It must have rained a ton as well because my office is 3/4 soaking wet, never seen so much water in here before. I've called Cilco to work on the power, but they have no idea when they'll be out. Until the fix it, I can't restart the system.

More updates as I know them.

Kendal

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

2007-12-11T09:48:00.000-06:00

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

THE SITE IS DOWN!

2007-12-11T08:35:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-05T19:54:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-05T19:51:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-05T16:23:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-05T14:53:00.000-06:00

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

2007-12-04T08:03:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-12-01T08:02:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-30T12:59:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-30T09:18:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-11-30T09:14:00.001-06:00

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

2007-11-27T09:02:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-19T15:40:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-11-15T14:56:00.000-06:00

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

2007-11-14T09:55:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-11-12T13:40:00.001-06:00

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

2007-11-12T13:29:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-11-05T11:08:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-11-05T11:04:00.000-06:00

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

2007-10-25T08:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-24T08:52:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-10-12T14:15:00.001-05:00

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

2007-10-09T15:22:00.001-05:00

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.

Circ Map Fun

2007-10-08T16:15:00.000-05:00

Good Afternoon RSA,

I have entered 12 new libraries in the circ map. Only 44 left to go. If you are one of the 44 remaining libraries (see previous email from 2 Oct titled RSA: Item Circulation Rules – Part 2) please work on completing this task this week. I’ll be in the office most of the week except for a quick trip to ILA on Thursday morning. If you need some help, just give me a call and we’ll work it out over the phone.

By the way, those 12 libraries represent about 2 full work days of my time, they are not fun to enter.

Thank you.

News Stories

2007-10-08T08:27:00.000-05:00

In addition to the Peoria Journal Star article, there have been articles in the Quad Cities and Macomb, that I know of. Here are the links to the PJS story and the Macomb Journal story. The Quad Cities story is pay to view.

PJS: http://www.pjstar.com/stories/092907/TRI_BEG9VS7N.005.php

Macomb Journal: http://www.macombjournal.com/articles/2007/10/05/news/news0.txt

Workin' on the chain gang

2007-10-08T08:24:00.000-05:00

We are hard at work configuring the system. Please continue to send your data review logs and most importantly, your circulation review and/or new circulation rules.

Each library's circ rules take at least 15 minutes to input, so the sooner you get them here the better. We will have another bunch of hours of work once they are in the system getting them to the place they need to be in the circ map. It's carpel-tunnel fun-time for all!

The 3 big issues for go-live

2007-09-26T13:38:00.000-05:00

The second data load has been completed and is being placed on the test server this afternoon for you to review. I’ll need your review sheets (in a separate email) with your changes, corrections, etc no later than 24 Oct. This review will work much like the first one but I’m going to try to simplify the instructions. You can review in Workflows (if you have been trained and have access) or on the RSA Cat website.

This paragraph is for Basic and Full Online members only. The other major thing we will need from you is your circ rules. There are 56 libraries that currently can’t circulate a book correctly. Those libraries items will circulate, but every item will use the RSA default circ rule of 16 days. We need to talk with each of these libraries to get your circulation rules so we can add them to the system. Adding rules is a painful process, so expect us to by busy doing this. There are 84 libraries with circulation rules in the system. Those will need to be checked as well. Again, instructions will be coming as will the list of what item types you are currently using in your library. You’ll need one circ rule per item minimum.

These are the two biggest issues that must be finished in the system prior to go live. Everything else is secondary. The data needs to be correct and your items need to circulate for us to use the new system. There are other things like per library modifications we’ll be working on, but these are the biggies. Training is the other biggie right now.

Training is moving along and John is very busy out in your libraries. The trainers have the agendas to use for cataloging training and advanced circulation training. That will be starting any day now if it hasn’t already.

Reports will stay in RSA central for now. There are a few folks with reports training, but we are not 100% sure how to roll out the reports module so that it works in the way we want it too. Those with training can work with reports, but we’re not going to train everybody else just yet. The main issue is how reports are ‘owned’, they belong to the login account, not a group. So we are thinking of making a common reports login so that templates can be shared. But again, until we can test a proof of concept, it’s not clear how to proceed.

For the Full Online libraries, we sat through Directors Station training this week. WOW. You’ll find that it will do many of the things you’ll want reports on very quickly. It’s easy to use and you get an answer in seconds. I’ll be sending out invites to some of our large libraries to help ‘burn in’ the system and find its flaws. The Mass training and roll-out will be at RSA Day next April or May. The training manuals that come with the system are fantastic, DiAnn was trained just reading the manual and following the action on screen. Very easy stuff once you learn a few ins and outs. I’m chomping at the bit to dig into it soon. I spend hours working on reports in Unicorn that I can get in 5 minutes in Directors Station, complete with fully formatted Excel export.

Stay tuned for instructions on data review and circ rule review.

Ya big dummy! Marketing stuff.

2007-09-20T09:53:00.000-05:00

Good Morning RSA,

I have several bits of new to pass along, so there will be a couple emails today.

To start, here are two little bookmarks Peoria Public gave their board members to help get them ready for The New System. These are generic in nature and have no library branding on them other than RSA. These are most applicable to the online and basic online libraries.
RSA Cat: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/RSA-Cat-bookmark.jpg
Workflows: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/WorkFlows-bookmark.jpg

I’d like to thank everybody who took the time to email, call, or talk to me in person about the marketing campaign in general and the slogan, posters, and logos in particular. There has been many points of view and several different ideas all leading to the same conclusion: we (the libraries) need something and most don’t have the time to do it. Since RSA will be providing the materials for most of the campaign, just about everybody has told me to make them as good as possible and do what you think is best. Since I’m not a marketing person, what that really means is what the marketing folks think is best.

That means that the once and future slogan for the RSA Cat website will be “Libraries Delivered.” While there are good arguments of both sides of the ‘delivered’ vs. ‘deliver’ argument, they are equally as compelling either way. It comes down to a perceived difference in the semantics of the ‘ed’ part. The marketing folks, however, would have to make a big change to the work they’ve already done and go in a different direction if we change to ‘deliver’ due to the way we’d have to clarify that for marketing materials.

The Users Group vote, better known as Kendal’s an idiot. First I start off by telling you (and the Planning Committee previously) that the new system names (RSA Cat, Workflows, The System, and Libraries Delivered) and a done deal and I’d just be formally announcing them. Then I get a question/comment from the floor and I, apparently, loose my mind. Did I call for a motion? No. Did I ask for comments? Not really. Did I ask if people liked the idea? Yes. Did I ask if anyone DIDN’T like it? No. Did I follow Roberts Rules of Order? No. Should I have even allowed a vote on an issue I just announced was a done deal? No. Was I tired and in a hurry to get to my daughter’s volleyball game? Yes (I made the game and they won, I think). Were most of these errors pointed out to me after the meeting in one way or another? Absolutely. Do I appreciate that you all feel comfortable enough with me to tell me all the ways I’m messing up? Again, ABSOLUTELY!

So I had a dumb moment. Sorry. There will be many more I’m sure. I’ve talked with the initiator of the ‘deliver’ issue (Thanks Amy!) and agreed to appear on her TV show as my penance. She might even give a few of the questions prior to the show. Please feel free in the future to point out any more of my momentary moments of insanity. Really, that’s what makes life interesting.

Basic Online Questions Afternoon

2007-09-18T16:28:00.001-05:00

Please join Kendal, Jon, Martha, and Vicky for the 1st annual (perhaps) Basic Online Questions Afternoon. Come ask all your questions about moving from a Webcat to a Basic Online library. We’ll talk about how to register patrons, easing your transition from your standalone system to the RSA automated system, checking your catalog, when you can go-live on The New System, and anything else you might think of.

Date, Time, Location: 4 October, 1 – 4 PM, RSA HQ East Peoria – Wilford Room

Sign up on CLeO.

This is really the only time we can do this that doesn’t conflict with something else here at RSA, ALS or ILA.

Jon will be available to talk technical stuff, Martha will be available to start cataloging and standards, Vicky will be there to talk about reports and translate for Kendal if required.

Mark your calendars! Next Users Group is on the road.

2007-09-18T15:37:00.000-05:00

The next RSA Users Group meeting, 10 Jan 08, will be help at the Spoon River College in Canton. They have a very nice conference center they are going to let us borrow for the afternoon. The students will still be on winter break, so parking shouldn't be an issue.

We'll be Wimba/Opal-ing the meeting as usual, barring some sort of issue. We'll announce what software we are using and more details in December, after go-live of The New System.

Updates and Unrelated Thoughts

2007-09-18T10:55:00.000-05:00

The next Users Group Meeting (10 Jan 2008) will most likely be held at Spoon River College in Canton. They are very excited to host and are trying to work out the details to make it happen. If you have a large meeting room (75 to 100 seats) and would like to host a Users Group, let me know. I'd like to do 1 or 2 a year on the road if possible.

Next Monday Paul Santos and I go to talk to the State Library about their new OCLC pricing model (for new members) and other OCLC news. I'm working on a huge spreadsheet that lays out all kinds of formulas that they asked for plus many they didn't. I don't think they are going to move at all on their existing pricing for next year, so perhaps all the data they asked for is for the future.

RSA Cat (the website formerly known as EPS/Rooms) is currently without data and working a bit wonky. That is due to the fact that the 2nd data load is now being put on our production server. It should be up and working with the all the data we pulled from Carl (as of the last week of Aug) next week. Also the test server will be cloned to the new production server's data load on Monday the 24th.

After the test server is copied over and has all the latest data, I'll send out the instructions for checking your data again. I'll try to make them simpler this time, but it's very hard to write out the steps to account for every issue you might see.

There will be a marketing survey going out this week on survey monkey. Please take said survey to give us an idea of how many posters we need to produce and what you'd like to see, etc.

Database and Troubleshooters is meeting on the 24th of Sep at RSA HQ, East Peoria. We have standards for data entry in The New System to discuss as well as changes to the 949 tag format that will be required in The New System when entering your data in OCLC.

Users Group on Sep 13th

2007-09-10T11:54:00.001-05:00

We will have the fall RSA Users Group meeting at 1pm on September 13th at ALS headquarters in East Peoria.

We will be discussing holds, the new system and software, training, and a myriad of other topics.

I’m working on setting up an OPAL room at the moment, when I get the link to that, I’ll send it out in email.

Please join us to hear the latest happening with the migration.

Simplification, branding, and marketing

2007-09-07T16:28:00.000-05:00

Good afternoon RSA,

Over the last year or so the terminology has begun to get complicated when we are talking about the new system. Sirsi has used three names (Unicorn, Rome, and Symphony) to denote the system alone! The online catalog is currently known by two names simultaneously (EPS and ROOMS) and the staff client name wasn’t clear outside of RSA staff.

In order to standardize wording and make life easier, RSA has begun using the following terms to denote items in our new system:

The Staff client:
- Currently known as Carl or Carl.solutions.
- In the new system it will be called “Workflows.” This is the name of the client and you’ll see that name every time you start up the new staff client. Since it was already branded as such we decided it was as good as anything else.

