Blog from August, 2016

Project Update 8/2/16
brandon dudley (Unlicensed) posted on Aug 02, 2016

All -

This project update will touch upon the following topics:


  • Project Status 
  • Alma workshop Aug 9-11
  • ULMS Communication survey summary
  • Project Communications review
  • Resource Sharing discussion starting

Project Status

The ULMS Project continues moving along through the Test phase relatively on schedule. At a high level, focus will shortly be moving from Alma to the Primo side of the system as Alma functional calls come to an end this week and the first workshop takes place next week. This break in Alma project milestones will last through the end of the calendar year.

We will soon be providing some guidance on how folks should be spending this break time. Whether it be in focusing on local data integrity and Alma functionality, staff/faculty training or in creating systemwide best practices and policy decisions in the working group, there’s plenty to keep us all busy!

Meanwhile, Primo workbooks have recently been distributed and will be due in August. Primo configuration will then take place in Sept, followed in October by a series of functional calls on various Primo topics.

Information on the project timeline is available on Ex Libris’ Basecamp site or on our Confluence site: https://calstate.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ULMS/Schedules


 Alma Workshop next week

On August 9-11, an Alma Functional Workshop will be held at San Jose State University. This demonstration-led discussion will be led by Ex Libris trainer John Larson, Manager of Consulting Services. Where the previous video-based training provided a generic introduction to Alma features and workflows, this workshop will be focused on workflows specific to a consortium environment. It also affords us an opportunity to “get on the same page” in how we will use Alma, which will be critical to the success of the project.

The 130+ registered attendees representing all campuses are expected to be conversant with Alma functionality in their area(s) of focus through watching all Ex Libris videos and reading all Alma documentation on offer through the Knowledge website.  Videos and readings are available to all on the Confluence project site https://calstate.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ULMS/Videos+and+Reading+by+Functional+Area. Attendees will also need to spend significant time prior to the workshop exploring functionality in Alma and documenting issues and questions that develop from their explorations.

The attendees become members of the system-wide training community-of-practice and will be expected to employ what they learn in these workshops to supplement Ex Libris’ online training for their peers throughout the CSU pre and post Go-Live.

ULMS Communication survey summary

I sent out a survey in early July to the working group mailing lists concerning communication tools that may be used to supplement existing tools such as Confluence and Zoom to better support peer-to-peer collaboration as well as communications between CO staff and the campuses. A summary of the results is available on Confluence at https://calstate.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ULMS/ULMS+Communications+Survey+-+Summary

We will be piloting a possible solution to help bolster communications in these areas. This solution will not be a “mandatory” communications tool, but rather “opt-in” for those who might desire a low-overhead method of communications. I will send out details about this pilot soon.

Project Communications review

This seems a good time to run down the various “official” means of ULMS communications currently on offer. These tools include Ex Libris-provided tools as well as CO-supported tools.

Ex Libris tools – These tools are provided by Ex Libris for overall project management and support of Alma and Primo. Access to these tools is restricted for the most part to Project Managers for the duration of the Alma/Primo implementation

  • Basecamp: Contains the Project milestones & schedule followed by Ex Libris. Also contains a discussion board for Project Managers to post questions to each other or to Ex Libris staff.
  • Salesforce: Ex Libris’ ticket tracking system, the place to post issues impacting individual Alma/Primo instances and/or the Network Zone. Ex Libris staff will also post important migration forms and workbooks for campuses to complete.
  • Lync/WebEx: These are Ex Libris supported webinar tools use for regular calls with CSU project participants. WebEx is used for larger gatherings while Lync is used for smaller, regular meetings.

CSU tools – These tools are provided by the Chancellor’s Office to enable communication of information to anyone in the CSU libraries. These tools are open to anyone in the CSU.

  • Confluence: Contains project policies and procedures, working group information, meeting notes and recordings as well as other project documentation. This site is open to all, although editing access is currently limited.
  • Listservs: Supports official email communications between working group members or between the ULMS Implementation Team and the CSU libraries. 
  • Zoom: Campus-supported webinar tools used for office hours, working group open meetings and similar.

Resource Sharing Governance Task Force

During the COLD Meeting at SFSU in April of 2016, COLD approved 7 Resource Sharing Recommendations proposed by CRSP (Committee on Resource Sharing and Preservation). One of these recommendations was to "establish a governance unit within COLD to advise the CO on resource-sharing practices, policies, and procedures, and serve as a voice for the CSU libraries on issues related to resource sharing."

In July of 2016, CRSP proposed an initial charge and membership list for the task force, which was approved by COLD on July 15, 2016. Members are:

  • Dawnelle Ricciardi (Sonoma) (Co-Chair)
  • Lina Carro (Humboldt)
  • Julie Kowalewski-Ward (San Jose) liaison to Access
  • Gretchen Higginbottom (Fresno)
  • Christopher Lee (San Luis Obispo)
  • Stacy Caron (Fullerton) (Co-Chair)
  • Jesica Brubaker (San Diego)
  • Karen Schneider, Dean of Sonoma State, COLD Liaison

Their charge is to "recommend a system of governance for sharing materials and supplying services, and for standardizing and formalizing policies, procedures, and service levels, and mechanisms for recommending changes to shared policies, to enable CSU libraries to operate as a system while supporting and representing individual members.”

The Task Force met with Ex Libris for the first time to discuss available configuration options with an eye towards setting up a test configuration within the Alma test environment. The Task Force plans to reach out regularly to provide progress updates and solicit feedback from you, so stay tuned.


Take care,

Brandon