Borrow Our Stuff!

I just recieved the email from OCLC that our retrospective batchload of holdings has been loaded.

54,219 116,336 of our titles are now available via WorldCat! :)

This will make it so much easier for MLS libraries (and others) to ILL our stuff!

Remember, we're a member of LVIS and our OCLC code is BGI.

We don't send items from the Reference collection, or the "hot titles" collection.
Everything else (including AV) is fair game!

gaming symposium

Only 1 more week until the Gaming in Libraries Symposium! :)

I'll try to blog as much of it as I can, for those of you who are not just a short commute from downtown Chicago.

Science Fair Project Strategies

I've posted the ppt slides from our presentation.

I know Glenwood-Lynwood PL was interested in putting on something similar of their own and asked to see our materials.

Drop me an email at

nomextra [at] sbcglobal [dot] net

if you present a Science Project Strategies program at your library!

Podcast: CODI Stars

Presentation of the Stars Awards 2005

Podcast: HIP for Reference

Custom HIP for Reference Dept

Podcast: tech trend-virtual machines

vmWare and virtual machines

Podcast: tech trend-anonymous library cards

Anonymous library cards

Ben asked that I post this with a Creative Commons license.







This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Podcast: tech trend-digital audiobook

digital audiobooks

Podcast: tech trend-wiki

Check Jenian's slides for explanation of a wiki. I missed the very beginning of her wiki presentation.

Podcast: Show me the numbers-Hutton

Show me the numbers, part 4, Hutton

Podcast: Show me the numbers-Terlaga

Show me the numbers, part 3, Terlaga

Podcast: Show me the numbers-Medling

Show me the numbers, part 2, Medling

Podcast: Show me the numbers-Borgendale

Show me the numbers, part 1, Borgendale

Podcast: What's all the fuss about RSS?

RSS in HIP from Hennepin Co.

one more thing you can do with RSS? podcasting!

Podcast: Horizon 8.0 SA and Security

Security and Sys Admin settings

Podcast: Horizon 8.0 Requests

Requests module

Podcast: Horizon 7.3 and 7.4 CirculationTips

Circulation Tips n Tricks

Podcast: SQL to do the dirty work

Horizon Utilities and SQL tools

Podcast: Channels in HIP 4.0

Channels in HIP 4.0

Podcast: Bugzilla

Bugzilla

Podcast: Jack Blount

Jack Blount: Understanding 8.0 Architecture, Planning for 8.0 and Hardware

Podcast: Opening Session, Horizon 8.0 Team

Demos of Horizon 8.0

Audio from CODI 2005

Yup, you read that right, audio from CODI.

I believe these are the first ever podcasts from CODI.
If you're new to podcasts and need info on how to listen or what to do with them, visit my library's podcast info page.

The podcast feed for this blog is http://feeds.feedburner.com/kellistaley/podcast

The quality of these CODI podcasts aren't crystal clear (they were recorded from out in the audience) and it seemed I always ended up seated next to the people who had colds! But, if you went to a different session, or didn't go to CODI at all, I thought sharing these would be beneficial to you all.
Perhaps next year plans can be put in place to record closer to the presenters, and maybe it can be coordinated so all the sessions are available.

Thanks to all who agreed to allow posting of the audio from their presentations here.
Thank you to Crystal Ashton of SirsiDynix for giving me permission to post the S-D sessions as well.
Here's the first one, Opening Session with Eileen Kontrovitz, David Schuster & Patrick Sommers

Enjoy!

now its "official" LPL podcast

I was holding off on posting that first podcast to the library site while I was putting together a podcast info page on our website for our patrons. Finishing it up on Saturday afternoon, I wanted some feedback to see if I left out any important points. Oh, look at that, a fellow librarian available on IM! After a brief chat with Ivan "the rambling librarian" he sent me this link to his post.

He actually had his blog entry posted before I had posted the podcast to the rss feed.

Although I had promised Jenny that she would be the first to know once I posted my first podcast on the library site, I had inadvertantly released this to Singapore first!
(but -- whew-- with the time change it is actually tomorrow there already.)

Youth Services reported that lots of kids were in today working on their science projects... I'm sure they'll appreciate having the audio available from that presentation.

Carnival! #15

Visit Ask Nettie Day for the latest in the Carnival of the Infosciences.

Next week it moves on to Library Stuff.

Plugging iPodder? Update your presentation!

iPodder just changed it's name to Juice.

Looks like the customizable iPodder from their store that I talked about isn't currently available, but will be soon.

Live, from LPL! Our podcast!

LPL's first official podcast! I've created a separate podcast feed for this blog.

Science Project Strategies


I used Audacity and recorded directly to the laptop.

