SuperConference, April 17-21, 2004
St. Louis, Missouri

We did run across Mark Witteman, who was my major hero during those fretful days in March. Apparently his wife ... also a SIRSI employee stayed up through the night working through our data reload.

Opening Session, 4/18 (Andy, Renate, Denise)

• in 2003 SIRSI had 57 million in revenues, 16 million in profits ... both economic measures continue to rise steadily
• battery technology will be a focus and wireless broadband development increases
• by 2010, humans will connect via network 10x more than in person (slightly creepy)
• data-mining will become increasingly important (advertisement for Directors Station)
• Pat made an interesting reference to a Good Housekeeping article 5/13/55 "how to be a good wife" to further illustrate how things have changed, and not just technologically

Reclaiming the American Commons, 4/18 (Andy, Renate, Denise)

• libraries' mission is to share, use and reuse, which runs counter to an increasing pay-for-use environment
• there needs to be a new library philosophy for the digital age
• libraries caught between free vs. copyright vs. treaties (Patriot Act, etc) or The Commons vs. the market vs. the state
• The Commons could be viewed like the ecosystem and the human genome, and as we attempt to capitalize by buying the human genome, we are restricting the freedom of information with copyright
• social relationships can support The Commons ... the state can be a trustee but not an owner ... trustee should manage for the best interest of posterity ... but the state is allowing the market to plunder The Commons via privatization
• examples of ownership of The Commons: ASCAP actually went after the Girl Scouts for copyrighted music song around campfires, Ralph Lauren owns "polo" and has restricted equestrian sports from using the term, and more recently Donald Trump has sought to own "you're fired"
• Supreme Court 2002 upheld copyright to be defined at 70 years plus age of author
• libraries need to ask: what is our language to articulate the needs for Commons that fosters creativity? what is the value that doesn't involve the exchange of money?
• property law is like ice, libraries (Commons) are like water ... freely traveling where needed/li>
• Internet use is proof of the importance of Commons ... free use of peer-to-peer, IM, email ...

UUGI Business Meeting, 4/18 (Andy, Renate, Denise)

• Presenters pay half price for conference registration, costs coming from $25/attendee conference dues. There was the usual discussion regarding dues, but there doesn't seem to be another effective way to collect the money needed. The good news is that UUGI should break even.
• Attendees were complaining about no refreshments at the first break (didn't they get enough of the all-you-can-eat breakfast?). UUGI decided to save some money and forego a break, each costing $10,000!
• The European conference is in Amsterdam this Fall ... can I go?!?!
• next SuperConference will be in Nashville, 2/27 - 3/2/2005
• one UUGI vote per SIRSI license

Standards Update Session, 4/18 (Andy)

• NISO standards include; NCIP, OpenURL, network reference and NISO metasearch.
• SIRSI is a member of NISO since inception
• NCIP standards define transactions, need for Circ activities, necessary to facilitate consortia borrowing
• EZ-Borrow is an example of NCIP standards; lookup, update and notify, and the ability to query four object classes; users, items, agencies and transactions.
• OpenURL is used to cross link between online resources, works by "resolving" through knowledge base (maintained by vendor) to determine where resource should be accessed and what services are offered. While links are persistent, they are controlled by the source.
• The future may be virtual reference against a viable knowledge base

Tired of Begging Your SysAdmin? Tools for doing it Yourself, 4/18 (Denise)

• Penn State has 3 servers, 1 for production database, 1 for development, 1 for testing, and they wishes that they had 2 more!
• All in all this session was geared toward larger institutions.
• The administrators are reluctantly relinquishing control over the policies, so that each institution can modify its particular policies over the web and they will change automatically.
• When system administrators empowering the staff with this ability, they need to make them understand that the format of the policy is complex. It was described as a ³black box² and you have to make small changes and then look for the "cause and effect." It was advised to make one change at a time then go to Unix Policy Raw data to see which field(s) have changed.
• They caution everyone about deleting a policy, because its number will be reused. Before making such a deletion be sure that you know all of the occurrences of that policy.
• Notable, was the mention that policy files can change through version upgrades.