The RSA online catalog website:
- Currently known as Carlweb
- In the new system, we will refer to it as “RSA Cat” from now on. RSA Cat will be built using the EPS/ROOMS products, but will be referred to as RSA Cat. This will be easier for our patrons to understand as it more closely relates to finding books system wide.

The backend server hardware and software at RSA:
- Currently know as the Tandem for the hardware and CARL.solutions for the software.
- In the new system, we will refer to it as “the servers” and “the system software.” Since are moving from 1 main server and 1 web server to 8 or 9 different servers running various programs, this will be much easier for us.

The toys:
- Directors station will still be known as directors station.
- Other software modules and programs will likely be known by their names as well, as long as those names are prominent in the software.

Since I’m the biggest offender in the terminology naming game, I’ll have to monitor myself very closely. From time to time we still might mention Unicorn or EPS/ROOMS when referring to specific issues with specific functions, but we will try to remember to stick with Workflows (when dealing with client issues), ‘the servers’ or ‘the system software’ and RSA Cat from now on.

Speaking of branding, RSA also is working on a new, more professional logo that fits in with our association with ALS. Since RSA is the ‘mother organization’ of the automated libraries, we felt it was time to start getting the brand out there. The new RSA tagline is “Libraries Delivered” to help our patrons understand that our online and in-library services are expanding and bringing more functionality home to them. In the future, you’ll be seeing the new RSA logo with Libraries Delivered on the new RSA Cat website, all the bookmarks, posters, and brochures, and other items provided by RSA for the go-live marketing campaign. We might even design a t-shirt or two you could purchase if you felt inclined.

RSA’s marketing intern will be working in conjunction with Peoria Public’s staff to provide a broad range of marketing items, press releases, etc for your use. This is resource sharing at its finest and I must thank Peoria for helping us out. Together we will accomplish much more.

The holds meeting...

2007-09-07T15:48:00.000-05:00

went very well. No yelling, screaming, or crying was observed. The morning was, I'm sorry to say, a bit brutal in that it was very much a technological discussion of how the system works. Unfortunately, to make good decisions on the holds functionality, it was very much necessary to explain in detail exactly how the system looks at things. The upside is that we came to an understanding of the system's functionality and were able to make the required recommendations on how to proceed so that it works in the best way it can for RSA.

The group yesterday has made several recommendations that the user group will look at next week. The next Users Group meeting is on September 13th by the way.

I'll be sending out email with some easy to answer questions about how you want your holds configured for go-live. But that can wait until next week so that we all can enjoy our weekends.

RSA Staff will by busy this week

2007-09-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow (Wednesday the 5th) we will be spending the day picking the brain of our visiting SirsiDynix consultant. We have lists of questions we will be working through and lots of theoretical type questions to ask as well.

Thursday is the holds workshop. We'll be tied up with that all day.

Friday, we'll be catching up.

Questions from library staff

2007-08-31T15:29:00.000-05:00

I got this great list of questions from the Peoria Public staff and I thought it would be a great opportunity to share the answers with everybody. These are all great questions, from easy to hard. I'll do my best to answer each one fully.

1. What is Unicorn?

Unicorn is the current name of the library automation system we purchased to replace CARL.Solutions or just Carl. Unicorn has been around for a while now and has been updated and modernized over the years under this name.

2. Why is it referred to by other names, such as SirsiDynix, Horizon,
Rome, and Symphony?

Now the fun begins. The library automation world is rapidly shrinking due to mergers and acquisitions. Unicorn was the old Sirsi Corp product and Horizon was the old Dynix Corp product. Two years ago Sirsi purchased (they called it a merger) Dynix and the two companies became known as SirsiDynix. The SirsiDynix company then offered both the Unicorn and Horizon product lines to libraries. SirsiDynix was purchase by an equity holding company called Vista Equity Partners (I think that's the correct name) early this year. The new owners have been eliminating much of the leftover duplication in the company by merging tech support, development, training and other areas from two separate offices into one merged office.

They also decided that the newest library automation system, Horizon version 8, which was still in beta testing wasn't going to be viable for several years. What they decided to do was kill off Horizon 8 (which hundreds of libraries and library consortium had contracted to move to by the way) and merge the best functionality of that product into Unicorn. For political reasons, they couldn't keep the Unicorn name for the 'new' single merged product, so they used the marketing name 'Rome' to announce the actions. I don't know exactly why they decided that 'Rome' wasn't a good name for the new system, but for whatever reason they changed it to 'Symphony.' The first version of 'Symphony' is nothing more than the next release of Unicorn (which would have been called Unicorn 3.2) with a couple of features from the canceled Horizon 8 system.

Here is the math of what I just wrote: Horizon 8 = nothing (since it's dead now). Unicorn = Rome = Symphony. The terms are interchangeable. We will go live on Unicorn (version 3.1, the last version for this product) and will 'migrate' to Symphony later next year. Since Symphony = Unicorn but with a few new features, there will be very little change for us.

By the way, we did demo Horizon 8 as well as Unicorn. I am so glad we chose Unicorn! Those awaiting Horizon 8 over the past couple of years and now in a serious bind and have to rethink all their plans.

3. What is WorkFlows?

WorkFlows is the staff client for the Unicorn system. It will replace the carl.solutions software you use now. Depending on your point of view it is either easier or harder to work with. I'll let you be the judge. I can tell you that it is different looking and it takes a while to load up. Unlike carl.solutions, ever RSA member will use the same software to add, change, and delete records in the system. We will eliminate a lot of work here at RSA central with this system.

4. What are we upgrading and why?

We are upgrading ever bit of hardware and software in RSA. The people stay however. Once we complete the migration, we will turn the Tandem off and sell it (or something). We have upgrade/replaced every bit of hardware at RSA central and are now running on standard Dell servers.

As to the why of the upgrade, because we HAD to. The current system has served RSA well over the years but recently has fallen behind the technological times. The major reason Bloomington Public left RSA was that they needed more functionality for their patrons that Carl could provide. Patron placed holds in Carl? Nope. Enhanced reports? Nope. New website with a more modern look and functionality? Nope. We have done as much as we can with the Carl system, but it's time to move forward.

5. How does it benefit the library (libraries)?

At the moment, the biggest benefit is to the 30 odd webcataloging libraries that will be moving up to a fully automated system at or after go-live. Another huge benefit is to the patrons. They will gain the ability to renew books online, put items on hold (Blatant plug: Remember the Holds workshop on Sep 6th! Sign up on CLeO, only 9 slots left!), and gain access to your pay databases at home. All in good time of course. The benefits to the libraries revolve around work flow in the office. With an automated holds system you don't have to fax or SILC your requests, the system does this automatically between the online and basic online members. Cataloging will be much easier for everyone, including RSA staff. Reports should work much better and cover WAY more things. Your Directors (in online libraries) will love the Director's Station reports as they are real time, make neat and colorful presentations, and allow you to drill down into your data to find individual records if needed. As we have time, we'll add in other things like digital archiving for your library's items (think genealogy and local history for a start), a serials module that will automate all your serials collection, an acquisitions module for those that want to us it and other things. Some people even think it make day-to-day tasks easier as well.

6. How does it benefit our customers?

Opps, answered above. We'll be adding in features over time that will affect our patrons. We couldn't have them all ready at the start anyway, but this will allow folks to ease into the new system.

7. How are we paying for the new system?

RSA member libraries have build up a Capital Development fund over the years. We were able to contract for this new system using that fund and still leave some leftover for future enhancements. As far as year to year costs go, we were able to contract these to be the same as we currently pay for our Carl system. The price we contracted for allowed also allowed us to create the new service level of Basic Online between our current webcat and online levels. This allows the smaller libraries to automate their libraries for a reasonable price without charging them for all the enhanced functionality that the large libraries need.

8. What is offline mode? What functions work in offline mode? When
should we use it?

Offline mode is the equivalent of a smart spreadsheet for lack of a better term. It allows you to register a new user, checkout and checkin, and renew items in the staff client. To use offline mode, you just check a box when initially logging into Workflows and select the Offline toolbar. When you are done using Offline mode and log into the main server again, it sends a file with your transactions to the server and updates the system. No more writing down numbers on a piece of paper or scanning into excel then transferring things into the system again by hand. You should use Offline mode whenever you lose internet connectivity with RSA's servers. There may be occasions when we ask you to use it as well during upgrades or something.

9. What is happening on November 12 through December 5? Why will we
not have any new materials during that time? Will there be other services we can't provide during that time?

On or about November 12th we will tell you to stop cataloging. We then pull the catalog data from the CARL system so that the folks at SirsiDynix can migrate it over into the new Unicorn system. If we allowed you to catalog after the day we pull the data, those changes would not appear in Unicorn. You will still be able to do circs and add and edit patrons. On about 1 December we will tell you to start using the Unicorn Workflows client in Offline mode. On the 2nd of December, we will pull all the user data, transaction data, fine data, etc. out of CARL to have it migrated into Unicorn. We will leave the CARL online catalog up so patrons and staff can refer to it for searches. You'll also be able to search in the carl.solutions staff client, but remember any changes made will not show up in the new system after that last data pull on 1 Dec. We will also use Carl to send reports as best we can during this time period. Overdues will be out of date if the patron returned the items after we pull the data, but it's better than nothing. The day we turn the new system on, it will be chewing through all the logs of transactions made during the time you used it in Offline mode and trying to keep up with all the libraries. That might slow it down.

10. What will happen to the holds lists from CARL? Will they
automatically transfer to Unicorn?

Unfortunately holds are a known problem for the migration. Not that Unicorn couldn't import them, it's that nobody, even CARL, knows how to get the holds information OUT of the Carl system in a useable form. We will ask you to stop talking holds about 1 Oct or so. That gives the longer lists time to clear out some. I wish there was a better way to do it, but Carl can't pull that information so we are stuck.

11. Will My Account work for customers on December 6th?

Actually the My Account feature works now in the new OPAC. You can log into the OPAC with any valid Unicorn user account (any account in the CARL system before 28 April) and see your items, renew them, see what you have on hold (most likely nothing unless you've sat in John H's training, see your bills, and change your address, phone, and email (subject to your library's review of course). But here is the hold up, your patron MUST KNOW THEIR PIN NUMBER! You can find this in the Unicorn Workflows client in the user information.

Here is a test user so you can look at these features in the OPAC:

Username: D031175715 Password: 8100

12. Will we be able to use CARL through 9:00 pm on December 5th, and
then begin using Unicorn when we arrive in the morning on December 6th?

You will stop using the Carl staff client (carl.solutions) for all library activities on or about 2 Dec. You could use it to look up patron info or books, but you can't take any action since it will not update the new system. You will start using Unicorn in Offline mode the next morning for three or four days. Then on Dec 6th, you will log in to Unicorn in online mode and operate on the new system. Dates are subject to change of course.

I hope this helps. If you have other questions or would like clarification of what I said, just let me know. I know it hard to understand many of my emails, believe me, it's harder to try to type something that makes sense when you are talking about technical issues!

Training and data

2007-08-28T08:54:00.000-05:00

We start the first 2 days of Rooms development training today. We are just about ready to release the training guides for the trainers and John H is traveling the world to provide on-site training. Progress is starting to be made here. Yea.