Challenges faced: Gail had a bad cold. Somehow, remarkably, she made it through her entire presentation without coughing. Gail, Patty & I had not had a chance to do a "dress rehearsal" beforehand because I was at a conference.

Unexpected: Gail said she forgot the microphone was there! :)

I apparently say OK a lot in my presentations. I also said "um" a few times but with the magic of technology, you won't hear that! :)

Learning experience: In retrospect, we should have printed out the powerpoint so we would know when to change slides. This was the first joint presentation we've ever attempted.

I had to adjust the audio in some spots so you can hear people's questions, and at a few points when Patty interjected some additional info from the side of the room.

I'll be posting this from the library site probably Monday, maybe Tuesday.

The local newspaper interviewed us before the presentation began, and the article ran today.

Thanks to RadioDaddy for the intro & outro audios. Thanks to Greg for mentioning them once on Open Stacks.

CODI - Are you still on "classic" Dynix?

Are you still on "classic" Dynix? Planning to migrate to Horizon?

One of the biggest challenges you may face will be staff who aren't as mouse-savvy as they could be! It's hard to teach the new interface if they don't have the navigational skills they need!

We had let people play solitaire to practice. Bad idea. They continue to play solitaire once they're good with the mouse, and it doesn't teach the options and nuances of windows. Did you encounter radio buttons, form fields or drop-down menus in solitaire?

Here are some sites to get you started.
These could also be used if you teach mouse skills to the public.

• Palm Beach County Library System Mousing Around
  English or Spanish version. Begins by just using the enter key, then gets into the mouse later.
• Mousercize/Mouserobics
  
• Jigzone offers jigsaw puzzles of a range of difficulty to practice the drag & drop technique.

You can also google mousercize to see how different libraries have customized it.

CODI - Beyond the Sessions

I hope those of you who attended the conference realized the added value you can get from the conversations with your peers.

Thanks especially to Luke, Patrick & Sharon for sharing ideas and some great conversation!

Luke from Texas gave me some ideas for this blog, and some strategies to help target my desired audience for computer classes.

Monday evening, Patrick from New York started talking about (cheap) wireless access for the public and mentioned Zone CD. We exchanged cards, and he sent me a hyperlink before breakfast the next morning!

I ended up sitting next to Sharon from Indiana at lunch one day, and as luck would have it she's "from the other side of the border" just 15 minutes away from my home library. The Illinois & Indiana libraries are in different consortia, so we don't interact much, but Sharon's open to sharing some ideas across the state line.

I was able to ask her how they handle Internet access for out-of-state residents, which turned out to be drastically different than what we do. (No wonder the Hoosiers complain when they come to our library to use the Internet.)

She also shared that they have "deposit" collections for their often-checked-out-and-never-returned books. For example: the GED test study guide books. Patrons leave a cash deposit, and receive a 28 day loan. If it's not returned on day 29, the patron "bought" it, and it is processed as a lost item in Horizon.

They do offer access to Learnatest.com/LearningExpressLibrary (I asked)

CODI - 8.0 Serials Prediction Calendar

prediction calendar
Originally uploaded by nomextra.

Matt Hensler wows the crowd with the new serials prediction calendar!

CODI - Creating a Customized HIP for Reference Staff

Customized HIP for Reference staff

Phil Feilmeyer, Hennepin Co. Library

Ref HIP displays # of reservable copies, # of current requests

Item details list has status, status update date, circ, last use, barcode

(last use is just 10/05) etc. Status update date is 11/9/05

HIP 3.06a, Horizon 7.3.3 (just migrated to horizon in august 05)

each branch has a HIP profile, but they are essentially identical.

Decision making aspects of customization are centralized.

Previous CODI presentations on customizing stylesheets at

http://www.hclib.org/extranet and http://www.hclib.org/extranet/morepresentations.html

Horizon migration:

Evaluation of the client search interface

Catalog interface much different for staff and public (trying to get ref staff to interact more with the patrons)

Team identified essential functionality for ref desk

Blurry line between ref & circ desks

Reduce introduction of bad data by untrained and/or creative staff

Perceived reduction in level of customer service

Overall intent was to increase customer service. Staff would be used to the same interface as the public, and if they were showing the public a search results screen on a staff terminal, it would be similar to the public screens.

Reference desk tasks not covered in HIP

• Searching/Display: item detail, special indexes, update item status

• Borrower records* (login to my account without barcode or pin)
• View details, update address/phone, reset pin

• Requests:
• View title request list, place request, shuffle queue, change pickup location, cancel request, convert item-specific to any-copy (not available in horizon)

Separation of staff & public

Each branch has two HIP profiles, one for public, one for staff

Staff profiles don’t require a pin

Profile code is used to differentiate between staff & public in the XSL stylesheets

Same XSL stylesheets used for both

Types of customization:

Adding data elements to the XML using the HIP admin tool

Adding data elements NOT available through the Admin tool and XML

Link to custom web applications that interact with the Horizon database

HIP admin tool: item details.