Squeezing Blood from a Turnip - Extracting OPAC Usage Statistics from the Web Access Logs, 4/18 (Andy)

• basic OPAC stats can be derived from daily logs; IP addresses, date & time, URL, html return code, and bytes returned
• able to identify basic iLink pages, like Powersearch and Browse
• iLog 2.0 creates resultant ASCII file from desired search criteria
• iLog 2.0 can be found at http://library.uno.edu/~liau/software
• login: guest, password: sc2004

SingleSearch and SIRSI Resolver, 4/18 (Denise)

• Siris hosted solutions center not only host the software application, it also maintains and administers the hardware including network bandwidth.
• SingleSearch uses broadcast federated search to get the most out of the search databases that you subscribe to.
• Resource plug-ins available: Access to over 1000 non-subscription databases and library catalogs
• Rifle shot search with de-duping capability
• Set search and retrieve /display parameters
• License restriction decides who is allowed to see various resources. For this to work you need to have the Logins function turned on.
• Statistics telling how many total hits and where the searches were conducted are available is the "SS logs" which is part of their new product Director Station.
• Sirsi Resolver - openURL resolution (hosted solution)
• Resolver rifle shots into Infotrack into Library Journals where the subscription profile is in Resolver and takes the user directly to the full text of the requested search.
• Open URL helping end user access the information.
• EBSCO has a link to Sirsi Linking button to aid patron in a search in progress.
• You have the ability to add ILL search database.
• You can Single Search separate or using both
• Resolver also performs a Knowledge Base cleanup.

The Ins and Outs of Debt Collection in an Academic, Public and School Library, 4/18 (Renate)

• The Sirsi Debt Collection module recovers outstanding bills from borrowers. The cost of this module is $2,000.00.
• Penn State -3-part approach:
  1) Students - charged via their bursar accounts at the end of each semester
  2) Faculty - monthly payroll deduction
  3) Community borrowers - remanded to debt collection agency - Unique Management , Inc. (Chosen for their focus on recovering materials)
• Of the uncollected money, $400,000. , 60-70% of this debt was owed by 25% of outside borrowers
• Bills sent to borrowers who have fines over $25.00 & any bill from 1995 on
• Penn State University Libraries will stop using Social Security numbers in users library records beginning January 2005

County libraries

• The county libraries used some of the same criteria as Penn State,i.e. minimum amount of fees due ($25.00)
• Before starting to use the Debt Collection Module, users are informed about this service via newspaper articles, signs/posters in the library, post policy on library's web page, etc.
• Problems with Debt Collection Module = Unique does not receive updates on new barcodes & customer continues to be contacted from Unique. The solution is to email status to Unique.

Cheap Thrills: Advanced iBistro/iLink Customization, 4/18 (Andy)

• Any iLink html page can be changed to appear as desired. An exciting example: in Full Details, holding information could be placed at the top. (Of course in version 2003.1, the scroll-to-holdings obstacle is solved by the new ability to easily tab between the Item Information and the Catalog Record.)
• Env files, gateways, style sheets, messages and labels can all be edited according to local needs and aesthetics.
• Patrons can be passed to other gateways using rootbar.h and system.env. For example, patrons could be passed to ILLiad if the local volume is checkedout.
• Icons and ownership can be shown on hit-list by modifying state p.4 (see Powerpoint slides for details).
• Be aware that customization can be overwritten with the next upgrade. (We currently only have one pages_custom.)

Running Effective Serial Reports, 4/18 (Denise)

• Who needs the data?
• Internal use only in your department or library
• Library administration
• Outside agencies
• Vendors, etc.
Why do you need the data?

• Vendor performance
• Routing lists
• Claim notices
• List of new serial receipts, etc
When is the report needed?

• Daily, Weekly, Quarterly, etc.
• NOW!
What form and format is the report needed?

• Print notices
• E-mail
• Online reports

KNOW YOUR DATA!!! TEST YOUR REPORTS!!!

• Penn State has 1 campus library that is geographically disperse among 23 campuses.
• For instance, Category 2 they have defined 20 categories.
• Serial process is partially decentralized with each campus location managing their serials check-in and claiming.
• Extended info fields is capable of 11 note labels or fields that can be used to add new labels that more clearly define contents of each note field.
• Rutgers and Indiana were a great resource for working through to get good data from selected elements.
• Outstanding Claims
• Use 3rd claims to Vendor to clean data.
• Limit capability of who can run reports.
• Enhancements - See list of suggested and pending enhancements.
• Version 2002 Rollover changes fiscal year automatically.

