CCS News
APRIL 29, 2011
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Director’s Station – As of this writing Director’s Station is still having trouble updating to the most current data. This has been escalated within SirsiDynix and we are hopeful that the situation will be repaired in a few days or less (we know the first of the month is approaching rapidly) so that we can run our daily reports.
Upgrade to 3.3.1 – we are still planning to commence the evening of May 23, so that you would be busy downloading the new Java Client on Tuesday May 24.
3.3.1 Testers – Thank you to the five libraries that are testing. Please let us know of any catastrophic problems immediately, but have all other results to us by May 9 at the latest. After that date the Test Server will be available – but may be up and down sporadically as we continue to prepare and practice the technical side to the upgrade.
Vacations – Frank is away through Wednesday May 4
BiblioCommons – all libraries are now online and live with BiblioCommons.
SURVIVAL SUBJECT HEADING CHANGES:
The old subject heading of “Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc.” has been broken apart into 4 different subject headings (Survival, Airplane crash survival, Shipwreck survival, and Survival at sea). Our computer system can do most types of subject heading changes overnight, but because of the 4 different possible headings, these had to be done manually. Last week, over 800 bibliographic records were changed that contained the subject heading of “Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc” into at least one of the subject headings that was just mentioned.
The new subject headings (and current examples in the CCS database) are :
1. Survival – This subject heading was previously “Survival skills” – so this covers general skills for survival and also items that do not fit in with the other new subject headings. “127 hours” (both as a book and as a motion picture) is a good example for this subject heading.
2. Airplane crash survival – This subject heading covers items discussing how to survive after an airplane crash. Tom Hank’s motion picture, “Castaway” and the television program of “Lost”, are both good examples for this subject heading.
3. Shipwreck survival – This subject heading covers items discussing how to survive after being shipwrecked.
“Robinson Crusoe” and Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” are good examples for this subject heading.
4. Survival at sea – This subject heading covers items discussing how to survive at sea, including after a boating accident and you are adrift at sea waiting to be rescued. “Alone : orphaned on the ocean” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat” are good examples for this subject heading.
OTHER AUTHORITIES NEWS: Two weeks ago, CCS sent a group of bibliographic records to Marcive for authorities processing – 8021 bibliographic records were sent, and Marcive returned 2592 updated ones, as well as 3898 new authority records. All of these records have been re-loaded. Earlier this week, CCS also loaded 2 more files that were obtained from Marcive. One file contained 2203 updated authority records and the other file contained 572 authority records that were needed, but not available until now.
--Virginia R. Seward
CCS Authorities Librarian
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Mon., 5/2, noon, Jameson’s: Technical Group Secretaries Appreciation Lunch
Wed., 5/4, 9:30, Fremont: Catalogers (workshop)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
CCS News
APRIL 15, 2011
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Computer Room absences – Along with Richard and Roger, Bob and Linda from the computer room will be attending the SirsiDynix User Group (COSUGI) meeting April 18-22. Frank and Willie will be at the helm and it will be business as usual. Frank will be away on vacation the last week in April.
Testing of 3.3.1 - 3.3.1 is now on the test machine. Please take time to test during the week of April 18-22. We did not have many testers when we originally installed 3.3.1 to the test server so PLEASE step up and make sure our new release is up to our high standards. This release has a new Java client.
Planning dates – we are planning to have the new SVA server ready on May 17. Please stay tuned to bulletins for more information. We tentatively plan to install Release 3.3.1 the evening of Monday, May 23. That means on Tuesday morning (24th) you will be downloading clients and working with the new release. We will rebuild the indices over Memorial Day.
BiblioCommons – we are working on a few problems with high priority. As we write this (Thursday) we will be spending some extra time later today with BiblioCommons to jointly figure out the problems reported with multi-volume holds that seem to affect all libraries.
Closing date – CCS will be closed for Easter.
THERE WILL BE NO CCS NEWS NEXT WEEK DUE TO STAFF ABSENCES FOR COSUGI.
CCS MEETINGS THE NEXT TWO WEEKS:
Wed., 4/27, 9:30, CCS: SCRAP
APRIL 15, 2011
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Computer Room absences – Along with Richard and Roger, Bob and Linda from the computer room will be attending the SirsiDynix User Group (COSUGI) meeting April 18-22. Frank and Willie will be at the helm and it will be business as usual. Frank will be away on vacation the last week in April.
