I had a meeting with Callie Mendoza, David Frankel and Matt Warnock with Exlibris on 2/28. Matt Warnock is working to create a set of recommendations for all Cal State libraries for the PO line type editing issue. One of the examples that I had was when you place an order for a DVD and receive an instructional book as well. We now have to cancel the original POL to accommodate the new item and create a new one for the DVD/book. I was told by Exlibris that this was the best way to do this. Changing from an order to a tech order if we don’t end up being charged for the item (it became a gift) same thing cancelling and setting up a new order was the best way.
I believe their intention are to give us examples of what we should do for certain situations and we will not be given the ability to edit the POL types. As far as the manual packaging. Everyone is my Acq. group does not intentional use this feature. When they create a POL they use order now. We did discover that when we at Pomona have been paying invoices created by GOBI API the POL has not been automatically closing because of a setting. Exlibris said they will help to close the ones still open. I have a meeting (for Pomona) next week to change confirm we need to change the setting. I do not know at this point if other campuses using Gobi API have this same issue.
I got the impression their main goal is to help us use their features more efficiently. I have a follow-up meeting on the 18th. They have asked for a couple more examples I believe to understand how we are creating the POs…again I believe in an effort to see if our process needs to be adjusted.
Resource Management
Per Ex Libris’ request during the Steering Committee’s meeting with Matt Baker and Shelley Hostetler on 2/18/20, Israel filed a case (#00815713) for match types in Alma advanced repository searches. Current status for the case is Tier 2 Analysis.
The Authority Control Task Force is continuing to examine potential authority workflows for the consortium.
Committee members Carole Chapman and Julie Moore created an Alma item material type glossary which is available for review. Carole will present it at the next TS Open Forum. She will also present a new how-to article on enabling/disabling item material types in Resource Management configuration.
The committee is reviewing the Resource Management how-to articles area in Confluence for currency. We plan to update those that require it, and create new articles for Alma processes as needed.
We will keep an eye out for the Alma enhancements, expected to come out on March 29. The committee will work quickly to come up with a set of recommendations for Resource Management-related enhancements. We’ll share our recommendations via the TS listserv and the #tech-services Slack channel.
Analytics
Ex Libris has a fix for the broken 'Available for Group Members' issue - expected Q3 2020
User Stat Categories - Laura and Christina developed a workaround for incorrectly structured XML data (still awaiting recode by CMS group) which prevents useful analytics.
Delete all statistical categories, then import via spreadsheet
Re-enter Statistical Catogories/Category Types table (manually alas, see Idea Exchange)
Course Reserves Task Force - Ex Libris quickly responded to list of queries from the Fulfillment group (thanks to Kevin & Mallory!) with a number of reports and a dashboard (/shared/Community/Reports/Institutions/CalState/CalState - Assessment and Analytics Support/Course Reserves Questions). Reviewing.
ERM
Shared and discussed the CDI Migration plan in the February 21 Technical Services Open Forum. Discussed the need for more information on the details for this migration specifically for consortia instances.
Contacted Ex Libris and arranged a webinar for our consortia that took place on March 3. Questions were gathered prior to the webinar via the ULMS Technical Services Listserv. The webinar was recorded and shared in the CSU CDI Migration - Reported Issues webpage.
Due to the lack of visualization, it was difficult to understand what the migration was going to look like for our particular consortia. The ERM team reached out to Michelle Eichelberger and Nancy Babbs from the SUNY Central Discovery Index Task Force for a peek at their CDI instance as they were early adopters. Based on their help and screenshots, the ERM team reached out to Ex Libris to stress the issue of potential duplication within our IZ. The duplication would be problematic for acquisition, electronic resources, and discovery staff.
The ERM team is currently working with Ex Libris on an alternative plan that would avoid this duplication. That proposed plan was shared in the March 12 Technical Services Open Forum. Discussions are ongoing.
The ERM team has migrated all the pages to the new ERM space in the wiki. The Review of those pages are almost complete.
Resource Sharing
Experimented and tested a Primo customization that will display ILLiad items on a user’s Primo account. Everything with the customization seems to be working well. Natalya (RSFC vice chair) and I met with David to see if this was something that could be distributed in the central package.
Completed configuration of network zoned sandboxes and tested them. This has been a long going project that faced a lot of issues early on. But finally Mallory was able to get two sandbox instances (San Jose and Fresno) configured so that we can test CSU+ functionality in it. Prior to this all testing on Peer to Peer Resource Sharing configuration changes had to be done in live environment. We tested the sandbox by doing release testing on Reactivate Request functionality. Both tests were a success. Sandboxes work and Reactivate Request is worthwhile for a few use cases.
Publicized the new Reactivate Request functionality on I-SPIE TV.
Analyzed early results of Random Regional Rotas pilot. Results were mostly inconclusive and we decided we need a longer data collection period to smooth out any strange situations. However, given the current situation with many campuses having temporarily dismissed their student assistants with pay the next month or so may be a strange situation that won’t provide good data for the pilot study. But pilot study will continue and we will remove any bad data from the results sometime down the line.
Investigated situation with the UCs, reciprocal agreements and the shared courier. This investigation is ongoing but we are in the process of gathering data to build negotiating positions that we hope will result in a situation where all UCs are on the courier route as well as all UCs and CSUs having free reciprocal agreements for ILL trade (Currently some UCs charge CSUs while others do not).
Began an overhaul of our Confluence space to be more in line with Brandon’s Confluence space reorg plan.
Fulfillment
On 3/12 the FFC held and open forum where Cal Poly Slo spoke of their textbook donation program and how it has developed over the last two years. Marketing material and swag were shared, as well as how donation material is added and differentiated from professor provided material. CSUN presented on how they developed their robust Course Reserves offerings through a Campus Quality Fee instituted by their ASI. New release enhancements were demonstrated and added to Confluence including ‘Patron Last Activity’ configuration and how to set up pop-up messages using the Scan-in feature. A second open forum will be scheduled for April to cover more Course Reserves presentations around working with the bookstore to purchase textbooks and the pros and cons of loading courses from Peoplesoft into Alma.
Worked with Brian Moore and Ex Libris to find ways that we can use analytics to get Course Reserves reports that are difficult to produce using just one analytic query. Ex Libris provided multiple reports in a shared folder for us to review along with extensive notes on how we can create our own. FFC is still reviewing them before reporting them out to the wider group.
25m
CSU+ loan extension
@Mallory DeBartolo (Unlicensed)
Proposal to extend CSU+ due dates to the end of the current semester
Also for items marked as LOST
Run bulk due-date job to push out due date to May 22
New check-outs are currently out to May 12
In 10 days will run this a second time to move these out to May 22 too
Must be run separately for each campus
Manual for some items that fall through the gaps
Users will get (likely multiple) emails notifying them of this change
Perhaps turn off notices while this work is being done?
Schedule loan summary activity letter afterward
Do all campuses have this? Can be run manually, if not.
SLO and San Bernardino on quarter
Can deal with those later
Mallory can do all this work centrally
Will start on Monday
Libraries are also extending due dates on locally circulated items
20m
Custom Get It Menu
@David Walker
November release causing problems Slow downs (of 10-30 seconds) caused by Primo itself Going forward three options:
Continue looking for a fix
Could take awhile
Is this approach just susceptible to breaking from releases?
Change approach: Server-side only
Should bypass current problems
Less susceptible to breaking
Will require complete re-write of existing code
More difficult to test in production
Won’t carry over into Primo VE
Shelve this work
4m
Enhancement Voting
@David Walker
Primo enhancement survey closes today
Will look to extend this
Brandon will send out the top ranked enhancements next week