Product Overview, 4/19 (Andy, Renate, Denise)

• SIRSI is building around the currents trends of customization and focused searching
• SingleSearch is a common interface (federated) that allows for natural language searching, like Google
• can carry over iLink search into SingleSearch, much the same way we currently carry over search into Google
• If a library subscribes to many online resources, there can be too many choices to check. Similar to JStor topic selection, but greater.
• Once a patron has a arrived at a hit-list, and made selections, Resolver (OpenURL) can point directly to the full-text article, from any subscribed database to any subscribed database.
• Rooms creates a focused environment. SIRSI example for Poetry
• SIRSI can server host any of these services, so no additional equipment purchases or upgrades.
• can carry over iLink search into SingleSearch, much the same way we currently carry over search into Google
• Director's Station uses natural language to query Reports and delivers data in the form of charts and graphs.
• Anyone with authorized access to Director's can create customized mySwiftview to develop "dashboard" of desired statistical gauges, which can be refreshed automatically every 15 minutes.
• Common gauges would be checkouts, patrons, OPAC searching and funds. Alerts can be set for desired set limits (ex. a fund has exceeded budget limit).

Authority Control in an Online Environment, 4/19 (Renate)

• Scott Piepenburg is a seasoned cataloger & teaches cataloging courses in Texas.
• Authority control is labor intensive and expensive
• Authority control is used to improve and maintain the quality of an online catalog
• Very important to retain Genre Headings in the bibliographic record, eg. 655 Field
• The Library of Congress uses the Rand McNally Atlas to define geographic terms
• "Google" (search engine) wants to be like a library - no controlled list of subjects needed to search
• Mentioned his book, MARC Authority Records Made Easy, which he uses in his classes

Interlibrary Loan Options with Unicorn, 4/19 (Andy)

• Relias handle the entire ILL process. UK company, major client is the British National Library.
• Patron initiated request, but can be mediated. Patron would authenticate against iLink ID/PIN, not presently used myDip authentication.
• Since Relias communicates with Unicorn, can manage due dates, overdues and statistics.
• Can scan and handle Ariel, and would email links to locally hosted pdfs directly to patrons since Relias can access patron email addresses (we should be able to do this with Ariel 3.4).
• Process may be comparable to ILLiad, and to a lesser extent ClioRequest.

Client Care, 4/19 (Denise)

The team assignment has provided

• Incident ownership for incoming incidents
• Relationships for individuals (staff & clients)
• Customer satisfaction

There are no cookie cutter answers for question and situations that are reported. The Client Care team members strive to be quick and prompt with the correct solution to the problem.

Incident Handling

• Logged
• 1st call resolution - they want to revolve the problem before they hang up.
• Assigning to staff - if it can't be resolved on the phone.
• Investigate; if needed
• Escalate to another department
• Contact SLC
• Resolve issue
• Contact client and close the incident.
• Incident Statuses; Active, Pending, Inactive, Closed
• Reopening an incident; don't start new if you already have a problem with history.
• Complete Incident survey

Non-application incidents

• Assist with software upgrades
• 1st level hardware support according to contract
• Provide after hour Critical Care Support

Workflows 2004, 4/19 (Andy, Denise, Renate)

General, Systems and iLink

• We will need to upgrade SUN server OS, from Solaris 5.8 to 5.9.
• We will most likely need to upgrade any Win98 PCs to Win2000 or XP.
• A Mac-client will be available!! which means we may be able to retire Citrix. We should also regain receipt printing at circulation.
• LDAP will integrate with iLink in the 3rd quarter. This might mean that we could use the campus authentication to access iLink My Account.
• Will adopt Windows standard, so typical functions like copy/paste, fonts, screen colors will all work.
• All results lists are sortable, in every module, similar Excel sort functionality.
• Can customize view, resize frames. Able to choose from hit-lists to get detailed information - on same screen!
• Unicode only available on Oracle (we use Informix). Unicode used for easy toggle between many languages.
• Will use tabs to toggle between brief and full records in iLink and Workflows. Attempt to reduce scrolling. Item information will be limited to 020, 100, 245, 260, 300 and holdings. Catalog Record will have all other fields, including Subject Headings. Can show all needed entries in Catalog Record by way of WF/catalog config/catalog format/marc holdings (full).