The second test data load is being worked right now. We have returned out sheets are Sirsi is working them and asking questions. We'll get one last crack at adjusting things in Oct. More instructions to come in Sep about this.

Dreaming of library automation software. No, really dreaming!

2007-08-24T09:15:00.000-05:00

THIS MUST STOP! Every night for the past two weeks I have dreamed of library automation software. Not good. My annoyance level maxed out last night at 3:28 AM (thank you Mr alarm clock) after waking up for the third time of the evening after a library dream. I actually stayed wake and read a book for a while to "clean my dream palate" so to speak. Didn't work, had another after that. Does not make for restful sleep let me tell you.

So, since everybody is asking how I keep this all the upgrade stuff straight in my head my answer has to be, "Not as well as I'd like!"

Oh for one quiet, sleep induced, coma-like state. That's not too much to ask for is it?

Training is going well, but scheduling is slowwwww

2007-08-21T16:06:00.000-05:00

Training is going very well and we are scheduling as fast as possible. But, John's only in the office 1 day a week to do the scheduling, so if it takes us a while to schedule you for training, that's why. Things should get quicker once the librarian trainers hit the road.

Just so you know...

Rooms is under the weather, a work around

2007-08-20T13:08:00.000-05:00

Due to Murphy’s Law, the Rooms OPAC server is currently down. That makes it hard for you to check your data. Here is an alternative location to use until Rooms is fixed: http://66 (dot) 99 (dot) 64 (dot) 101 where the (dot) is replace with a . Due to security issues I can't just post the exact address because the internet robots would spam us. So you should have something like http://xx.xx.xx.101 with the xx being the numbers above. Just think of this as a test.

This is the iBistro server for the test database and it will return hits like Rooms would.

I’m getting lots of data issues logs back, please keep them coming. Some folks are doing some really good work sorting items by call numbers. If you don’t get exactly what you want this time, you still have one more chance to make changes in Oct.

A week without training

2007-08-20T10:40:00.000-05:00

Well, well, after 2 weeks of solid training, we are getting a break this week. Yea. My head is full.

System admin training last week went well. The good news is that every thing you can see or touch in the program can be edited. The bad news is that everything you can see or touch in the program can be edited. Not everything is going to be set just perfectly at go-live, I can tell you that right now. We have to hand edit every login id (4 or more per library in most cases) to show the options you want. If you do the math, you'll see that's a lot of work just doing that. We will do the big things up front and work on the smaller things (like making your drop-down lists show only what you want) when we have time.

Speaking of lists, I'll be sending out the item location, item type, and item category lists soon. I need every library to tell me which they plan on using and what they want to see in the drop-down lists. If you add item types that you are not currently using, then I'll also need to know how you will circulate these items as they will not be set up correct.

Web catalogers: Your location code will be OStacks and we will give you a shorter list of item types and item categories as well so you don't need to worry about this task.

I also need to talk to lots of online (basic and full) libraries about your circ maps. Some libraries didn't return the info in March/April so you have no circ map. No circ map = no circulation.

From what we learned last week, the system will work as it's set up now, but once we finish customizing it, it will be much nicer.

Holds workshop - sign up on CLeO

2007-08-17T10:13:00.000-05:00

For online and basic online members...

Join us on Sep 6th for this all-day workshop to learn the ins and outs of holds in the Unicorn system. We will get an overview of holds in the morning and spend the afternoon developing the holds features and policies for RSA.

Max attendance is requested from Library Directors and Heads of Circulation. We will be setting RSA-wide policy first and adding in specific library exemptions after that.

Times are 9 am to Noon and 1:30 – 4:30 pm. Lunch will be on your own from noon until 1:30 pm.

If you would like to attend the holds workshop, please sign up on CLeO.

Better yet, how about some buttons!

2007-08-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

Good Afternoon,

There are now buttons on the ALS front page for the new RSA webpage (still in beta form until we get all the data loaded into it) and the RSA training Calendar. They are on the right side of the main ALS page above the button for my blog.

Enjoy.

New online training calendar

2007-08-14T13:11:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to our new training calendar that we are working from. As we schedule new training dates they are entered on the calendar. John H is updating it today. This will tell you what we have scheduled and what days we have open as well.

Here is the link: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/coldcalendar/ It will be linked from the ALS front page soon.

Jon, DiAnn and I are in training the rest of the week. Martha, Vicky, and John H are available for your questions.

Data Review Examples and help

2007-08-13T12:09:00.000-05:00

Good Day RSA,

I promised some examples for some data review issues, but training and my inbox have eaten up all my time. Sorry about that. I’ve included the email below with all the links to the information and an ‘explanation’ of what to do. As a reminder, ALL DATA ISSUES ARE DUE TO ME BY 21 AUGUST if you want them included in the second data load. There will be one more chance to make changes to your data after this, if you find things after this load, we can correct them in the final data load in mid November.

Here is the simplified version of the data review. After checking several libraries and talking to folks, it looks like just about everything moved over as we asked it to. We have identified a few issues, but they are small and in most cases are caused by faulty data in the carl records. So the good news is that we believe we are in good shape as far as the data goes. But you still need to spot check your data to ensure it is fine. Also, this a good chance to rethink what your data ‘looks like’.

Spot checking you data: What we are doing here is comparing one or two records of each item type and location used in your library as they appear in the Carl system to the same record in the Unicorn system. To do this, pick a record (example, Carl Media Code: book Carl Location: Fic) in Carl and pull it up on the screen. Note the call number, title, author, location code, and media type. Then open the Unicorn OPAC (http://rooms.alsrsa.org) and type the title of the item in the search box and click search. Alternatively, you could click the advanced catalog search link and type the author and title then search. If you hit an exact result Unicorn will show you the title record, if not, it will give you a list of possible results. Find your item, click it to open the title record and check to make sure all the items mentioned match up with how you told Unicorn to move your data. If you find any errors, we need to correct them. Please note them on the data_issues_log.xls linked below. The information on how items should have moved is provided, by library, in the excel sheet located at:
http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/Item_counts_by_location_and_media_code.xls

Search note in Unicorn: we learned last week that Unicorn defaults to a ‘same’ search NOT a boolean ‘and’ search if you type multiple words. If you type “Clancy Tiger” it searches the index for the words “Clancy” and “Tiger” in the same field (author, title, etc) and returns nothing. If you type “Clancy” “and” “Tiger” (no quotes, I’m using them to show the searched words) you get Tom Clancy’s Teeth of the Tiger and Every Man a Tiger as well as other results. This is different from Carl and most other search engines. Please remember to use the word “and” in year searches. Currently, it applies in the OPAC as well as the staff client.

Bulk changes are allowed as well. By bulk changes I mean moving items based on call number ranges, or item types, or location codes, or combinations of those. For example, you have videos in Carl Media code: video and Carl Location: stacks that you would like to move to Unicorn Item type: Video and Unicorn Location code: Video. Or you want to move your books with call number J AAA, media code book, location Stacks, to Unicorn item type Book-J, location J-Book, AND you want your call number J 123, media code book, location stacks, to Unicorn item type Book-OS, location J-Pictureb. Even though the media code and location is the same for that example, we can still move the times based on the call number difference (J AAA vs J 123).

Here are some examples using the data issues log categories to record them. The headings aren’t the greatest to work with, but we’ll do our best to make them work for us. The idea is to capture what we want done in a language that specifies thinks exactly enough that a computer can act on the rule without messing up other things. The following categories are those from the data issues log:

Date: No.: Library: Module: Name of issue: Example: Desired Resolution:

Since I can’t go side to side on email, I’ll go down to record each block. The first example will be to show that a webcataloger is moving to basic online and needs their location codes updated from ostacks to stacks.

Date: 13 Aug
No: 1 (this is just a numerical count of the total issues)
Library: MQUETTE-HT (10 digit Unicorn name please)
Module: Bib (since we are changing item things here I thing most will be bib)
Name of Issue: location code change
Example (or bar code for individual items): all location codes for all items are set to ‘ostack’
Desired Resolution: change all location codes from ‘ostack’ to ‘stacks’

Carthage would like everything with a call number of ‘Q’ mapped to location Oversize and item type Book. They would also like all Q 000 – Q 999.999 to be item type 1: Non-Fiction and all Q F call numbers to be item item type: Fiction. This, by the way, is exactly how those item types can help you define you collection without having to reshelve you items. Here is how to fill that out.

Date: 13 Aug
No: 2 (since it’s the 2nd one I’m doing)
Library: CARTHAGEPL
Module: Bib
Name of Issue: Update location code, item type, and item type 1
Example (or bar code for individual items): All call numbers starting with Q
Desired Resolution: update all items with call numbers falling between Q 000 and Q 999.999 to location: Oversize, Item type: Book, and Item Cat 1: Nonfiction. Update all items with call number Q F to location: Oversize, Item type: Book, and Item Cat 1: Fiction

Another example. Move all videos in Carl Media code: video and Carl Location: stacks to Unicorn Item type: Video and Unicorn Location code: Video

Date: 13 Aug
No: 3
Library: FONDULAC
Module: Bib
Name of Issue: Update location codes
Example (or bar code for individual items): All items with item type Video and location code stacks
Desired Resolution: update all items with the item type of Video and location code of stacks to have a location code of Video

Last example. Here is how to do a specific item that may have an issue.

Date: 13 Aug
No: 4
Library: AG_ALS-PDC
Module: Bib
Name of Issue: Correct call number
Example (or bar code for individual items): A1330045834
Desired Resolution: Call number is incorrect. Please change to: LS 686.2 Bani

RSA Holiday Work Schedule Through the End of the Year

2007-08-13T10:02:00.000-05:00

With the upcoming migration, this might be a moot point since we might be working anyway, but here is the 'official' RSA Holiday work schedule for the rest of the year.

Labor Day, 3 Sep: RSA is closed
Veterans Day, 12 Nov: DiAnn is covering the office (working a day shift)
Thanksgiving, 22 Nov: RSA is closed and we shall see how thankful we feel at that moment
Black Friday, 23 Nov: Vicky is covering the office (and not shopping)
Christmas Eve, 24 Dec: RSA is closed, the new system is humming along and we are thankful, I hope.
Christmas Day, 25 Dec: RSA is closed, the new system is still humming along, again, I hope.
New Years Eve, 31 Dec: Martha is covering the office and missing subpar college bowl games.
New Years Day, 1 Jan: RSA is closed, a new year dawns, and we look to a slower paced future.

All of this is subject to change at the whim of the upgrade. Depending on how things go, we might be fully staffed on these days. We just will not know until we get closer to go-live.

First call for marketing ideas!

2007-08-06T16:24:00.000-05:00

We have a new Marketing Intern onboard to help us develop some marketing material for the new system. Her name is Michelle Carlson and she will be a senior at Bradley this fall. She is developing marketing materials to help you market the new system to your patrons. We will probably start off with a bookmark with information about the new system and move forward from there. What we need from you is information: what do you want and need to help you market to your patrons?

