June 29, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Boopsie - Lately many libraries have asked about connection to our SIP server. If you are using Boopsie and you do not intend to use Self-Check, you do not need SIP. We are always grateful when you contact us about your plans and we are happy to discuss connectivity requirements for Boopsie or other products.
DUNDEE:
The Dundee Township Public Library District will officially change its name to The Fox River Valley Public Library District on July 1st. The current building at 555 Barrington Avenue has been designated The Dundee Library. The branch, which will be located in the Randall Oaks Recreation Center in West Dundee, has been designated The Randall Oaks Branch Library. It is due to open in late August, 2012.
We will be changing our email addresses, website address and some phone numbers in the very near future. We'll let you all know as that happens.
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
None!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
CCS News June 22, 2012
CCS News
JUNE 22, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Symphony Release Notes - Release notes for Release 3.4 (including 3.4.1 and Service Pack 1) have been posted to our web site. You can find them at ccslib.org in the Members Only section under the Sirsi Documentation. You will find that these aren’t as voluminous as previous Release Notes, so they’ll be less daunting. We’ll convey the highlights during the coming couple months, before we test and load 3.4.1 (tentatively Tues. 9/25 for the Production installation), but there are only after fifty total pages of enhancements listed (plus a lot of bug fixes), so we encourage each library to take a look and perhaps download these three documents. When the notes for Service Pack 2 are posted by Sirsi, we’ll add them to our web site.
AUTHORITIES NEWS:
This week, CCS loaded two more files that were obtained from Marcive. One contained 1487 updated authority records and the other contained 306 new authority records. The updated authority records contain heading changes, new death dates, and other information that will keep our database as up to date as possible. The 306 (or “the new matches”) were authority records that were needed in our database, but were not available before this time.
Virginia Seward
CCS Authorities Librarian
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
None! (But please note that the Sept. 18 Maintenance Coordinators meeting has been moved to the 11th, still at Prospect Heights.)
JUNE 22, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Symphony Release Notes - Release notes for Release 3.4 (including 3.4.1 and Service Pack 1) have been posted to our web site. You can find them at ccslib.org in the Members Only section under the Sirsi Documentation. You will find that these aren’t as voluminous as previous Release Notes, so they’ll be less daunting. We’ll convey the highlights during the coming couple months, before we test and load 3.4.1 (tentatively Tues. 9/25 for the Production installation), but there are only after fifty total pages of enhancements listed (plus a lot of bug fixes), so we encourage each library to take a look and perhaps download these three documents. When the notes for Service Pack 2 are posted by Sirsi, we’ll add them to our web site.
AUTHORITIES NEWS:
This week, CCS loaded two more files that were obtained from Marcive. One contained 1487 updated authority records and the other contained 306 new authority records. The updated authority records contain heading changes, new death dates, and other information that will keep our database as up to date as possible. The 306 (or “the new matches”) were authority records that were needed in our database, but were not available before this time.
Virginia Seward
CCS Authorities Librarian
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
None! (But please note that the Sept. 18 Maintenance Coordinators meeting has been moved to the 11th, still at Prospect Heights.)
Thursday, June 14, 2012
CCS News June 15, 2012
CCS News
JUNE 15, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Staff schedules - It is that time of year again when planning projects please keep in mind that your favorite computer room staffer might be away. This is all the more reason to post problems in the WonderDesk where we can all see them. Emergencies will be dealt with immediately – less critical problems may wait until the best person to deal with them returns. Frank is returning on June 18, Bob will be away June 15-25, June 29-July 8. Linda will be at ALA June 21-26 and away June 29- July 2. During the coming weeks, Frank will be away July 9-13 and possibly training July 16-20. We will let you know about more dates coming up later in the summer.
HIGHLAND PARK DE-DUPING PROJECT AND ILL STATUS:
We still expect to see the bib record de-duping project completed by noon this Sunday and will keep everyone apprised of our status Sunday morning. Since some duplicates will inevitably slip through the cracks, stay tuned for guidance from Roger Anderson about handling them.
When the de-duping project is done and Highland Park has completed a patron cleanup project involving Profiles for about 3,000 reciprocal borrowers, a date will be set after which they will fill holds for all CCS libraries.
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Tues., 6/19, 9:30, Crystal Lake: Maintenance Coordinators
Wed., 6/20, 9:30, CCS: SCRAP
and we’ll look forward to seeing some of you at ALA!