• Access control is more granual.
• Helpers, not gadgets, give access to policies (ie drop-down lists).
• Circ map - greater broader view. Can search by library, user, item or rule.
• Congig gateways - can finally see the tree, so can jump to limb and choose tabs for (ex) www destination.
• Finally a quick and easy way to select module (access list) to attach to user profile.

• Nested wizards, so all needed information may be viewed on same screen. For example, User ID and Item ID on same screen.
• GUI interface for receipt printing, USB connection.
• There will be a search history, which will be very useful in Cataloging and Circulation. More than the just-previous search.
• Able to view all charges, active and inactive.
• New Suspend User and Blanket Hold wizards.
• Enhanced user search - check for dupe users, allow for partial bill payment.

Cataloging (2nd quarter 2004)

• Bound-with wizard. Can search bind, unbind in same wizard.
• Item Search and Display shows greater acquisitions and circulation information.
• Transfer Item wizard. Search the hit-list, with ability to transfer.
• Modify records, can cut & paste, insert diacritics, and view/edit full Marc record - including fixed fields.
• Modify - can select subfields on left to automatically show in present Marc record.
• Fields and headings are defined in the status bar.
• New call number and item maintenance wizard. Call numbers show on left, can then edit item as needed. New wizard take the place of 4 existing wizards, including Add Item and Edit Item, although these wizards will continue to exist in U2004.
• New label designer. Can add/delete/modify, customize labels, split call numbers, adjust fonts and font sizes, adjust label size, choose elements form item and bib record, add own text, print preview. There are templates.
• Use print label helper - Avery stock.
• New print custom labels report to print in batch.

Reports (2nd quarter 2004)

• Source names may or may not appear as per pref.
• Selection Criteria is broken out to tabs, so no scroll down.
• Sessions wizards for all report wizard properties.

Acquisitons (4th quarter 2004)

• Wizards for funds, vendors, orders and invoices - no more commands!
• No new functions - wizards correspond to previous commands.
• As with other wizards - ability to sort tables.
• Totals stay at top of funds.
• Can download and display fund information into Excel.
• Add Order wizard - Smartport, then can edit order and fields.
• New add order line to catalog. Can review and modify orders.
• Can delete invoices.

Serials (4th quarter 2004)

• Image buttons replace steps, like Expected issue.
• As with other wizards - ability to sort tables.

21st Century Libraries: Tapping the Potential Virtual World Technologies, 4/19 (Renate)

• Focus of the presentation is to look at social issues of virtual worlds
• This is the "Age of Information", 21st century, where libraries must adapt to their patrons' ever-changing technological needs
• Virtual world technologies are being used to extend educational services into cyberspace
• A few forward-thinking libraries have already begun to experiment with the concept of a virtual library
• Currently 22 virtual worlds
• Virtual worlds have many potential uses in education, e.g.
  - Remote research facilities
  - Online classrooms
  - Virtual study groups & tutoring sessions
  - Student club meetings
  - Online art, music, and digital film events (e.g. streaming videos)
  - Special guest speaker events
  - Virtual campus tours for prospective new students
• Who visits virtual worlds?
  - Average age of online game player is 29
  - 39% of game players are women
  - US companies dominate the market, followed by UK and Germany
  - Strong Asian market for game-focused virtual worlds

Unicorn 2003.1, 4/19 (Andy, Denise, Renate)

General, Systems and iLink

• Can sort My Account renewals by due date.
• Single item view is configurable.
• Browse index is identified in search lists.
• Patron can remove favorites.
• Kept has diacritics... but will kept be retained through multiple search sessions?
• Integrates SingleSearch, Resolver, increased content - including Barnes & Noble.