Since the new OPAC is very different from the current CARL search, we’ll likely do a poster size piece to point out what the various parts do. Beyond that, we are looking for your suggestions. Michelle will be attending the train the trainer Q&A session this week to get her feet wet and meet some of you. After that, she’ll be calling around to see what ideas you have for her. You can email her (mcarlson@alliancelibrarysystem.com) or myself with ideas and she can correspond or call you from them as well.

I know you all will have plenty of great ideas so please share them.

July 07 Monthly report to ALS Board

2007-08-06T15:28:00.001-05:00

I'd like to introduce a new feature here in RSA, the monthly Board Report. Each month I write a summary of what RSA did that is used to produce the ALS Board package. It occurred to me that some of you might like to see the minutia of our daily works here at RSA HQ. In an effort to keep you as informed as possible, we thought it would be a good idea to post these reports. You can read or ignore them as you wish.

One nice thing about these reports are the statistics tables containing a year's worth of data on various measures. If you think I'm missing a measure, please let me know and I'll add it to the report (if possible).

All reports will be on the new RSA website (http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/rsanew/index.cfm). For now, look in the documents section for these. I'll move them to their own section as some, non-busy, point in the future.

Additional data checking information and statistics

2007-08-01T16:43:00.000-05:00

Good Afternoon RSA,

First off I have an important date: 21 August! That is the day I need your data issues log returned to me. If you get them in after that, your corrections might not make it into the second test data load. We will be pulling all the CARL data the last week of August. Your corrections will be applied to that data pull for your review from late Sep – early Nov.

Yes I know there is a lot of information in this email, but I’m trying to give everyone as many tools as possible to check your data. You should be comparing items in Carl with items in Unicorn randomly to see that they converted over ok. I’m also giving you item count info here so you can look at your collection as a whole and see how it mapped over.

In case you forgot the link to the data issues log, here it is: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/Data_Issues_Log.xls

In case you forgot the initial data review instructions, here they are: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/Data_Review_Initial_Instructions.doc

Here is the OPAC server to check your data in Unicorn (http://rooms.alsrsa.org) or if that doesn’t work (http://66.99.64.104/rooms/portal/page/Sirsi_HOME) both should take you to the same place. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN NOT ACCESS THE ROOMS SERVER AT ONE OR BOTH ADDRESSES.

When we started this process early in the year, I sent out an excel sheet with your holdings (at the time) in CARL. If you find you library in that list, it will tell you how many items you had per location and media code in early March 06. That is good information and can serve as a basis for the following data. (Note to Chenoa Public, I have added you to this list at rows 654-662. Chenoa’s item info did not originally appear on the list.) Many of you used this info to run reports to find and correct item types or locations, remember, these are the data numbers prior to those actions. Many of you also used this chart to move parts of your collection from one area to another. The original early March data is in red on the excel sheet is available at: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/Item_counts_by_location_and_media_code.xls

Also on this sheet are the item totals by library broken down by location code and item type as converted in early May. The numbers don’t fully match the data in red because they are based on the database in late April. The late April data (in black) shows what converted over into Unicorn and what the CARL 949 tag fields h-l-m converted into. I spend 5 hours today inflaming my carpel tunnel to line up the early March and late April data so that each library is represented by itself (search for your 10 digit Unicorn library name or your CARL code). By doing so we found two problems: 1. Pekin HS numbers are off by about 11,000 items because they were mapped to the ALS professional collection and 2. Lacon’s data was inadvertently mapped to Laharp.

One other issue that we have identified is for periodicals. They are not showing up correctly in the system due to some issue. While the data mapped over, you will not be able to see which periodicals you own in the catalog unless you own something that not a lot of others own or you are near the beginning of the alphabet. Sirsi is looking into this now.

I also have an excel sheet with more overall item counts. This sheet has three tabs, 1 shows counts by library, locations, and item type. The next tab shows counts by library and location and the last tab by library and item type. You might find this information useful. It is available here: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/ALSI_item_totals.xls

How can you use this information to help you review your items? One, if you see an item type or location code you don’t recognize, you can search (via the advanced catalog search in the OPAC at http://rooms.alsrsa.org) for the item type and/or location and use #0 in the general search box. This will return a list of every available item meeting your criteria. Note, this also works in the staff client WorkFlows. A word of warning, the location codes and item types in the charts are the 10 digit names, the locations and item types show in the OPAC are the longer descriptions and don’t always match 1 to 1. Here is a link to the complete list of item types (make sure you are on the Item Type tab in excel – it’s at the bottom left) with the name and description: http://www.alsrsa.org/Migration/Default%20Item%20Types%20and%20Categories.xls
Here is the link to the complete list of locations with name and description: http://www.alsrsa.org/Migration/Default%20Location%20Codes.xls

We can also run reports in Unicorn to list out items by location and/or item types as well, just email us and ask.

As you look over the listings of item counts for your library, please note on the data issues log ones that you believe are wrong and where you would like them moved to. As an example, library A has 10 items in location code: J-Fiction and item type: CD. The folks at library A know they don’t have any CDs in this location so they look them up and find that they should be in location AV. This would be documented on the Data issues log.

Libraries that are moving from webcat to basic online, ensure your location codes are NOT OSTACK! If they are, add a line to the data issues log moving all of them to stacks. If you don’t, those books will not be holdable for your patrons.

We will be putting example data issue log entries out soon. I’ll email them out when we do.

NOTE: if you have trouble access any of these documents PLEASE call me ASAP and I’ll email them to you. Several people have experienced issues downloading them in the past.

Unicorn Training Online Form

2007-07-31T11:28:00.001-05:00

Here is a link to the Unicorn training questionnaire that went out via email and the blog last week.

Click me for the link.

NOTE: If you are a Webcataloging library who is not moving up to basic online, you only need to give numbers for item #1. Basic Online and Online members should give numbers for #2-#6 only.

If you have already filled out the questionnaire, then ignore this link as it's just an automated copy.

Information need to set up Unicorn training

2007-07-26T14:51:00.000-05:00

We are beginning to set the schedule for Unicorn training for all our RSA libraries. Please fill out the information below and email or fax your data to John Howard. His contact information is below. RSA will start training member libraries the 2nd or 3rd week of Aug. We are currently testing and revising our Basic On-site training and will have all the regional trainers ready for training by the 13th of August. There will be more information about training coming out soon and you will be contacted by either RSA staff or the regional trainers to set up actual training dates.

In order to begin scheduling for our Unicorn Basic On-site Training, as well as our more advanced regional training sessions, we need to know a little bit about you, such as how many staff you have that will need training and what facilities you have to do it on-site.

If you could provide the following information, and email it to John Howard, our training coordinator, it would give us a great start. John will then contact you directly to set up your training dates.
Thanks for your cooperation.

Training available:

Unicorn Training for Web Cataloging (Union Listing) Libraries (Offered locally or regionally) # of Staff to be trained________
All staff members who currently use the A2 program to add records into the RSA catalog. Will cover adding, editing and deleting records from the database and making ILL requests using the Unicorn software.

Unicorn Basic On-site Training # of Staff to be trained ______
All staff who use the system should take this training. It includes an overview of the system and instruction in doing common circulation tasks.

Advanced Circulation (Offered locally or regionally by RSA member library trainers and RSA staff) # of Staff to be trained ______
For library directors, head of circulation and advanced circulation staff. Will cover more complex circulation tasks and advanced techniques.

Cataloging (Offered locally or regionally by RSA member library trainers and RSA staff) # of Staff to be trained ______
For all library staff who have cataloging responsibility

Reports (Offered locally or regionally by RSA member library trainers and RSA staff) # of Staff to be trained ______
For library directors or others who produce statistical reports. Covers setup, usage and scheduling Unicorn reports run from templates in the Unicorn Reports module.

Serials (Offered locally or regionally by RSA member library trainers and RSA staff) # of Staff to be trained ______
For libraries interested in immediately entering their serials collections into the database and online catalog. Note: use of the serials module to enter serials in to the database will not be mandatory at go live, but will become mandatory at some point in 2008.

What is your preferred day of week/time for on-site training?_____________________________

Please describe the computers you have available to do on-site training, and their set-up (for example, 3 computers running Windows XP all connected to the internet, setup within 10 feet of each other). Computers used for training must be connected to the internet, must be close enough together to allow training multiple people at once and must be running Windows 2000, XP, or Vista.

Do you have any special circumstances/situations we need to take into account? What are they?

Library_____________________________
Contact person:______________________________

Phone____________________________ Email_______________________________________

Email this to: JHoward@alliancelibrarysystem.com or fax to: 309.694.9230 by Aug. 1st

John S Howard
RSA Training Coordinator
309.694.9200 ext. 2121

If you're not learning you are dying.

JHoward@alliancelibrarysystem.com

Make-up Training Schedule

2007-07-23T14:41:00.000-05:00

Note: If you attended training last week and didn’t fill out the survey already (once for each class please) here is the link: Http://tinyurl.com/2464ao

I have finished the training for the make-up week (6 – 9 Aug) and listed the names from week one below. This additional training is mostly for those who attended week one training and as such, require additional training.

I have many slots for outreach training on Wed morning. Those in the Wed afternoon reports class have first dibs since they were supposed to have it two weeks ago. Please let me know if you ‘d like to attend outreach training. Marla and Beth, I left you there because I don’t know if you use outreach or not. If not, just let me know.

I currently know of one (1) open cataloging slot on Monday and one (also 1) open slot in Reports on Wed afternoon. If you have anybody in mind to fill them, let me know.

Please let me know if you CAN NOT attend training, otherwise I will assume you will attend.

Thursday: This is a day for all the groups to meet and hammer out a training outline. EVERYONE PLEASE ATTEND THIS DAY IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. This will ensure everyone is teaching from the same script, so to speak (circ – cataloging – reports). Circ folks, John H. has a great start on this already and will attend your meeting. Also, in addition to the 3 breakout groups, we’ll have a mass meeting with question and answer session and to figure out how to track and schedule where everyone is training and who still needed training. If that doesn’t eat up the day, we will have the lab open for experimentation.

Here are the names I’ve got scheduled so far. Please let me know if you can not attend.

Mon: Cataloging (Repeat)
1. Martha
2. Vicky
3. DiAnn
4. ? Betty Wethington (Pekin)
5. ? Ann Turnbull (Toulon)
6. ? Nancy Terpening (Galesburg)
7. ? John Sayers (Kewanee)
8. ? Liza Hickey (Peoria)
9. ? Barbara Tillmans (Peoria)
10. ? Joanne Cox (Princeville)
11. ? Kathy Packard (Normal)
12. OPEN SLOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tues: Circulation (Repeat)
1. Kendal
2. Jon
3. Martha
4. ? Joanne Cox (Princeville)
5. Rose Chenoweth
6. ? Ann Turnbull (Toulon) (can also do cataloging and reports this week)
7. John Howard (new RSA trainer)
8. ? Gail Hintze (Kewanee)
9. ? Sandi Hesterman (Washington)
10. ? Nancy Terpening (Galesburg)
11. ? Rebecca Gopinath (Normal)
12. ? Jenny Sevier (Peoria)

Wed AM: Outreach (Repeat)
1. Martha
2. Jon
3. ? Kathleen Menateaux or Marla Turgeon (Spoon River College)
4. ? Beth Duttlinger (BlackHawk)
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ? Jacquelyn Shrum (Peoria)
11. ? Teri Miller (Peoria – Head of Outreach)
12. ? Sandi Hesterman (Washington)

Wed PM: Unicorn Built-in Reports (Repeat)
1. Kendal
2. Jon
3. Martha
4. DiAnn
5. Vicky
6. ? Betty Wethington (Pekin)
7. ? Janice Sherman (Morton)
8. ? Jennifer Williams (Normal)
9. ? Pat Whisler (Kewanee)
10. ? Jane Easterly (Galesburg)
11. ? Sandi Hesterman (Washington)
12. OPEN SLOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thurs: MASS TRAIN THE TRAINER Q&A AND DISSCUSSION
Everyone Please Attend! We will discuss scheduling, develop outlines, discuss questions, and other fun events.