JUNE 15, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Staff schedules - It is that time of year again when planning projects please keep in mind that your favorite computer room staffer might be away. This is all the more reason to post problems in the WonderDesk where we can all see them. Emergencies will be dealt with immediately – less critical problems may wait until the best person to deal with them returns. Frank is returning on June 18, Bob will be away June 15-25, June 29-July 8. Linda will be at ALA June 21-26 and away June 29- July 2. During the coming weeks, Frank will be away July 9-13 and possibly training July 16-20. We will let you know about more dates coming up later in the summer.
HIGHLAND PARK DE-DUPING PROJECT AND ILL STATUS:
We still expect to see the bib record de-duping project completed by noon this Sunday and will keep everyone apprised of our status Sunday morning. Since some duplicates will inevitably slip through the cracks, stay tuned for guidance from Roger Anderson about handling them.
When the de-duping project is done and Highland Park has completed a patron cleanup project involving Profiles for about 3,000 reciprocal borrowers, a date will be set after which they will fill holds for all CCS libraries.
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Tues., 6/19, 9:30, Crystal Lake: Maintenance Coordinators
Wed., 6/20, 9:30, CCS: SCRAP
and we’ll look forward to seeing some of you at ALA!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
CCS News June 8, 2012
CCS News
JUNE 8, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Fremont – last week we reported that Fremont (MUK) was open on Summer Sundays. They are actually closed on Summer Sundays . The library notified us we had made a mistake on the list. We apologize.
HIGHLAND PARK DE-DUPING PROJECT AND ILL:
After a round on the Test Server and careful scrutiny of the reports and results, next week will bring the intensive culmination of the Highland Park de-duping project. Roger Anderson sent a memo and the project schedule via e-mail to the Catalogers. Here’s the short general version: Catalogers will have some restrictions on activities next week but will be able to do the lion’s share of what they usually do. Thursday through Saturday Sirsi will make the changes to merge the duplicate bib records; during that time there may be some error messages during searches involving bib records that have been merged. Saturday night 6/16 into Sunday 6/17 we will do a backup and rebuild the indexes. (We will put a message up on BiblioCommons indicating the limitations of searching.) We anticipate that by noon Sunday, searching will be normal; however, Catalogers should continue to follow the restrictions until we have had a chance to review the situation, probably Monday, June 18.
When the de-duping is finished (except for some almost certain manual cleanup), we will determine when Highland Park is ready to start filling ILL for other CCS libraries. Meanwhile, please remind your staff NOT to override the block against holds on Highland Park items; they’re still seeing some holds from other libraries on their Pick List on a regular basis.
What passes for normalcy hereabouts isn’t far off; thanks for riding the wave with us!
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Wed., 6/13, 10, CCS: Executive Committee
Thur., 6/14, 9:30, Fremont: ILL
JUNE 8, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Fremont – last week we reported that Fremont (MUK) was open on Summer Sundays. They are actually closed on Summer Sundays . The library notified us we had made a mistake on the list. We apologize.
HIGHLAND PARK DE-DUPING PROJECT AND ILL:
After a round on the Test Server and careful scrutiny of the reports and results, next week will bring the intensive culmination of the Highland Park de-duping project. Roger Anderson sent a memo and the project schedule via e-mail to the Catalogers. Here’s the short general version: Catalogers will have some restrictions on activities next week but will be able to do the lion’s share of what they usually do. Thursday through Saturday Sirsi will make the changes to merge the duplicate bib records; during that time there may be some error messages during searches involving bib records that have been merged. Saturday night 6/16 into Sunday 6/17 we will do a backup and rebuild the indexes. (We will put a message up on BiblioCommons indicating the limitations of searching.) We anticipate that by noon Sunday, searching will be normal; however, Catalogers should continue to follow the restrictions until we have had a chance to review the situation, probably Monday, June 18.
When the de-duping is finished (except for some almost certain manual cleanup), we will determine when Highland Park is ready to start filling ILL for other CCS libraries. Meanwhile, please remind your staff NOT to override the block against holds on Highland Park items; they’re still seeing some holds from other libraries on their Pick List on a regular basis.
What passes for normalcy hereabouts isn’t far off; thanks for riding the wave with us!
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Wed., 6/13, 10, CCS: Executive Committee
Thur., 6/14, 9:30, Fremont: ILL
Thursday, May 31, 2012
CCS News June 1, 2012
CCS News
JUNE 1, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM: BiblioCommons – Here is a tip from BiblioCommons that might help Public Services librarians who are hindered by the 60 minute lockout when an incorrect password is entered three times. If you fail on attempts one and two – WAIT one (or two) minutes. Then try again. The lockout only occurs on 3 tries within one minute. So this will give you more chances. The feature as it is currently working was recommended by Cigital, the security company that audits BiblioCommons. BibloCommons shared with us that several libraries outside of CCS also have complained that this is rather restrictive and so BiblioCommons stated they will consider making the timeout configurable in a future release.