• Enhanced user lookup, by name, phone and email. Truncated with dollar ($) sign./li>
• Duplicate checking - can config which field to match on. We would use F&M customer number.
• Increased partial payments from 5 to 50.
• Suspend holds functionality.
• Bill notice changed to allow for total amount allowed, could set bill criteria for total.

Cataloging

• 856 shows Marc holdings. Bibload will need to be edited in Smartport.
• Author/uniform title link.
• Authority control - global change, admin access.
• New replace subfields report. Replace or delete, review before live. Admin access with override .
• Call number with linked order lines can be transferred or removed.
• Display item allows for sorts.
• Can search shadow items.
• Can search by library in item search and display.

Acquisitons

• ISXN validation in Acq, Cat and Serials Control. Have to set as a Behavior in prefs. Validation occurs when record is saved. Record will show in red, ISXN to be corrected. USMARC - hyphens should be excluded.
• Online claiming and canceling simplified. Create claim and create cancellation shows at bottom of screen. Can cancel selected and all fundings. Create cancellation next step (won't work till U2004).
• Coverage note helps distinguish between multiple orders. Shows on invoice line, along with parts notes.
• Supports 9xx book vendor web based ordering, if use B&T, BWI, Brodart, Yankee, Blackwell, and others.

Software Prioritization, Web Forums, Beta Process 4/19 (Renate)

• Description of prioritizing developments & reviewing new developments in software releases
• The Product Management Group (all librarians) talk to libraries re their requests, etc.
• Product Management is divided into Public Services, Technical Services, Sirsi Hosted Services, Consulting Services
• Web enhancement forums are moderated by members of users' groups (12 total)
• Some of the recent Web Forum updates are included in reports, OPAC,acquisitions, and circulation
• Beta software management : As of February 2004, Sirsi was working with 33 different customers on 8 different beta projects. Beta testers work against servers at Sirsi and local test servers
• Most beta cycles involve testing software; in some cases third-party products such as Sirsi Resolve are tested
• Sirsi is looking for more beta sites per release cycle; also, they would like the involvement of different library types

Time Saving Tips: Preventing and Resolving Common Unicorn Issues, 4/19 (Andy, Denise)

• Workflows Helps are a great way to access specific information.
• At sirsi.com Client Care, there are training guides, Unicorn documentation, FAQs, release notes, newsletters, knowledge database, and Forums.
• Listservs are probably the most immediate and most used help resource. The Sys Admin listserv is the most active.

Web crawlers (robots.txt) can slow or crash iLink with too many searches in a short time period. If there are no webpages on server ... user-agent
• ... disallow: /
• avoiding urgent rebuildtxt ... adutext errors that read "files to large." Go to Unicorn Utility/computeradmin/disk space/choose brs size. Should have (3) inv files and (2) txt files. Check to see if last inv and last txt file is approaching 2 billion blocks. Will need to schedule rebuildtxt report to fix. (We are currently have only one inv file at 300 million blocks, but should probably run rebuildtxt annually to correct date sort in iLink.)
• Notice text can be a problem. Go to Unicorn Utility/sytemconfig/report notice text. Should be plain text only, html is fine.
• Notice errors (ex) notice not found:1 ... notice not found:2. Happens when text isn't available ... first notice=0, second=1, third<3. Overdue notice report should match appropriate message.
• Can make tag keyword searchable. WF/cat config/cat format/marc/modify 856. Choose ... in addition to others ... indicator
• ... necessary subfields ... NONE leading articles. Would need to run rebuildtxt to include old records with field. All new records will appear after halt/run.
• Hypertext searching, to consider. WF/global config/keyword, partial exact. In Browse tab and keyword tab choose necessary subfields, could assume ALL.
• Error 111. You get a database error go to Error Log to identify and/or knew steps to replicate error.
• Login errors, not a problem.
• Error on text 3. Database having a hard time letting go (separation anxiety?), not a problem.