Time to update the version number again

2007-07-23T12:54:00.000-05:00

If you have been paying attention, you might have noticed that I occasionally update the version number on the blog to let you know how close we are to being finished with the migration. Of course, I'm not going to tell you what the "finished" version number is, but it's a fun game I play to amuse myself.

Anyway, we have now officially moved to version 2.4.2.3.4.1.2.1.9 of this blog. Hey, at least it's not a beta version!

Just thought you should know.

Unicorn Basic On-Site Training

2007-07-23T10:30:00.000-05:00

This message also went out via the list serves. ---

All you need to know about: Unicorn Basic On-site Training (Provided by ALS-RSA)

With the migration to Unicorn now only a few months away, it is time to think about getting our staff ready to make the change. We want to be sure that everyone can “hit the ground running” and that we minimize the disruptions the new system might cause our patrons.

Unicorn Basic On-site Training will actually start at sites around the system in just a few weeks. I hope that this memo will answer most of your questions about the on-site training we will be offering.

Q. What is the Unicorn Basic On-site Training?
A. This training will be the basic training offered to all library staff. It will cover:
• Logging into and navigating in the Unicorn system
• Basic circulation tasks such as check-out, check-in and handling fines
• Holds and ILL requests
• Locating materials and assisting patrons using search
• Getting help when needed

Q. Who should attend the Unicorn Basic On-site Training?
A. All library staff that perform, either regularly or occasionally, the above tasks. If your library uses volunteers, they are also welcome to attend the on-site training. If your job requires you to use the RSA provided software, you should attend this training.

Q. What about more advanced tasks, like cataloging, reports and serials?
A. Training for these types of tasks will be separate, and will be offered regionally by librarians who have gone through our “Train the Trainer” preparations. In addition, RSA staff will also conduct training both at RSA HQ in East Peoria and at remote location. If we can book a class full of people for night or weekend courses, we will run training to support that.

Q. Does “on-site” mean you will do the training at our library?
A. We will do as much training as possible directly at member libraries, and we will also offer the Unicorn basic training at regional locations where computer learning labs are available. I will talk directly with each library director to determine the best training site or sites for them, based on the number of staff and the availability of computer workstations at their location.

Q. Is there any cost for this training?
A. The training is provided at no cost as part of your RSA dues.

Q. When will these training sessions happen?
A. They will begin in early August and continue through our “go-live” date of Dec. 6th.

Q. Isn’t August pretty early for a system that will not go into use until December?
A. With only one dedicated basic skills trainer available to cover a very large territory, we need to start early to ensure that everyone receives the training. However, the on-site training is only the start of the process. As each library receives the Unicorn Basic On-site Training, we will install the Unicorn software on their computers, linked to our training database. Staff will receive regular, short, self-study “assignments” from the time of their training through Dec. 6th, which they will complete using the Unicorn system. We hope that the combination of instructor-led training and individual self-study will fully prepare them for the switchover. In addition, there are still the Unicorn Essential Skills and Unicorn Circulation web-based online courses available 24/7.

Q. We have to do homework?!? Don’t you know how busy we are?
A. The self-study assignments will be short, normally taking only 20 minutes or so to complete. They will be designed to help you review what you learned in the on-site training, then allow you to practice some more advanced or more specialized tasks. Ultimately, it is up to you whether or not to complete the self-study modules – no one is grading you. They exist to help you be as prepared as possible for the migration to Unicorn.

Q. We are a Webcataloger library. What training will we receive?
A. You will receive your training in cataloging at a regional site or at your library from one of our “Train the Trainer” volunteers or from RSA staff. If you would like to go through the basic onsite training, either out of curiosity or because you are considering upgrading to an online membership at some point in the future, we will accommodate you either at your site or at a nearby library that is an online member. Many of the skills you need are covered as well in the online Unicorn Essential Skills as well.

Q. Who are you?
A. My name is John Howard, and I have been hired by ALS-RSA on a temporary contract to organize and provide the basic on-site training for member libraries. You can contact me at the normal ALS phone number, 694-9200 ext. 2121 or via email at JHoward@alliancelibrarysystem.com.

Q. When will we know the training schedule for our site?
A. Over the next month, I will be working with each of you to create the training schedule for your location. The first step will be creating a database including, among other things, the number of staff who will need training and the facilities you have available to do that training. Watch for an email about that soon.

Q. If I have more questions…?
A. Call me or email me. I love talking to librarians!

John Howard
RSA Training Coordinator
309.694.9200 ext. 2121
JHoward@alliancelibrarysystem.com

What a difference a week makes...

2007-07-18T13:31:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post something yesterday, but we where here really late working on the cataloging training. The trainer this week is very good and we are actually learning how to use the system now. We spent an extra hour yesterday with cataloging to make sure we have a good handle on the system, now we can start making more concrete plans on how to train you all and what types of things you will be able to do.

The folks in circ training today and very happy and feel very comfortable with the new system. Yea. Serials training is tomorrow and Friday.

The big news is that we will be repeating last week's training, to some extent, the week of Aug 6th - 13th. We have four additional days on onsite training to make up for last week. We will be running Cataloging, Circ, and Reports for sure, and I'm thinking a general trained trainers question day for the last day of training. We'll see about adding in either a short outreach course or repeating the academic reserves course. Those people who attended last week have first crack at the seats in this make-up training. I'll put out an email later today with full details.

Your voices were heard; a free week of training

2007-07-16T09:25:00.000-05:00

The combination on your feedback on the training last week and my email recap of how it actually moved us backwards instead of forwards has been hear loud and clear. SirsiDynix is going to provide us with another week of training, free. I don't have the dates yet, but they are checking their schedules to see how soon they can get someone back to us. I'll be putting out emails with details in the near future.

Our seconds scheduled week of training start tomorrow. Our training is an MLS holding, Help Desk experienced person with several years of Unicorn experience. In other words, he should know what you are asking and be able to answer your questions.

More to come...

Calm like a summer morning

2007-07-12T10:44:00.000-05:00

The T1 line is fixed, everything is working, and all is currently right with the world. Please resume stress testing and data review on the catalog at http://rooms.alsrsa.org.

Also if you want to play around in the Rooms on the left panel, you'll need a patron login. You can use this one to look around.

User ID: TESTME
Password: 5807

I'm not sure how many can be logged in at once, so please log out when you are finished using it.

... BOOM - BANG

2007-07-12T09:01:00.000-05:00

Tuesday we had crash, yesterday at around noon we got the boom - bang portion of the program. Much like fireworks seen at a distance, sometimes it takes a while for the sound to reach you. Well, the sound, in our case, was the scream (a silent scream) of the T1 line's alarm lights furiously blinking away.

The EPS server is still running and when the T1 line for the new system isn't alarming, you can access the new catalog at the link I sent you (rooms.alsrsa.org). When the T1 line alarms, it drops your connection and, unfortunately, the WorkFlows clients in we are using in the training lab for training. Yesterday afternoon we had lots of watching, but not much hands on in training due to this problem.

AT&T is in the building as I type (9:06 am) working on the issue and I expect them to resolve it shortly. Long story short, if you get kicked out of the new catalog today, that's the reason.

Side note: I'm going to post all the training manual pdf files on the new website today. I'll send an email with the links shortly. I can't post them here because SirsiDynix requested that we don't post those manuals publicly. The links will go out via the listservs.

CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-11T08:24:00.000-05:00

If our EPS server software dies and nobody can access it online does it make a sound as it crashes?

You have done a fine job stress testing our new ESP server and we managed to crash it in less then 12 hours! All right. That’s excellent work. SirsiDynix will be working on it today and it should be back online soon. Please check the link occasionally as we will all be in training today and tomorrow and can’t send an email when it’s back online.

Once again, excellent work. This helps make sure the software and hardware is configured to handle the load. Let’s find all the bugs and problems sooner than later.

Data review instructions - more to come I'm sure

2007-07-10T16:51:00.000-05:00

Here is the first group of instructions for checking your data in the new system. These are Kendal’s instructions and I’m sure Martha will have additional instructions (or perhaps instructions that make more sense) in the near future. I didn’t want to wait any longer to send these out because I know everybody wants to start working with the new system.

Here is the link to the EPS server with our new catalog: http://rooms.alsrsa.org. As I mention in the word document attached, this just got working again today (we crashed it last week) and it’s not customized or configured at all. This is the bone stock setting for EPS and it needs a lot of work. Please note your ideas for customization and fixes as we’ll be asking for your help then we go to setup the templates in the future. It isn’t pretty, but it’s usable for reviewing data.

Please read over the attached word document to get an idea on one way you can start checking your data. The important part is to document any errors you find on the attached excel spreadsheet. For those that don’t like excel, you can enter the data in the word document table instead, but excel is easier to work with in this case. If you do use the work document, I’d go to page setup and make it landscape, then drag out the table so it’s larger and easier to work with.

Webcatalogers: You need to check your data as well. You can request reports of records or better yet, use the CARL online catalog to gather records to check against the new system’s records. All you location codes will be OSTACK or Not holdable by the way. Also, you will not have access to all the functionality of EPS, specifically the Rooms and federated searching capabilities. We’ll be designing a template for your use that is more basic that what you’ll be looking at for now. Please be thinking about how you’d like it laid out for when we design the template.

Opps, I can’t attach document to listserv emails so here are the links on the new website instead:
Word document: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/Data_Review_Initial_Instructions.doc
Excel document: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UnicornDocuments/Data_Issues_Log.xls

RSA staff is in training this week!

2007-07-10T16:50:00.000-05:00

Please note that all RSA staff will be in and out of training all day long for the next two weeks. If we don’t return your email or phone call for a while, that is why. If you have a problem that needs immediate help and you get sent to voicemail, please try another extension.

Thank you.

A few training related things and the staff client

2007-07-10T14:52:00.000-05:00

Training has started, finally. Yesterday we had over 150 people in two sessions get Unicorn Essential Skills training. It was what we expected, but lots of good information was learned. I’m sure those folks are ready to dig deeper into the system now. As a side note, that training usually isn’t done in a mass session, it’s supposed to be hands on, but I wanted a way to start informing folks about the new system and that was the best available vehicle to do so. After you start playing with the staff client, you’ll be surprised how much you did pick up.