Testing of 3.3.1 - 3.3.1 is now on the test machine. Please take time to test during the week of April 18-22. We did not have many testers when we originally installed 3.3.1 to the test server so PLEASE step up and make sure our new release is up to our high standards. This release has a new Java client.
Planning dates – we are planning to have the new SVA server ready on May 17. Please stay tuned to bulletins for more information. We tentatively plan to install Release 3.3.1 the evening of Monday, May 23. That means on Tuesday morning (24th) you will be downloading clients and working with the new release. We will rebuild the indices over Memorial Day.
BiblioCommons – we are working on a few problems with high priority. As we write this (Thursday) we will be spending some extra time later today with BiblioCommons to jointly figure out the problems reported with multi-volume holds that seem to affect all libraries.
Closing date – CCS will be closed for Easter.
THERE WILL BE NO CCS NEWS NEXT WEEK DUE TO STAFF ABSENCES FOR COSUGI.
CCS MEETINGS THE NEXT TWO WEEKS:
Wed., 4/27, 9:30, CCS: SCRAP
Thursday, April 7, 2011
CCS News
APRIL 8, 2011
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
BiblioCommons regarding review of input - Recently BC shared with us their policies on reviewing patron input, tagging, etc. Here is what we learned.
We have almost 800,000 registered users, so that [reviewing input] would require an army of people. But philosophically, it's not something we're inclined towards (and we've been advised that censoring comments is a First Amendment issue.) The flagging system is designed for the community to police itself, and this has worked pretty well so far. Some stats:
·Items with 1 flag = 587
·Items with 2 flags = 46
·Items with 3 flags (removed) = 53
Many of the single flags we see are frivolous. The most common complaint in flags is typos or bad grammar. Counting only content that is currently public, this flagging activity was recorded against about:
1. 100,000 tags
2. 80,000 comments
3. 7,000 other pieces of free text content (summaries, quotations, content advisories)
4. 23,000 lists
We do look at everything that is flagged. If we found something that clearly violates the terms of service (typically, profanity), we usually alert the library, or we just flag it ourselves.
Since it is not possible to flag a username… , we send emails to patrons with such usernames saying that the name violates the terms of service, and asking them to change the name within a few days. If they don't, we delete the account, and we mark the barcode as child, so it's not possible to create a username or add content (the email we send lays out these ramifications). We have also removed a few tags that fell into the same category.
Please note that this is USER COMMENTS, not use of the FEEDBACK tab!
And there you have it for this week; short and sweet!
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Wed., 4/13, 10:00, CCS: Executive Committee
Thur., 4/14. 9:30, Lake Villa: ILL
APRIL 8, 2011
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
BiblioCommons regarding review of input - Recently BC shared with us their policies on reviewing patron input, tagging, etc. Here is what we learned.
We have almost 800,000 registered users, so that [reviewing input] would require an army of people. But philosophically, it's not something we're inclined towards (and we've been advised that censoring comments is a First Amendment issue.) The flagging system is designed for the community to police itself, and this has worked pretty well so far. Some stats:
·Items with 1 flag = 587
·Items with 2 flags = 46
·Items with 3 flags (removed) = 53
Many of the single flags we see are frivolous. The most common complaint in flags is typos or bad grammar. Counting only content that is currently public, this flagging activity was recorded against about:
1. 100,000 tags
2. 80,000 comments
3. 7,000 other pieces of free text content (summaries, quotations, content advisories)
4. 23,000 lists
We do look at everything that is flagged. If we found something that clearly violates the terms of service (typically, profanity), we usually alert the library, or we just flag it ourselves.
Since it is not possible to flag a username… , we send emails to patrons with such usernames saying that the name violates the terms of service, and asking them to change the name within a few days. If they don't, we delete the account, and we mark the barcode as child, so it's not possible to create a username or add content (the email we send lays out these ramifications). We have also removed a few tags that fell into the same category.
Please note that this is USER COMMENTS, not use of the FEEDBACK tab!
And there you have it for this week; short and sweet!
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Wed., 4/13, 10:00, CCS: Executive Committee
Thur., 4/14. 9:30, Lake Villa: ILL
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)