November 2017 Update

Created by David Walker
Dec 05, 2017

Having laid out our high-level activities for the year in the previous update, we’d like to take this opportunity to focus on some of the specific projects the Chancellor’s Office has been working on in October and November.

Current projects

In coordination with the ULMS functional committees and campus libraries, Systemwide Digital Library Services is tackling a wide array of projects, with a particular focus on electronic resources management, discovery, and resource sharing.

We’ve been working with our sister group, Systemwide Digital Library Content (SDLC), to finalize a consortium subscription to MARCIVE (approved by COLD in September) and to create a centralized workflow for managing those records. 

We’ve also been working with SDLC to flesh out the full array of data for ECC and Opt-in collections, including:

  • Updating license records with cost data
  • Creating and maintaining vendor records
  • Updating and maintaining subscription, license terms, and negotiation details
  • Adding vendor title lists and signed agreements to Alma
  • Migrating historical files from SharePoint to Alma

In discovery and resource sharing, our projects include:

  • Continued training and support for CSU+
  • RapidILL export for shared collections
  • Developing enhancements to our Course Reserves browse application
  • Continued improvements to the Primo normalization rules

We also have a number of data integrity and third-party integration projects underway, including:

  • Continued data cleanup for campuses
  • Self-check machine configuration for MLML
  • Setting up new campuses with Accounts Payable integration
  • Development of a new tool to load KBART files into Alma to create e-resource portfolios

Support and enhancements

In addition to these and other projects, an ongoing focus of our work is responding to support incidents for all areas of Alma and Primo.  Timely support from Ex Libris to the CSU libraries is important to us. To that end, we’ve been escalating cases and regularly meeting with Ex Libris to prioritize import issues, especially those related to the accuracy of article citation data in Primo Central.

We also met with Ex Libris executives in November to review several enhancements we had previously submitted for consortial e-resource management and resource sharing functionality. Ex Libris has already begun working on this list, including two requests that will be implemented in December: better controls around shared licenses and shared electronic services.  Another upcoming enhancement important to CSU+ is hiding the request option when the title is not available for borrowing. 

Training, meetings, check-ins

Training has been a major focus for the project throughout the Fall.  We have worked with Coordinating Committee to task the functional committees with identifying training needs and delivering online peer training, which the functional committees have been eager to do.  There already have been weekly webinars and open forums throughout October and November with more on the way.  Chancellor’s Office staff have worked with committees when appropriate to deliver trainings.

Additionally, we will soon begin a series of check-in calls with each campus to assess how well they are doing and to identify where the Chancellor’s Office can provide further assistance.  During these check-in calls, we’ll also be soliciting ideas for new strategic directions in using Alma and Primo, so as to bring these ideas back to the Coordinating Committee and ultimately COLD.

We are also currently discussing the best way in which we might organize larger in-person meetings, including bringing in Ex Libris trainers for some additional training opportunities, as well as encouraging smaller regional meetings.