Archive for May, 2009

IUG Conference Report 2009

May 29, 2009 at 4:59 pm · Filed under meetings

IUG Conference 2009 – Summary of  Sessions attended

Forums on Cataloging  and What’s New in Technical Services

These are two forums for conference attendees  to ask questions and get answers from Innovative Product Managers. What was valuable in both sessions was the outline provided of updates to the Millennium Cataloging module in Fall 2009. These included:

- The creation within the Cataloging module of a new record type called volume (in addition to bibliographic, item, Checkin, order, and authority records). You would now have the ability to create separate volume records instead of putting volume information in the item record. This will be useful when cataloging multivolume sets and would allow patrons to place holds at the volume level. This is not an enhancement but must be purchased as a product.

- The ability to delete items records in batches by scanning the barcodes into a file

-Within Data Exchange in FTP mode the vendor name, user name and password can now be stored permanently. This will negate the need for repetitive typing of the same information whenever files are sent to or received from a vendor

- In the Record View Properties drop down menu, the options you choose, for example to display all records in a summary view can now be saved for your login and not only for the session are you currently in. At present, whatever choices you make are lost once you log out of Millennium.

 -In create list III will add a new feature to allow you to save the profile you created to sort your records.

-Innovative has established an online University called InnoU –the Innovative University- which will provide courses to help you brush up on your use of Millennium skills. Courses will be offered in all of the modules. The sessions are interactive and available via a webcast with a live instructor. The cost per course is $200 per session and there is no limit on the number of persons who could attend. Information is available on the CS direct home page http://csdirect.iii.com/training/innou.shtml (requires user name and password which is available on the Library staff home page).

Global Update With Confidence

 This session covered tips and tricks on  using Millennium Global Update. Topics included a comparison with Rapid Update (what workflows are best suited for Rapid Update); how to use Global Update to add, remove, transfer or replace information; interpreting the results in the preview pane and troubleshooting. One tip I did not know about: There is an option in the Global Update tab which allows you to generate a review file of records which are busy during the update. These records can be later retrieved from the review file and updated.

Spine Label Printing with Print Templates

This session was valuable in providing information on how to print spine labels from the Millennium Cataloging module using Print Templates and a freely available software called iReport. At present all spine labels are printed using Innovative’s character based system (Anzio). The print templates are similar to the bibliographic and item records templates we currently use in Millennium. Millennium provides ready to use customizable print templates (view the Print Template tab in the Cataloging module) and also allows you to design a new or customize an existing template using the iReport software. The Presenter demonstrated the workflow for using the print templates- creating the template, testing it, and importing it into Millennium. One interesting suggestion was that the print templates can be used by Acquisitions staff who would be assigned the task of printing spine labels once a shipment has been received. These materials would go directly to the shelf for shelving on 3rd and 4th floors.

 Serials Holdings Project

I held a consultation with one III Product Consultant who demonstrated how to export serial holdings records from Millennium using a Load table or loader specially built for this purpose. This consultation was timely as we are in the process of sending serial holdings records for OCLC to update by batch processing.

 Digitization with Millennium and Content DM

This presentation gave an overview of the digitization of rare materials in the special collections at the University of Warwick Library in England. The presenter focused on the library experimentation with two products to create a digital collection: Innovative’s Media management and OCLC ContentDM. Both workflows were described in detail with the advantages and disadvantages of using both systems highlighted as well as the methods of importing and linking metadata from Millennium to CONTENTdm

ERM Forum

There were presentations from three libraries who have purchased the ERM module as a useful electronic resources management tool. Presenters shared their thoughts on the value of ERM, workflow strategies, library staffing, patron experiences, obtaining usage statistics and how an ERM system fit into the long-term objectives of the library.  I am a member of the ERM committee and there may be some interest in exploring the workflow currently being used at the Oregon Health Sciences University. At this library, they have been successful in importing journal holdings from their A-Z list of  library e-journals into the ERM module. Described as a coverage load, this option of importing journal holdings data is supported by the ERM module. A brief bibliographic record is created for e-journals with no existing records in the catalog and holdings information is automatically attached. If there is an existing bibliographic record for the e-journal in the catalog a holdings records is attached.   

 Playing With Matches: Using Regular Expressions in Create Lists

This session focused on using regular expressions in creating searches in Create Lists. Regular expressions are similar to the “matches” command used in Create lists and may be familiar to folks who write computer programming.  What was interesting about this session is the presenter’s use of  practical examples to illustrate what is at best a very difficult topic if one does not have a programming background. He emphasized the use of regular expressions to help with database maintenance.

I also attended demonstration sessions on the following III products:

Encore – III discovery and delivery  interface with integrated Web 2.0 functions such as such as tag clouds, Did You Mean…?, ratings, reviews and additional features such as Popular Choices, Recently Added suggestions, relevance ranking and faceted search results,

Content Pro – Digital asset management software for managing digital collections.

Research Pro – Federated-search application that streamlines access to multiple data sources.

Encore Reporter – a new statistical reporting tool to be used in conjunction with Encore called the Encore Reporter. This new optional module can provide a series of reports and statistics on circulation, patron usage, holds, and overdue statistics.

 Cheryl

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Solinet Conference SAMM09 held in Atlanta, Georgia May 2009

May 27, 2009 at 6:27 pm · Filed under meetings

 Susi and I attened the annual SOLINET Conference, SAMM09,  in Atlanta on May 13-15, 2009

Opening Session SAMM09: Thomas Frey
 Dr. Tom Frey, futurist, gave the keynote at the opening of the conference.