John Howard, the new RSA training, already has a really good outline of what Essential Skills and basic circ tasks need to be trained in the RSA Essential Skills training. He is going to spend a couple mornings working the Morton Circ desk to get a feel for CARL and what types of things you need to know how to do to operate on a daily basis. A lot of those tasks will be in his Essential Skills training and we’ll be refining the training as we go based on your feedback.

Speaking of the system, we are working the bugs out, mostly by finding them while trying to do something at the moment. However, the good news is that we have EPS ready for your use to start looking over your catalog. I’ll send a separate email about that in a few minutes as there are some things we need you to do while you examine your data.

Staff clients (WorkFlows) will be setup for those who attended train the trainer training over these two weeks. Not those who just attended Essential Skills just yet. After the 23rd, if you attended train the trainer training please call Jon or myself and we’ll walk you through setting up the WorkFlows client. We’ll also have to add you into the new firewall, so it’ll take a couple minutes.

Yet another John in RSA! Meet the new trainer.

2007-07-05T12:55:00.000-05:00

I’m pleased to announce that RSA has hired a temporary trainer to help out with the Unicorn rollout. His name is John Howard and I’m sure he’ll do a great job over the next six months. John has a long history as a consultant and software trainer and has worked with non-profit organizations at the local, regional, and national level.

If you are attending Essential Skills training on Monday, you’ll see him there. If not, you’ll be getting phone calls and emails from him as he sets up his traveling training road show schedule. John will be doing Essential Skills and Circulation training all around RSA starting around the beginning of August through December.

The cataloging course is full

2007-07-05T11:09:00.000-05:00

The cataloging course on the 17th is now full. We still have many open slots in the Academic Reserves course.

Final list of training attendee's (still some open slots!)

2007-07-03T13:06:00.000-05:00

There are still slot(s) left in two training courses.

Thursday morning the 12th from 9 am to noon we have 8 slots open for ACADEMIC RESERVES. If you even think you might want to use this function, please let me know and I’ll sign you up. You don’t have to be a trainer for this subject to take the training. Worse yet, if we don’t fill the class I have to take the training!

Tuesday all day long we have 2 openings in the CATALOGING class. Again, you don’t have to do traveling training to sign up at this point. Send me your name and I’ll fill up the class.

If you see a name from your library on the list below, please ensure that they see this posting or that you remind them of the class. I don’t have everyone’s email address so I’m relying on you all to spread the word. Thank you.

Here are the classes and attendees:

Monday the 9th
9am – noon: Unicorn Essential Skills (sign up on Cleo)
1:30 – 4:30: Unicorn Essential Skills (sing up on Cleo)

Tuesday the 10th
9 am – 4:30 pm: Cataloging
1. Martha
2. Vicky
3. DiAnn
4. Betty Wethington (Pekin)
5. Ann Turnbull (Toulon)
6. Nancy Terpening (Galesburg)
7. John Sayers (Kewanee)
8. Sandi Hesterman (Washington)
9. Barbara Tillmans (Peoria)
10. Joanne Cox (Princeville)
11. Kathy Packard (Normal)
12. Liza Hickey (Peoria)

Wednesday the 11th
9 am – 4:30 pm: Circulation
1. Kendal
2. Jon
3. Martha
4. Joanne Cox (Princeville)
5. Rose Chenoweth
6. Ann Turnbull (Toulon) (can also do cataloging and reports this week)
7. Janice Sherman (Morton)
8. Gail Hintze (Kewanee)
9. Sandi Hesterman (Washington)
10. Nancy Terpening (Galesburg)
11. Ruth Reeves (Normal)
12. Jenny Sevier (Peoria)

Thursday the 12th morning
9 am – noon: Academic Reserves
1. Martha
2. Jon
3. Kathleen Menateaux or Marla Turgeon (Spoon River College)
4. Beth Duttlinger (BlackHawk)
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?
12. ?

Thursday the 12th afternoon
1:30 – 4:30 pm: Unicorn Built-in Reports and Outreach
1. Kendal
2. Jon
3. Martha
4. DiAnn
5. Vicky
6. Betty Wethington (Pekin)
7. Lisa Poignant (Chillicothe)
8. Jennifer Williams (Normal)
9. Pat Whisler (Kewanee)
10. Jane Easterly (Galesburg)
11. Randy Turner (Peoria)
12. Janice Sherman (Morton)

Tuesday the 17th
9 am – 4:30 pm: Cataloging
1. Kendal
2. Jon
3. Mary Carol Lindbloom
4. Janice Sherman (Morton)
5. Marla Turgeon (Spoon River College)
6. Patti Streitmatter (Princeville)
7. Jeanne Moonan (Normal)
8. Beth Duttlinger (BlackHawk)
9. Melody Heck (Galva)
10. Deb Wenzel (Alpha Park)
11. ?
12. ?

Wednesday the 18th
9 am – 4:30 pm: Circulation
1. DiAnn
2. Vicky
3. Betty Wethington (Pekin)
4. Linda Yoder (Morton)
5. Jane Easterly (Galesburg)
6. Sara Wade (Peoria Heights)
7. Cossandra Stokes (Peoria)
8. Theresa Sloan (Fandulac)
9. New RSA Trainer
10. Brenda Peden (Normal)
11. Laurie Letkeman (Peoria)
12. Pat Pritchard (Peoria McClure Branch)

Thursday and Friday July 19th and 20th
9 am – 4:30 pm: Serials
1. Martha
2. Kendal
3. Vicky
4. Betty Wethington (Pekin)
5. Sandi Hesterman (Washington)
6. Jill Grey (Kewanee)
7. Barbara Tillmans (Peoria)
8. Amy Rajnowski (Normal)
9. Monica (Fondulac)
10. Lina Yoder (Morton)
11. Blessing R. College Nursing
12. Pam Clow (Quincy)

Training Materials

2007-06-25T15:00:00.001-05:00

I have digital copies of all the SirsiDynix provided training in hand. I'll let everybody know where to go to get them after we start training. I'm also receiving print copies, but I'm not sure how many of those we'll get.

The essential skills training guide is just over 100 pages, so it's a good reference. I'll post a link to that soon.

Latest update to the list of training and trainers posted

2007-06-25T14:42:00.000-05:00

I've just updated the list of who is attending what class. It's in the Unicorn Training page at the new website: CLICK ME TO SEE THE WEBSITE.

Unicorn, Rome, and the Symphony

2007-06-25T12:58:00.000-05:00

Good day all,

Our friends at SirsiDynix have finally named their new, 'Power of One,' automation system. Unicorn is out, Horizon is out, even the transitional Rome is out, in with Symphony. In the future, if you hear me referring to Symphony, that's what I'm talking about.

RSA will go-live on the last of the Unicorn releases, version 3.1, barring any major upheavals. Then in 6 months to a year, depending on how stable Symphony is, we'll be moving to that product. Just as a reminder, Symphony is based on Unicorn with a whole bunch of good ideas from Horizon 8 being added in over time.

Looking to hire a trainer - ASAP

2007-06-22T14:14:00.000-05:00

Here is the text of the job add that is posted on Careerbuilder.com and the ALS website. RSA is in need of a trainer due to a resignation in ALS (Sean Logan off to greener pastures) and we need one quickly. If you know anyone interested in this type of work, please pass this add along to them.
==============================================

Job Advertisement: RSA Training Coordinator

Alliance Library System’s Resource Sharing Alliance (RSA) administers the on-line card catalog software used by member libraries. This temporary position will be responsible for training all member libraries’ staff on the new upgraded system. The Training Coordinator is responsible for:

• Assisting in the planning and implementation of an aggressive training timeline for the new RSA computer system
• Assisting in scheduling of training sessions
• Conducting computer system training sessions five days per week throughout the Alliance Library System’s 14,008 square mile territory at ALS and at various member locations
• Developing and maintaining working relationships with libraries, SirsiDynix representatives, and staff members
• Other duties as assigned

The ideal applicant would possess the following:
• Associates degree, LTA, computer science, or preferred
• Two years of library experience with cataloging preferred
• One year of training preferred
• Knowledge of computer and Microsoft Office Software
• Ability to multi-task
• A valid Illinois driver’s license with a minimum of one year driving experience

This is a temporary position lasting from July 9 through the end of December with no benefits. The schedule is Monday through Friday with 90% travel (including some overnight travel), and the pay range is $12.71 to $19.07 per hour. Starting pay will be based on qualifications and experience.

Please send resume, letter of application and three references to Michelle Agnew, Alliance Library System, 600 High Point Lane, East Peoria, IL 61611, phone at (309) 694-9200 ext. 2105, via fax at (309) 694-9230, or via email at magnew@alliancelibrarysystem.com by 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 for consideration.

Click here for the careerbuilder link.

Remaining train the trainer slots

2007-06-20T16:12:00.000-05:00

We still have openings in the following classes if you’d like to be an official RSA trainer. Email or call Kendal to get on the list.

9 July: Essential Skills – open to all. Please sign up on CleO. The am and pm classes are the same, you only need to attend one of them.
10 July: Cataloging – 1 open slot
11 July: Circulation – 1 open slot
12 July morning: Academic Reserves – 9 open slots! Academics, you don’t have to be a trainer for this, just wanting to use this function. I’d hate to not fill the class.
12 July afternoon: Reports and Outreach – FULL (but if the bribe is big enough…)

17 July: Cataloging – 5 open slots
18 July: Circulation – 2 open slots
19 & 20 July: Serials! – 1 open slot (with 1 additional slot a small possibility)

15 October: Reports – 8 open slots

New website document updates

2007-06-20T16:01:00.001-05:00

I’ve updated both the training sites and train the trainers lists. I also added an obvious date inside the document to let you know when it was modified last. I don’t add new links each time I update the document, so the internal date is the only way to see if it’s an updated document. Both documents are located in the Unicorn Training section.

I have put a document in the Unicorn Documents section that lists the databases that RSA members are subscribed too. This is the first step in getting federated searching working. Then we have to figure out how each library access each database that they are subscribed to. That will not be fun.

The new site is located at: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSAnew/index.cfm

Deleting our fingers to the bone

2007-06-20T11:20:00.000-05:00

As of 11 am on June 20th, 2007, the summer students had deleted over 14,600 items from the database! Yea. As of right now, that's about 90% of the backlog deleted. Vicky is going to start running orphan reports so they can delete those items as well. Once we run out of those items, we'll have them looking over the data in the new system.

Webcatalogers, send in those deletions while we are spun up to do them. After 1 Aug, we'll no longer accept deletions. After that date, you'll have to hold them until the new system is online and do them yourself in the new system.

I must apologize...

2007-06-15T14:08:00.000-05:00

I have spent the past 3 days cleaning out my email inbox. It was over 400 items again, all of which needed some sort of action on my part. So if you asked me a question a couple weeks ago, you should have your answer now, even if it was nearly a month late in some cases.

In explanation, I use the inbox to hold things I haven’t acted on yet or need more information about. I’m really good at doing the hot items, but in times of stress or extreme business, normal type items tend to get buried under a tide of new emails. I normally try to keep it cleaned out, but I’ve been quite remiss as of late.

Anyway, if you asked me a question via email and I didn’t get back to you, I’m sorry. Since my inbox is clean now, please re-ask your question and I’ll answer. Honest.