Technical Services presentation, 4/20 (Andy, Denise, Renate)

• SIRSI spend majority of time on R&D and existing product. Jane Grawemeyer and Cindy Cantrall are lead admins, between R&D and customer (gave demo). Current projects include; upgrades, Unicode, pocket circ, collection exchange, EDI, NCIP, ILL and MARC order loader.
• reviewed U2003.1 and U2004 (see notes above)
• Pocket Circ - PDA style, wireless windows CE, charge/discharge, create/modify user.
• Collection Exchange - ability to move many items or one item to another branch. Good if have many copies to be distributed amongst many branches, most likely public library branches.
• Third party partners - EDI ... X12 ordering and invoicing allows electronic ordering with vendor partners.
• SIP2/NCIP - very broad defacto standard, developed by 3M. Still need to be sure SIP2 standards between SIRSI and vendor function. NCIP developed by NISO (see Standards session above). Need to be sure SIRSI and vendor support same parts of protocol. FirstSearch is NCIP partner, can perform federated searching.

Battling the Data Entry Dilemma - Effective Use of Macro and Keyboard Express with Workflows, 4/20 (Denise)

• Keyboard Express
• Purchased at low cost then conducted training and follow up sessions
• Create individual macros or the macros can be shared
• Low maintenance
• Training was 1 -2 hrs original session

Amy Carver of MSU

• Macro Express
• You can create macros that respond to mouse clicks.
• Used in ILL , cataloging, circulation, and acquisitions.
• Item Records

OpenURL - Making Electronic Research Easier through Context Sensitive Linking, 4/20 (Andy, Denise)

• Guides patron from citation to full text through URL.
• Open source syntax for URLs - embedded metadata like ISSN, journal title, volume, issue.
• Link includes base URL plus query.
• Allows for citations to be forwarded across resources.
• Need link resolver to get to online resources library has defined to resolve full text article.
• Resolver = metadata + your resources.
• Resolver is "knowledge base" of what can be found where and how much ... coverage. Drops out failed searches.
• Could have resolver populate ILL form or establish iLink search.

Bruno Mastroianni from Duquesne demonstrated OpenURL function through the vendor/product Ex Libris/SFX.

• Duquesne got into OpenURL by need for an A-Z product.
• Liked SFX but expensive. Serials Solutions (SS) wasn't ready at the time, and SIRSI Resolver didn't exist. Got a grant that fortunately allowed for purchase of SFX.
• Problems with a, an, the. Does SS handle this better?
• Duq does import the MARC record.
• Knowledge base is a fairly quick admin task to say Yes/No to range and ownership. Differences in OpenURL products appears to be quality of knowledge base
• SFX is very responsive to edits. Duq says can access all files, even though they are hosted on SFX servers.
• Ask vendor abut reporting capability.
• Import Excel spreadsheet to vendor software.
• SFX support team is responsive
• Other notes ... SIRSI Resolver does handle partial title and keyword searches ... Rutgers went live with EBSCO OpenURL product mid-April, mixed reviews, but they were beta-testers.

Unicorn System Admin 101, 4/20 (Andy, Denise)

• Halt, Initialize, Run - our daily ritual! Preventative maintenance, removes locked files, updates any policy changes, and yes, can be automated, but should know cron before implementing.
• Full Backup - takes a snapshot of Unicorn. Should be run weekly, should keep a few tapes. Automated full backup is in development (frustrating, since this process was always automated with DRA).
• Upgrade process - Inform Client Care, download upgrade previous day, perform full backup previous day, space df or df -k to see the amount of space available before an upgrade, perform automated upgrade, post upgrade steps, backup after upgrade.
• Disk space maintenance, investigate any sudden space change or decrease.
  /s - should be more than 80%
  /temp - not more than 20%
  /var - monitor
  /usr - is static, 97-98% is normal
• Log files - s/sirsi/Unicorn/Logs
• Temp files can be removed after 3 days.
• s/sirsi/Unicorn/Logs/error ... application files can be removed after 1 month
• Daily reports - adutext, setdelinq, statlog, correctthesauri, daily backup
• Weekly reports - reorgtext, reorgthesauri, full backup
• Weekly maintenance - review biberror, bib backup if needed, remove reports more than 2 weeks unless needed by staff or Client Care
• Monthly maintenance - consolidate daily logs, set aside first of month tape, hardware reset
• Other maintenance - remove logs older than 3 months, other than history and stat logs - retain for reporting (and data rescue!). Error.log and access.log keep only several months. Backup history and stat logs yearly.