Future thinking and product development can be summed up with the idea that we will be recipients of an OPTIMAL TAILORING scheme. Because so much data is collected about us, for example when we purchase online or search Google that machines will deliver what we want without us having to ask for it. The as-yet-to-be-developed machine will know how we like our coffee and tea; it will deliver it to us at our preferred time. We may get stuff, products and services, before we even know we want it.

 Dr.Frey explained that the future of education will shift from the teaching axis to a learner’s point of view. Because information is increasing exponentially courses will be created for us to learn while teachers will be less important as course developers. A program scheme called “curriculum architecture” will generate the curriculum TAILORED to the learner’s desire as well as suggesting to the learner what tangential topics may appeal to them. Dr.Frey says that libraries will evolve as labs for this course creation.

He spoke about the Empire of One in which a person will be a home-based coordinator. For example, a person could order product from China, sell it in Brazil and live in Paris. All the accounting, shipping and handling, will be outsourced to other persons. I believe this model already exists. Kimora Simpson, CEO of BabyPhat, does not create or produce the products she has so profitably coordinated. She has a large staff with whom she meets and directs. Her success appears to be based on her ability to motivate and inspire others, [Kim, please forgive my over simplification.] Dr.Frey asks us, “How will the library serve people who work from home?” He suggests that libraries hold a monthly Expert Speaker Panel, a public forum with specific subject agendas.  Home-based business people, normally isolated, can meet with others and pose questions to these Experts. The library would provide an inexpensive set up of microphones and a meeting room. In this way, the Library will continue to exert influence by remaining relevant to the public tax base.  The Library will empower its public to share knowledge, a good thing.

 Participating in the Mass Digitization Collaborative

Presenter Laurie Gemmill

 What I learned: This digitization project would be one NSU can use if we had materials predating copyright, pre-1923, or materials to which we own copyright such as yearbooks, school paper, course catalogs etc. Not only would digitization preserve our materials forever, but it harvests our data in NovaCat. Their staff enhances our work by translating NovaCat data into Dublin core. I can see its use for our Alumni association, distance learners, and our University archives, not only text but also photos.

 Go to www.archive.org and choose the title Mountaineers or Bottled Sunshine for Blue Mondays

 Briefly here’s the overview: clicking in the left hand column launches you into the book. The central top square has hyperlinks to the material in the book which and leads you to other similar items. The bottom square is the technical scanning data. 

 Digital preservation: the future is collaboration

By Robin Dale

What I learned: Libraries should collaborate if there is something to be gained by this collaboration and not just joining up for the sake of helping another. Alone is ok. 

Digital preservation cannot be created without thought to its serviceability and how can someone get at it. What is the point of stockpiling a silo of information without an end use in mind or a way to use it? As with any other material the library collects it cannot be bought and put on the shelf without maintenance and without purpose.

Does NSU have repositories of digital information? What kinds and who for?

Robin described other large repositories Meta Archive Cooperative, Hathi Trust, and LOCKKS; how each operated very differently largely due to

A lot of what speaker said related the vast UC system which has a separate Repository Library to manage the publications the California University system generates. Most of what she said would be useful for me when I find out what digital repositories NSU has and/or what I role I would play in it.

 NextGen Librarian Award Winners

This session was a sequence of librarians with PowerPoint presentations talking about a project each did in their workplace;  a forgettable hour without application to our department.

Creativity in the workplace by Kathleen Imhoff

 Presenter, Kathleen Imhoff, greeted each participant with a choice of pipe cleaners. Selecting one I sat down wondering where this was headed. Her introductory remarks included the shocking fact that by age 40, a person is only using 3% of their brain’s creative capacity.  She then instructed us to make something with our 1 pipe cleaner, 2 minutes allotted. The results were funny and cute: a cat, a dog, a bird, a flower, a star, a shoe etc. Kathleen explained that we could use this exercise to open up a meeting where the group had to solve a problem. Participating in an easy, fun creative thinking exercise prepares everyone for a tougher challenge.  The pipe cleaner exercise can be expanded to have 2 people work to create 1 item – collaborate and create.

Creativity is forestalled by fear, the “what ifs” that hold a person back from thinking about solutions. In a group, such as a library department, inertia and habit breeds the same old dull answers.  Kathleen recommended the book, Sacred cows make the best burgers by Robert Kriegel  [ HD58.8 .K75 1996b] which is about employee motivation.  She also suggested a few more group games as well as individual mental enhancement practices such as meditation, imagination and rest.

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Technology Speeds Ahead in Libraries

May 20, 2009 at 5:28 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

As you know, technology is changing at a blistering pace, and libraries are striving to keep up—not only to take advantage of technological advances but to stay connected with their younger users. Some of the latest gadgets, techniques, and strategies were the subject of a workshop Arlene and I recently attended: “Emerging Technologies: Near Future Trends.”

The presenter was Mickey Boyd, a self-described futurist and video game enthusiast from FSU. He spoke of the exponential growth of technology and energetically took the audience through a host of areas of current technological growth, including

  • New search applications such as Google Squared and Wolfram Alpha
  • New devices such as tiny computers and credit cards with constantly changing PINs
  • The latest enhancements and uses of Web 2.0 tools such as Second Life, “del.icio.us,” and RSS feeds

A common thread throughout his talk, however, was that libraries and librarians must realize and take advantage of the power of social networking tools and techniques. This “human goo”—as he humorously referred to it—is what we all crave, whether it’s experienced directly or through a computer. The libraries that survive, he says, will do so by integrating this component into as many services as they can—by having, as he called it, a “Library 2.0 frame of mind.”

We didn’t get much in the way of handouts, but if you’d like to see the outline of his PowerPoint presentation, talk to Arlene or me.

–Mark

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