Updates on the new website

2007-06-14T14:09:00.001-05:00

The new website has been updated with new lists for computer sites and the train the trainer list. Please look at the Unicorn Training page on the new website to see the lists. The Trainers list is tentative at this point.

http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSAnew/index.cfm

While you are there, take a look at the rest of the site. Some is new stuff and some leftover testing stuff in various places. The Things to Check Out page has an ever growing list of web links that you might find useful, or not.

New website updates

2007-06-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

I've just added the meeting minutes for the June 7, 2007 Planning Committee and Users Group to the new RSA website. While it's still in beta testing, it's being populated. Just though you'd like to know.

EPS 2.2 is being loaded!

2007-06-13T10:57:00.000-05:00

Yea! SirsiDynix is loading EPS/Rooms 2.2 on our server as I type. Next week they'll be doing their system QC checks to make sure the system is loaded and operating correctly. Then during the week of the 23rd, they'll be QCing the dataload. That means that I can turn you loose on your data starting at the end of June. Yea.

Essential Skills Training Clarification

2007-06-13T10:50:00.000-05:00

Just to clarify things. The 2 sessions of Essential skills on July 9th are open to all RSA library staff members. You do not have to be a trainer to attend these sessions. Sign up for one or the other in CleO if you plan on attending.

Both sessions are identical, so you’d only need to attend one. Or you could do the training online. Or you could attend in Oct. Or you could attend a session in the fall in your area. Choices are always good.

Updates, updates, let do some updates

2007-06-13T10:16:00.000-05:00

I'll be posting the updated list of volunteer trainers today and hopefully the list of training sites as well. Both will be on the new website under the link for, curiously enough, Unicorn Training.

Here's a link to the new website. We're starting to move data from the old site now that most of the bugs seem to be worked out. Let me know how we could make it better.

Thanks.

Seeking volunteer's to be trainers for the new system

2007-06-11T14:04:00.001-05:00

Good Morning RSA,

Do you want to start playing around in the new system now? Do you want to be the first on your block to get to do some cataloging or reports in Unicorn. Well, do we have a deal for you! For a limited time only, RSA is seeking trainers willing to learn and pass on that knowledge in the fun and rewarding world known as “Train the trainer.”

What we’re looking for is people from each region of RSA who:
- will become expert users and mentors
- will train their library’s staff
- will travel around their area training other library’s staff members
- have the permission of their library director (maybe this one should have been at the top of the list)
- are available in July to get the training
- are available in late Aug – late Nov to do the training
- can either attend Unicorn Essential Skills in person on the 9th or 16th of July prior to their course or have completed it online by then

Webcataloging libraries that are not moving to basic online members still need to take Essential Skills training and will have a modified cataloging course.

Those members moving up to basic online libraries are eligible to teach circ, cataloging, and reports.

You do not have to be the expert on the entire system. We are offering several courses; you can take one or more of them as you feel you have time to train. I’ll gather all the interested parties names, and then we’ll sit down and try to spread the load, both location and knowledge, as evenly as possible.

I’m putting together a list of available training area’s for some of the courses, but training is not limited to places I can find. Anywhere with one or two computers can be used for training as long as we have enough lead-time to check the computers to make sure they can talk to the server. Setting up the software is easy, but it does need to be done prior to training to ensure the area is ready at the start of training.

RSA plans to reimburse the trainers for gas money based on mileage. ALS has a mileage for that we can use. We would reimburse at the federal rate which is about .43 cents a mile. We’ll have to work out the specifics prior to training starting.

Here is a list of the courses available, dates they will be held, and the number of volunteers we are looking for per course:
Note: class times are 9 am – Noon and 1:30 – 4:30 pm Lunch is on your own.
Note 2: Cataloging, Circulation and Reports are repeat classes to train more people. You only need to attend one session of them.

Week 1 of training in July
- Monday the 9th: Essential Skills (morning) – open to all
- Monday the 9th: Essential Skills (afternoon) – open to all
- Tuesday the 10th: Cataloging (all day) – 9 slots open
- Wednesday the 11th: Circulation (all day) – 7 slots open
- Thursday the 12th: Academic Reserves (morning) – 10 slots open
- Thursday the 12th: Unicorn built-in reports and Outreach (afternoon) – 7 slots open

Week 2 of training in July
- Tuesday the 17th: Cataloging (all day) – 9 slots open
- Wednesday the 18th Circulation (all day) – 10 slots open
- Thurs and Fri the 19th and 20th: Serials (all day both days) – 9 slots open

Week 3 training in Oct
- Monday the 15th: Essential Skills (morning) – open to all
- Monday the 15th: Unicorn built-in reports (afternoon) – 11 slots open

If any of the above interest you and you’re will to be a trainer, please get the permission on your director, then email me with your information and what you’d like to take.

Thank you and have a great week.

On the road again

2007-06-11T12:32:00.000-05:00

I'm out doing the last of my scheduled visits to library boards trying to decide if they should move from webcataloging libraries up to basic online libraries. I'll be visiting with the Martin Township board tonight and the Heyworth Board tomorrow night. Makes for long days, but it's always worth it to visit libraries and talk to folks.

If you'd like me to talk with your board, just let me know and I'll try to work you into the schedule. That's getting much harder now that we're about to go into overdrive with training and learning the new system.

Compiling a list of training sites: need your help

2007-06-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

I am compiling a list of locations RSA might use to conduct Unicorn training between Sep and the end of Nov this year. I’m making a spreadsheet that I’ll post to the website and I’ll track usage of the facilities and try to keep an accurate schedule for everybody live on the website.

The requirements for the location are as follows:
- relatively quite location where we can focus on training
- several computers in one location so that one instruction can teach multiple people
- high speed internet connection (preferably with static IP address to easy firewall programming prior to training)
- someone willing to load the Unicorn staff client PRIOR to training so that we can make sure that it works
- a point of contact (POC) for the site who can ensure we can get in/out and help if there are connectivity or other issues

If you know of, or have a location like this and would like to offer for RSA training this fall, please send me the following information:
- Name of the location
- County of the location
- address of location
- number of computers available for training
- number of seats available for training – we will train at most 2 persons per computer normally, so if you have 5 computers but and fit 10 people in the area, that’s the information I’m looking for here
- Who is Point of Contact for the facility
- POC’s phone number
- POC’s email address
- what hours is the facility normally open for training. For example, if it’s only open for training on tues and thurs. Or, if this location is in your library and you’d like the training to happen when the library is closed, let me know the hours we could use the computers.
- anything else I might need to know.

Here is the information for Augusta to give you an example:

Augusta (Greater West Central branch)
202 North Center St
Augusta, IL
POC: Sammy Krestel
Phone: 555-392-2211
gwwclibrary@gmail.com

8 computers
16 seats

Times available:
Available only when library is closed:
Library open Tue & Thur 1 - 8 pm
Wed 9 am - Noon
Sat 9 am - 3:30 pm

Adding Documents to the new beta RSA website, check it out.

2007-06-08T10:06:00.001-05:00

Good Morning,

I’m updating the new website today with all the State of the RSA Reports (in Word format) and I’ll be adding documents to other areas as well.

I’m making a spreadsheet with available training areas, seat numbers and computer numbers that we can use for training this fall. I’ll also post the list of train the trainer training slots as well. Both of these documents will end up in the General Migration Info area.

The Users Group and Planning Committee areas will be updated with meeting minutes as soon as Martha has them typed up. I believe they should be available by Tuesday next week.

If you have any problems viewing or downloading documents, or comments on the site, please let me know. Here is the link to the main page. The navigation area on the right should make it easier for you to find what you are looking for.

http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSAnew/index.cfm

NEW OPAL ADDRESS THAT WORKS

2007-06-07T09:49:00.000-05:00

OK, the address I gave doesn't work for us, so here is a new one. You WILL have to download and install the small software module that will show up on this page. It will look like it's working, but it will not connect to the server unless you install the software.

Here is the OPAL link to use for Users Group today:

http://67.19.90.10/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs1641902f62b4

Not much of an OPAL update

2007-06-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

We’re still waiting instruction on how/why OPAL is or is not working. The link is in the posting below.

If might have to download new software, but when you log in you do not need a password, just leave that part blank. I’m having issues connecting to the server, that’s what we are trying to get resolved. Again, if you can’t get in on OPAL, you can get the powerpoint slides here at least:

If it doesn’t work, you can download the PowerPoint slides are available at the link in the posting below.

More info if and when we know it.

Users Group Info, Opal not working?

2007-06-06T15:43:00.000-05:00

Good Afternoon RSA,

I just tried the OPAL room link for Users Group and I don’t think it’s working. I’ve contacted the OPAL folks to see if they are figure out the problem. We’re now on version 5 something, previously we’ve been using version 4. I don’t know if this is the problem or not. I’ll email tomorrow or today with further instructions if I hear anything.

Here is the link we want to use: http://67.19.90.10/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs8a3fed6f8f63

If it doesn’t work, you can download the PowerPoint slides here: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/RSADocuments/UsersGroup/7June07.ppt You could download the slides even if you do see/hear the meeting I suppose.

Users Group Minutes from March Meeting

2007-06-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

Since the listserv isn't cooperating, here are the minutes:

RSA Users Group Meeting
March 8, 2007
Minutes

This meeting of the RSA Users Group was held at ALS East Peoria, 600 High Point Lane, East Peoria, IL 61611 and via OPAL.
60 RSA library members attended at ALS East Peoria
20 RSA library members attended via OPAL

1. Call to Order
J. Sayers called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m.

2. Approval of Agenda
The agenda was amended to include Basic Online membership, the RSA budget, and a report from the RSA staff under Other Business
MOVED BY N.SCOTT AND SECOND BY A. FALASZ-PETERSON THAT THE RSA USERS GROUP AMENDED AGENDA BE APPROVED AS PRESENTED MOTION APPROVED
3. Introduction
J. Sayers welcomed members attending via OPAL. Members present at ALS East Peoria introduced themselves.

4. Approval of Minutes
MOVED BY G.FREDERICKSEN AND SECOND BY B. LOVE THAT THE RSA USERS GROUP MINUTES FROM DECEMBER 14, 2006 BE APPROVED AS PRESENTED
MOTION APPROVED

5. RSA Planning Committee Report
J. Brooks reviewed the agenda from the March 8, 2007 RSA Planning Committee meeting. K.Orrison gave an update on migration and parameters. There is a vacancy on the RSA Planning Committee for Special Libraries representative. A fee recommendation for Basic Online members was set. The fee structure committee will meet in the fall.
MOVED BY J. SHERMAN AND SECONDED BY N. SCOTT THAT CURRENT WEB CATALOGING MEMBERS HAVE UNTIL DECEMBER 1, 2007 TO BECOME BASIC ONLINE MEMBERS AT THE COST OF $1000 FOR FY08, $1100 FY09, $1200 FY10, AND $1300 FOR FY11. BEGINNING FY12 THE COST WILL INCREASE BY THE YEARLY PERCENTAGE. AFTER DECEMBER 1, 2007, THE COST FOR A WEB CATALOGING MEMBER TO BECOME A BASIC ONLINE WILL BE $1300 WITH THE YEARLY PERCENTAGE INCREASE THEREAFTER
MOTION APPROVED

6. Migration Update
K. Orrison gave a power point presentation updating members on the status of migration. All hardware is in Provo and the software is being installed. Hardware will be delivered to East Peoria the first week of April. The second week of April Sirsi/Dynix will be here to set up hardware. Last week of April will be a data pull. The data will be loaded on the new system the end of May so libraries may look at their information. Go live date is still the first week in December.

