USMAI Status Report

University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions

ITD's USMAI STATUS REPORT FOR APRIL 2005

prepared by USMAI staff in ITD

Research Port and SFX:

Configured SFX link to ILLiad for UMES

Continued work on implementation of SFX v.3 especially on menu customization

Loaded ingenta Connect titles for all schools

Usability testing on metasearch continued.

Intensive debriefing with Gretchen Hanson before her departure.

Implementation schedule planned for SFX v.3

Electronic Resources Management (ERM): white paper completed, distributed to CLD, and posted on USMAI website.

E-Resources in the Catalog (2): working on: making the sfx menu different if coming from the catalog, customization of v.3 sfx menu; authentication issues; reported out number of matches between sfx Knowledge Base and Aleph (based on ISSN).

Aleph Version 16:

Worked on developing specifications for improvements in Circulation and Hold Requests statistical reports.

Worked on cleaning up the circulation status of hold items (holdshelf or in transit / back home).

Fixed National Trust Library record suppression problem.

Investigated and reported title normalization problem to Ex Libris.

Released on the web site access to more Aleph tables.

3M Selfcheck: A fourth 3M selfcheck machine has been installed at EPSL. We have created a monthly report which counts CP selfcheck transactions by IP address. Diagnostics on ML self-check problems.

Putting finishing touches on Aleph Client Forum, the date and agenda will be announced soon.

Year-end closeout process for 2005: survey for fiscal year end closeout date and report requests; updated the cheat sheet.

Installed logging code in balance program to help diagnose problems. This should help us in installing future fixes.

Created a new borrower activity report for UMBC.

Electronic Resource Licensing:

Commitments received from all USMAI and MDL libraries.

Have contacted vendors for revised prices based on commitments.

In process of finalizing prices for June 1 deadline.

Kari completed ARL licensing course and has assumed responsibility for assisting Betty with license review issues.

Personnel: Recent conferences attended by ITD consortial staff:

Olybris (Laura Sowers-Wrubel, Fahnbulleh Zarzar, Dave Kennedy, Jamie Bush and Ben Wallberg) - trip reports have been posted to the web site.

ICOLC (Betty Day) – trip report distributed to USMERC

ACRL/ARL preconference on LibQual and MINES (Kari Schmidt)

Large-Scale Shared Systems Initiative (LaSSSI) (Tom Wilson and Jean Phillips)

CIRLA (Chesapeake Information and Research Library Alliance) Symposium (Tom, Betty, Jean, and Laura)

LOCKSS: install completed; currently archiving 130 e-journal titles for UM.

Patron Loader: Please see the Patron Loader status page for up-to-date information. We created a new pre–process program to deduplicate and remove questionable records ror the new UMCP load. UMES patron file formatting has been completed and loaded into MAI test. Emailing notices: UMBC courtesy notices have been updated and sent via email. Working with Towson, Salisbury and UMBC on email notices for fall implementation. UMBC is currently emailing overdue notices. Successfully tested the emailing of the Hold Available letter. UMCP testing of email still remains to be done. Initial work on the UMCP templates has been completed.

EDI Loader: # reports produced for Swets to update its database for BC, FSU and SU, waiting for test invoices for the three campuses; UB: campus is working on cleanup report 1 and 2. Problem with CP credit lines is resolved and new file loaded. See the EDI Loader status page. Load of order records with BBS/YBP: set up Aleph table and vendor records for CP and SM; waiting for testing invoices.

National Trust Library Database: converted from Procite format into MARC and loaded records into the Aleph test database (MAI03).

Prange Education project: Continued the investigation of creating a Japanese catalog, currently working on web page translations.

Aleph Report Writing: Requested installation of ARC software from Ex Libris.

Infrastructure: Continued investigation of hardware replacement for live Aleph server. Looking into the possibility of turning in the old server and disk drives. In our efforts to clean up the computer room we have sent the Tandem servers to Terrapin Trader.

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