Minutes

SUNYConnect Advisory Council

September 7, 2005

 

 

Present:            Randy Gadikian, Carey Hatch, Walter Lukhaup, Janet Potter, Judy Sikora, Nancy Van Deusen, Barbara von Wahlde, Rick Winant, Maureen Zajkowski, Connie Perrin (Staff)

 

Excused:           Don Boyce, Tim Flanagan, John Homburger

 

Approval of Minutes

The minutes for the conference calls of 7/20/05 and 8/17/05 were approved as distributed.

 

Aleph 500 LMS Update

Maureen provided the following LMS update:

 

Group9

  • SUNYIT had their first test data load delivered to them for their review.  The first test data loads for Mohawk Valley, Brockport and Niagara will be delivered in September. 
  • Problems with creating a version 16 training data base environment for OLIS staff resulted in the rescheduling of the first week of Aleph training for Group9a.  The initial sessions were postponed for a week in order to provide more time to develop version 16 training materials.  The remainder of Aleph training for Group9a will stay as scheduled.
  • The kickoff meeting for Empire and North Country will be held September 13.

 

Version 16

·        A significant amount of time was spent on the processes for opening libraries for the Group9 campuses and in building a training database for OLIS staff.  Fundamental differences in the configuration of Aleph at version 16 level required extensive help from Ex Libris so that the correct process for creating the campus library environments could be effectively replicated.  Major problems related to creating staff privileges and access to patron data. 

·        The version 16 upgrade process continued to be plagued with serious problems related to the conversion of the Oracle data.  A two day meeting was held with Ex Libris staff at ITEC in Buffalo in August to address the problems that have prevented SUNY from moving forward with the campus upgrades.  It was finally determined that explicit parameters related to Oracle needed to be configured as part of the upgrade setup. 

·        Considerations for planning the upgrade process:

                                                   i.            ensure that the problems identified in the upgrade process have been addressed

                                                 ii.            review functionality

                                                iii.            select one or more campuses for testing, specifically with sub-libraries, to ensure that both the upgrade process and the functionality work as expected

                                               iv.            identify hardware environment; plan on the activities that need to be done to create the campus environments

                                                 v.            build on the workflow document being created that outlines activities and processes for upgrading a campus

1.      determine what staff (ITEC/OLIS/Campus) need to be involved in what activities at what point in the process

2.      determine how long the upgrade process will take and the impact on campuses regarding downtime

3.      determine criteria for scheduling the order and timeframe of campus upgrades

4.      determine what will be distributed SUNY wide related to Aleph SUNY template files and standard configurations

                                               vi.            evaluate training needs

1.      determine training needed

2.      coordinate training with campus upgrade schedules

 

Union Catalog

·        Incremental data loads are taking place weekly for the campuses in production on the shared servers.

·        Incremental updates for the University Centers have not yet been automated.

 

.Universal Borrowing

  • Testing was conducted in conjunction with Ex Libris during July.  In August OLIS suspended weekly phone conference calls with Ex Libris and work on Universal Borrowing until the issues related to the version 16 upgrades, getting the SUNY9 campuses opened and developing a version 16 training database for OLIS were resolved.
  • OLIS did respond to Ex Libris with comments on revised specifications of the UBC software, UBC reports and Union Catalog reports.

 

Miscellaneous

  • Ex Libris implemented a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that replaced their Aleph Support PRB system.  The new CRM system is being managed worldwide by the Ex Libris Group rather than being controlled by the North American office.  A major change is that there is no longer a "read only" user account. 

 

Web OPAC

Maureen reported that Laura Murray is creating a v. 16 template for the Web OPAC.  Because of significant changes in the underlying table structure, Ex Libris recommended that Web OPACs be implemented directly in version 16 rather than trying to use Upgrade Express scripts to migrate the 14.2 version to 16.

 

Universal Borrowing

The UC/UBC Ad Hoc Committee has been holding conference calls to discuss options to the Ex Libris product.  Members have had a webinar with OCLC and will be having one with representatives from VDX tomorrow.  SAC discussed the costs of the two products.  The UC/UBC committee’s report is due no later than 12/31.

 

Demo for Board of Trustees

Carey said work has been done on the demo for the Board of Trustees in November.  They plan on using either the UBC or Illiad.

 

UUP Proposal

Randy discussed a UUP proposal which recommends adding inflationary money to library budgets.  Carey advised that the proposal should be on the UUP legislative platform before any other action, such as the distribution of funds, can be considered.  Members agreed this topic should be an agenda item at the October SAC meeting.

 

E-resources

Carey stated he is working on renewals of e-resources.  He provided several examples of how the SUNY Press books in DSpace are growing.

 

Five Year Strategic Directions

Barbara reported that the following three themes emerged from discussions regarding the five year plan:

 

            Strategic Direction 1 – SUNY Library Systems (Shared Services and Infrastructure)

            Strategic Direction 2 – SUNY-wide Collaborative Collections and Access Management

            Strategic Direction 3 – SUNY-wide Digital Library

 

The following action items were agreed on by SAC:

 

o       Carey will make minor changes to the document as a result of today’s discussion.

o       Carey will prepare a Zoomerang survey to send to SCLD and SUNYLA.  The results of the survey will be used to poll the students, Vice Presidents and Faculty Senate.

o       In the meantime, Cyndi Proctor will be asked to work on improving the language of the document.

 

SCAC

Carey announced that all campuses now have access to the “New England Journal of Medicine.”  He offered to send an e-mail thanking SCAC for all the work they’ve been doing.

 

The new e-resources group will begin its work in October and will be chaired by John Schumacher.  Carey will draw up the charge.

 

Distance Education

Barbara mentioned that a library representative will be on a new Distance Education Committee at the University at Buffalo.  The issue of how to access resources will be explored in depth.

 

Next Meeting

The next SAC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 12, 2005 in Albany.

 

Adjournment.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nancy Van Deusen, Secretary

Draft prepared by Connie Perrin (Staff)