7. Parameter Update
K. Orrison reported that committees met to standardize parameters. The spreadsheet to be filled in by member libraries was presented with an explanation of the following sections of the spreadsheet:
• User Types
• Item Types
• Locations
• Circulation Rules

Defaults will be used for libraries that do not return their spreadsheets. The spreadsheets need to be returned by March 21, 2007.

8. Report on Sirsi/Dynix Conference
K. Orrison, J. Whited and M. Troxell attended the Sirsi/Dynix Conference in Colorado Springs, February19 -20. RSA staff met with Sirsi/Dynix staff and discussed the possibility of changing from single search to central search. There will be a web based staff client available soon and Rick with get the cost.

9. Nomination Committee
With OSF St. Francis College of Nursing withdrawing from the RSA a vacancy was created on the RSA Planning Committee. The nomination committee will have names for an election at the next RSA Users Group meeting. The terms of the Small Public library and Large Public Library members of the RSA Planning Committee are up this year.
MOVED BY D. RICHARDSON AND SECONDED BY L. YODER THAT THE CURRENT SMALL PUBLIC LIBRARY AND THE LARGE PUBLIC LIBRARY MEMBERS OF THE RSA PLANNING COMMITTEE RETAIN THEIR SEATS FOR ANOTHER TERM.
MOTION APPROVED

The RSA bylaws are being revised and will include a seat on the RSA Planning Committee for a Basic Online Library member.
MOVED BY J. COX AND SECONDED BY D. RICHARDSON THAT UNTIL THE NEW BYLAWS ARE APPROVED, A BASIC ONLINE LIBRARY MEMBER WILL BE ADDED TO THE RSA PLANNING COMMITTEE AS A NON-VOTING GUEST SEAT.
MOTION APPROVED
E. Wild from Henry Public Library volunteered for the guest Basic Online Library seat.

10. Other Business
K. Orrison discussed the budget. FY08 will have a 3 percent membership rate increase. Some of the costs for migration taken from the $200,000 set aside for unknown costs are $9000 for upgrade to the computer room, $165 a month for a new T1 line, $10,000-$15,000 for new Cisco equipment, $23.000.
ALS will be offering a group purchase of computers.

11. Dates for FY08 Meetings
J. Sayers announced the tentative dates for FY08 as September 13, 2007, December 13, 2007, March 6, 2008 and June 5 2008.

12. Next Meeting
J. Sayers announced the next RSA User’s Group Meeting will be June 7, 2007.

13. Adjournment
J. Sayers adjourned the meeting at 3:51.

Prepared by:
Martha J. Troxell
RSA Database Administrator

Users Group, 7 June, 1 PM

2007-06-01T15:53:00.000-05:00

The next RSA Users Group will be held on the 7th of June at 1pm. We’ll be meeting, as usual, in the Wilford Room at ALS East Peoria and on OPAL. Here is the OPAL link: http://67.19.90.10/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs8a3fed6f8f63. I believe this is a new version of OPAL so you may have to download the newest player first. You’ll have to log in early to do that.

We have various topics to discuss including the upgrade and training for said upgrade. I also hope to have a live demo to show you in the new staff client. Cross your fingers for that one. I’m not sure the OPAL folks will get to see this, but the folks in the room will.

Unicorn Essential Skills Training Info/Questions

2007-06-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

More things reposted from the listservs:

I’ve had a couple of really good questions about this training I think everyone might like to know about.

1. Must you take the training here at ALS HQ? No, there are 3 sessions of training here and if you can attend one of those sessions great. If not, you can get your training in another way. The May State of the RSA Report has details on how to take this training via the internet from any computer, even your home computer. Here is the link to the report: http://www.alsrsa.org/news/srsa0507.pdf - the info about training is on the bottom of page 2, but you can read the entire report to learn other fun and exciting things.

2. Will training be offered at my local library or at a library in my area? Yes. RSA has one person dedicated to doing Unicorn Essential Skills training from Aug – Nov. That person will travel around to the various libraries and train staff on the basic skills and knowledge required to operate the staff client.

3. Would you benefit from attending in person at ALS and at a local or internet session? Maybe. I think seeing the training twice would be good, but you don’t really need to do so. The important part is to become comfortable enough with the staff client that you’ll be able to muddle through the rest of the training.

4. How should attend this training? Everybody who will work with the staff client will need to do this training FIRST as it is the basis for all other Unicorn training. Basically you’ll learn how to start and move about the staff client.

5. Do you have dates and locations for the mobile training? Not yet. We don’t have dates for the essential skills or the other training (reports, circ, cataloging, etc) that we will be traveling around doing.

Note, I've bumped up the blog to ALS/RSA 2.3

2007-06-01T13:57:00.000-05:00

The blog started off named the ALS/RSA 2.0 blog. Then I upped to 2.1 and 2.2 as we reached milestones in the process. Since our data is just about ready for us to play with in the new system, I've bumped up the blog to ALS/RSA 2.3. Not that it's important, but it makes me feel like we're making progress. Perhaps if I rename it the ALS/RSA 3.0 right now, we'll be done with the upgrade!? If only it were that easy....

Reviewing your data, not quite there yet...

2007-06-01T13:56:00.000-05:00

Also reposted from the listserv:

I believe the data has been converted and should be about finished loading on our new system. Unfortunately, we can’t see it yet. I had hoped that we would be able to look at it by now, but it looks like we have a two or three week delay to finish loading and setting up the EPS server so that everybody can see the data in the online catalog. SirsiDynix is about to release a new version of EPS and they don’t have to have to load us twice in a month.

I know everyone is ready to review their data, but you’ll get a few more days of peace and quiet first. Once we are able to do so, we’ll also be giving directions on how and what to check for in addition to whatever quality control checks you want to make locally. This will be an important step to making sure the data displays as closely to what you want as possible.

Note about tax levies

2007-06-01T11:45:00.000-05:00

Reposted from the listserv in case you missed it there.

I’ve been informed that some of our rural libraries are awaiting tax levies due to some tax changes. As we did last year with Tazewell County libraries, we can wait for your membership fee’s if paying them would cause an undo burden. If you are one of the affected libraries and would like some extra time to pay your FY 08 dues, please send a nice note back with your bill when you receive it. Susan Rushing will file this and rebill you when the taxes start flowing again. Hopefully someone will tell me when that happens!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kendal,
Has anyone else inquired whether the RSA is willing (or able) to hold up on payments from rural libraries until our tax levies are received. Three of our four counties will not even be sending out their tax bills until Oct or Nov due to the Bulletin 1820 (or 8120?) changes that require them to change the way they acess farm land…
Thanks

Sign up for Unicorn Essential Skills on CLeO!

2007-05-25T10:06:00.000-05:00

CleO is being set up to allow you to register and should be ready by the time you see this. Please sign up for one of three Unicorn Essential Skills classes offered by SirsiDynix trainers. If you miss these, we are running local essential skills training as well.

9 July: 9 am - noon
9 July: 1:30pm - 4:30 pm
15 Oct: 9am - noon

Here’s a brief description of the course:

In this course participants will gain the knowledge necessary to navigate WorkFlows and search for items using different operators and strategies. This course is the prerequisite for all other Unicorn classes. After completing this course, you will be able to:

Navigate the WorkFlows client

Be familiar with and understand WorkFlows terminology

Perform three types of searches (keyword, browse, exact)

Create searches using Boolean operators

Perform advance searches using different strategies

Use the WorkFlows online help

Vacation Schedule Update

2007-05-25T08:36:00.000-05:00

One addition to the schedule from yesterday. Jon scheduled his last 2 days of vacation.

Here is the updated schedule for the rest of May:

Monday the 28th - Holiday, RSA Closed
29-30 May - Jon on vacation
29 - 31 May - Kendal on vacation
31 may - 1 Jun - DiAnn on vacation

Here is the schedule for June:

4 - 15 June - Jon on vacation
29 June - Kendal on vacation

Unicorn Essential Skills Training Dates

2007-05-24T13:54:00.000-05:00

There are going to be three (3) mass training opportunities at ALS East Peoria focusing on the Essential Skills you need in Unicorn. We will also be running a traveling road show of essential skills training starting in mid to late August. I would recommend that as many of you as can attend one of the that is provided by SirsiDynix personnel. That way you have a baseline knowledge base to use and can have that base re-enforced by local/regional training and the online, web based skills training.

The training sessions are scheduled for the following dates and times:

9 July: 9 am - noon
9 July: 1:30pm - 4:30 pm
15 Oct: 9am - noon

As I mentioned, this is the base level of knowledge required to use the staff client. EVERY library employee in RSA that will use the new system software must take this training in at least one of three ways: 1. In person at ALS East Peoria on the dates above, 2. via the web based training on the SirsiDynix website (see the May State of the RSA Report, bottom of page 2 for details), or 3. training provided by RSA personnel at or near your local library.

If you come to the formal training AND sit through the RSA provided training AND MAYBE EVEN do the online training, you will be in really good shape.

Vacation / Personnel Schedule for May and June

2007-05-24T11:38:00.000-05:00

RSA has an hour cap for vacation time that kicks in on 1 July each year. That means that we are working furiously to take all the vacation time we must to get under the cap. Nobody looses vacation time on my watch! This is going to be a huge issue next year as well since we will not be taking much, if any, time off between 1 Aug and Christmas break this year. So the RSA staff will be juggling vacation time in the first 6 months of next year as well. This should be the last year we have to push our vacations back for the upgrade for a LONG TIME. I hope.

Here is the schedule for the rest of May:

Monday the 28th - Holiday, RSA Closed
29 - 31 May - Kendal on vacation
31 may - 1 Jun - DiAnn on vacation

Here is the schedule for June:

4 - 15 June - Jon on vacation
29 June - Kendal on vacation

Data load progress

2007-05-14T15:38:00.000-05:00

SirsiDynix is ahead of schedule on our data load. We may have full access to the loaded system before the end of May. That would be good.

Not much else to update on at the moment. We are all trying to catch up with all the work that we didn't get finished over the past couple of months. Expect us to be REAL busy again soon.

May State of the RSA Report - new link

2007-05-14T15:34:00.000-05:00

After much gnashing of teeth, we figured out what was causing folks to have problems downloading the report. The spaces in the file name cause problems for some computer, but not all. Seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the issues, just worked or didn't work. So we have renamed the file and put a new link to it on the website under the News section. Click here is the direct link.

update

2007-04-26T15:53:00.000-05:00

SirsiDynix is still loading software on our new servers. We continue to send torrents of emails and paperwork to SirsiDynix informing them of how to set up our system and what to do with our data.

Next week I'll be asking for specifics about the pay databases you use. We need to start working on the setup for our federated searching product.