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK: Wed., 6/6, 9:30, Zion-Benton: Catalogers
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM: BiblioCommons – Here is a tip from BiblioCommons that might help Public Services librarians who are hindered by the 60 minute lockout when an incorrect password is entered three times. If you fail on attempts one and two – WAIT one (or two) minutes. Then try again. The lockout only occurs on 3 tries within one minute. So this will give you more chances. The feature as it is currently working was recommended by Cigital, the security company that audits BiblioCommons. BibloCommons shared with us that several libraries outside of CCS also have complained that this is rather restrictive and so BiblioCommons stated they will consider making the timeout configurable in a future release.
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK: Wed., 6/6, 9:30, Zion-Benton: Catalogers
Thursday, May 24, 2012
CCS News May 25, 2012
CCS News
MAY 25, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM: Summer Sundays: From our information in the table of closed dates the following libraries are OPEN on summer Sundays: ALK, DPK, EAK, EVK, GVK, HPK, HUK, LVK, MJK, MUK, NBK, NIK, PRK, RLK, WLK, WNK. If this list is not correct please contact Linda in the computer room. Holiday Weekend Hours: The Computer Room will be staffed normal hours Saturday and Sunday and closed Monday for Memorial Day.
AUTHORITIES NEWS: This week, CCS loaded two more files that were obtained from Marcive. One contained 1468 updated authority records and the other contained 345 new authority records. The updated authority records contain heading changes, new death dates, and other information that will keep our database as up to date as possible. The 345 were authority records that were needed in our database, but were not available before this time. Virginia Seward CCS Authorities Librarian
LIBRARY CLOSING: McHenry will be closed May 30 and 31 for maintenance, with June 1 as a rain date.
HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEKEND WITH REMEMBRANCE AND GRATITUDE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED FROM THE CCS STAFF.
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK: None!
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM: Summer Sundays: From our information in the table of closed dates the following libraries are OPEN on summer Sundays: ALK, DPK, EAK, EVK, GVK, HPK, HUK, LVK, MJK, MUK, NBK, NIK, PRK, RLK, WLK, WNK. If this list is not correct please contact Linda in the computer room. Holiday Weekend Hours: The Computer Room will be staffed normal hours Saturday and Sunday and closed Monday for Memorial Day.
AUTHORITIES NEWS: This week, CCS loaded two more files that were obtained from Marcive. One contained 1468 updated authority records and the other contained 345 new authority records. The updated authority records contain heading changes, new death dates, and other information that will keep our database as up to date as possible. The 345 were authority records that were needed in our database, but were not available before this time. Virginia Seward CCS Authorities Librarian
LIBRARY CLOSING: McHenry will be closed May 30 and 31 for maintenance, with June 1 as a rain date.
HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEKEND WITH REMEMBRANCE AND GRATITUDE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED FROM THE CCS STAFF.
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK: None!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
CCS News May 11, 2012
CCS News
MAY 11, 2012
FROM THE COMPUTER ROOM:
Highland Park – you might not have noticed the flurry of activity in the Computer Room related to bringing on our latest new library, but during the last week we were working on loads, data anomalies, testing, more testing and special overnight backups. This is all to be expected. The dust is settling now and we are getting back to normal. We keep track of everything in the WonderDesk. If by chance we have missed something important for you that you needed “yesterday” please accept our apologies and give us an immediate call. We are in catch up mode now!
MORE ON HIGHLAND PARK:
Thanks again to everyone who has helped bring Highland Park aboard. Linda didn’t share the part about how she and Bob got up at 3 AM Wednesday and Rory stayed overnight here to make sure programs were running, then staff stayed late. We are ironing out the inevitable anomalies, but as we’ve been telling people, any Go Live Day when no mid-day reboot is necessary is a good one. We also appreciate all the trainers, tour hosts et al from our libraries who extended helping hands and open arms during the transition. Three quick reminders: be sure your staff understands not to place holds against Highland Park items yet (except for Highland Park!); please use WonderDesk to report any issues you find; and remember that a de-duping project over the next month will clear up the many duplicate records which display for now, and that it will be followed by opening up holds for all libraries on Highland Park items (subject to their Hold Map). Thanks!
CCS MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:
Wed., 5/16, 9:30, CCS: SCRAP
Thur., 9/17, 9:30, Glenview: PAS
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