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UF Aleph Open Issues
December, 2004

The UF Aleph Steering Committee met with FCLA November 2, 2004 to review outstanding issues and projects since our STP in May of this year. The following table charts the status of outstanding issues as of December 2, 2004.

 

Dataloads and reports, two of the major reasons for adopting a new system, still move very slowly. Dataload delays impede our productivity. We are six months into the new system and are only now seeing progress with some loads over the holiday break. We need to find a better solution than the status quo. UF has consistently noted willingness to take responsibility in these areas. We need to have a serious conversation about making this happen.

 

Our Circulation implementation has been very slow and frustrating. We still have trouble with getting reliable and accurate billing information. The email notices are especially problematic.

 

November 2, 2004

December 14, 2004

Circ notices. Lori Driscoll noted that

now that the emails UF is now able to

send out are bouncing back from many

campus mail sites that reject attachments.

There was some discussion about options

to strip the attachment off before sending,

since the message replicates what is in the

attachment. However, FCLA pointed out

such a change would be an enhancement

request. It was suggested this problem be

posted to the NAAUG list to see how

other libraries may have worked around

this problem.

12 /1 Enhancement request submitted for FCLA/SUL ranking this highest.

Meanwhile communicating to campus what these attachments are.

Communications during Jennifer's leave

of absence. Circ email list will be monitored

by three FCLA staff. In cases where there

is a specific patron problem, a private email

will be sent to all three, but not posted to

the list.

Email list implemented.

UF is working on cleaning up the formatting

of the email notices.

In progress

 

 

OPAC customization

OPAC customization at UF needs to be discussed. Since an entire set of Web OPAC files exists for each of the SUL (and we don’t share common files), we should be able to feature some choices more prominently (e.g. the unique UF logical bases). Also, there may be terminology for certain aspects of the interface that institutions should be able to decide to vary from an SUL version.

   

EDI invoice loads -- FCLA needs to

followup with EBSCO to test

D. Alsbury update 11/24 noting steps that need to be taken.

(EBSCO is the test vendor).  UF will begin working on getting barcodes from EBSCO and scan the subscription numbers into Aleph order records.

Aleph/PeopleSoft payment interface

-- the flat file transfer from FCLA for

all UF libraries to PeopleSoft is in the

process of being tested, for the last

couple months. Currently waiting for

Troy Haynes (UF Bridges)

PeopleSoft has hired a consultant who is working with UF and FCLA to move this forward. Goal to test week of 12/13.

EDI claims -- UF needs to test

In process – UF will consult with Donna and Ellen about the specifications for matching claim records with vendors and perform maintenance in Aleph as needed. 

Serial title changes

Problem outstanding – in the OPAC, when you click on the “continues or continued by title”, it sends the user to a Browse list of ISSN’s instead of to the individual title record.

Batch and EDI Claims –

In process – Julia is working with Ellen to establish the format UF wants and they are making good progress.

 

   

Authority & file structure refinements.

False matches between bib headings

and authorities. Global change

refinements needed.

System is not well designed out of the box in this area and FCLA does not appear to have the resources to work on additional reports that are missing from Aleph.

Report from TSPC Auth. Subcommittee drafted that details problems.

Authority file loads -- TSPC discussed

last week and also encouraged expediting

the authority loads, dealing with the

reports and bib updates separately

12/2 M.A. O’Daniel reports plans to test before 12/25 – run load during holiday break.

MARCIVE loads -- specs back from UF.

Need to test now.

12/2 M.A. O’Daniel reports plans to test before 12/25 – run load during holiday break.

GenLoad enhancements to deal with

call number configurations needed

for microanalytics

M.A. O’Daniel 12/1 email noting these dataloads and GenLoad support are in her queue.

Load enhancements to allow for multiple

match points and to allow for specific field replacements and additional load log

information. UF needs these enhancements

in order to proceed with the BNA

Table of Contents and the PromptCat

projects they have planned for this Fall.

M.A. O’Daniel 12/1 email noting these dataloads and GenLoad support are in her queue. B.Simpson email 12/3 noting that TOC matches are simply to overlay.

LTQF -- tested, needs to be moved to

UF Aleph catalog.

M.A. O’Daniel 12/1 email noting these dataloads and GenLoad support are in her queue. Not yet ready for handover to UF.

UF (Smathers) is committed to taking

responsibility for dataloads. We need

to be able to schedule these to meet

our priorities.

M.Hruska email 12/1 repeats this message

RLIN loads -- Lydia will aim to put together

a test load for Fall 2004.

L. Motyka 11/4 email acknowledging receipt of specs from UF in August for extraction. No further word on action planned.

New title list -- UF needs to determine

what field/code will be used to flag new

titles. Will review how these have been

produced by other libraries as discussed

on the NAAUG list. As we draft a plan

for developing such a list, this will be

shared through the TSPC and PSPC.

Carol Turner, Tara Cataldo, Suzy, and Betsy Simpson are meeting 1/5/04 to discuss parameters for UF list.

Vernacular records -- Y. Li at UF has

reviewed test file, looks good. FCLA

needs to move to implement.

Yue and Betsy Simpson are meeting 12/14/04 to review Daniel Cromwell's draft 880 indexing and give FCLA feedback.  Daniel has also been waiting for Mary Ann to review. 

Cataloging statistics -- there was some

discussion of use of the ARL statistics

package. No one was aware of any

other libraries that had successfully

used it. I am suggesting this too go

on the next TS Aleph Implementation

agenda.

Suzy Covey and Betsy Simpson met 12/3/04 to discuss cataloging statistics, and Suzy's investigating possibilities.

Investigate ARL stats package in ARC?

   

Documentation -- UF needs online

access to local up-to-date decisions:

IP status codes, sublibrary and collection

codes (http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/toolbox/

aleph/sublib_coll/display_order.html

needs to be kept up to date), and a

number of other local decisions such

as client configurations, item material

type, brief record displays, many of the

adjustments that are being made as we

go along and communicated in emails. It

was pointed out that access to the tables

documents up to date decisions, but that

does not provide easy consultation for

staff.

UF will refine its list of specific things that we want to have "documented" and provide general access to. When the information in tables that drive the system needs to be easily accessible, the native tables can be made available or information can be extracted for more readable versions. The UF Project Manger will coordinate with FCLA to locate the needed information and to build the access documents.

Still need a Prob system to log in local (UF) problems with FCLA and track progress.

   

Data warehouse and reports -- FCLA

has hired someone to work part time

on building a data warehouse that

would initially provide very basic

acquisitions information. There was

some discussion of investigating use

of ARC in the meantime. Also discussion

of whether it would be an option to

build upon and enhance ARC. This needs

to be discussed further with Dale

and Jim Corey.

Claims reports and circ reports are in process. Still need work and refinement involving both UF & FCLA staff.

Recommend directors consider ARC purchase with possible FCLA enhancement.

FCLA does not appear to have the resources to work on additional reports that are missing from Aleph.

   

FCLA Aleph implementation calendar

for STPs -- will be posted thru the

FCLA web site. Now posted at http://www.fcla.edu/FCLAinfo/

lmsimp/P2LS_Calendar20041029.doc

Updated 11/10/04

   

There was also discussion of what

the status of general Aleph system

acceptance was. Many of the issues

discussed still require local testing

and implementation. However, there

are a number of outstanding items

on the Ex Libris Problem report list.

The big issue of a union catalog

may now hinge on the option of

using Metalib, but this would not

solve the question of universal

borrowing.

??

   

Finally, FCLA started working on

a systematic problem reporting

mechanism for UF and possibly

the other Phase 1 libraries. Need

to test?

??

 


 

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