Status set (date)

Use count

Last use date

Data not available from the XML

Custom java function in the XSL processor that pulls in content from a web page.

Then created a custom web application to deliver the desired information.

Phil gave an overview of the customizations they've done. He did not include the exact code or back-end programming they had to do to make this work. Unless you've got savvy programmers on staff, I don't think this level of customization would be attempted.

They also don't know how much of their custom work will carry over to HIP 4.0

I think they could have controlled the "introduction of bad data" by tweaking the security in Horizon, and for example, created a separate item_group_editor view (as I did) which only allows staff to change item status. Anything else gets sent to cataloging.

CODI - Horizon 7.3 and 7.4 Circulation Tips and Tricks

Bjorn Bjerkoe, SirsiDynix


Location, itype and btype groups:

Purpose of these is to make your life easier.

The problem is that they haven’t always existed.

Most of us had systems that were configured pre-groups.

Groups are set up in 3 tables:

Location_group table contains the location groupings for the library

Itype_group table contains the itype groupings for the library

Btype_group table contains the btype groupings for the library

Circulation privileges & parameters are based on groups. (not the codes)

The problem is we often call our groups the same as the code.

When we migrated to 7.3, it created groups for each itype.

Itype_group_itype lists which itypes are in which groups.

Circ limit applies each itype in the group, not the group as a whole.

Bib usage statistics for a period of time.

Horizon has the ability to gather 4 types of bib usage statistics for user defined periods of time. Checkouts, in house use, phone renewals, renewals

These statistics are gathered by period#, bib# and location

Defining the period(s): circ control menu: usage statistics period.

Periods cannot overlap.

No item statistics usage.

Set up the periods every year, Bjorn recommends doing a large group of them at a time, as Horizon keeps track of everything in a period until the next period in the list begins, therefore, if you forget to add more periods, the last one keeps building, and building...

Viewing bib usage statistics—search, get a bib, send to bib usage stats

The only way to view bib usage statistics is on a bib-by-bib basis.

Forgotten location parameters

Location specific due dates. Global due dates by location. Fixed or final. Effective time period. Good for school libraries. Publics use it when closing for a renovation or move.

Fixed due date.

Allow transit holds override. If you have an item requested via ILL, and our copy is returned, do we wait for the ILL to arrive, or do we use ours?

Charge for grace days.

Return within grace period, not charged. If item is returned after grace period, then charged for all days.

Hold shelf expiry includes closed days. Set for yes or no.

All items out display type-4 options.

All items out

Suppress ‘cr’ and ‘l’ items

Suppress ‘l’ items

Suppress ‘cr’ items

Not a status—but a patron block of one of these.

Horizon 7.4 introduces “circulation long term history” which is the ability to save a borrower’s history of checked out items. 7.3 saves the prior borrower on the item record.

Options: do not keep circ history, always keep, or allow borrower to choose. [default is yes] examples: can keep for a # of days (90 days) or last 10 items

Viewing a borrower record shows the circ history.

Right now: If you pay or waive in full, status of lost item changes to missing. Link to borrower is GONE.

Overdue timeline:

Circ privileges:

1st notice

notice interval

max # of notices (final notice not counted)

Constants

Final notice (can set to not print)

Item aging to lost

Horizon 7.4 additions

Overdue to lost (days) if you choose to use this setting, re-evaluate your notice timeline cycle.

Some people want to charge fines in addition to the lost book. (?) Lots of people in the room want this. Hmm.

In 7.4 if you do return a lost item, it will charge the fine at that point.

7.4 top circulating titles

gathers top circulating titles for a period of time by collection group.

Does it count 1st checkout, or renewals too? (Bjorn is not sure)

Table editor: collection_group

Define the periods in top_circ_control

DETopC day end process is delivered inactive. You’ll need to activate it to get the top circ stats

7.4 has stats only on itype record option. Some libraries use this instead of hash-marks to record ref questions. Have a barcode on the desk that gets scanned.

CODI - SuperSession 8.0 and Hardware

The big combined presentation covering:
Jack Blount's Understanding Horizon 8.0 Architecture
Jolynn Halls' Planning for 8.0 and 4.0: Decisions You Need to Make
Tim Hyde's Planning for Hardware: It Doesn't Have to be Hard

Combined into one session covering all three topics, presented by Jack Blount, SirsiDynix.

8.0 was architected, not just added on as they went along.

New acquisition

New pac

New ecommerce

Enhanced serials

New ERM

Cataloging

And more!

Combined with:

LDAP

Shibboleth

Linux

Blade servers

UPortal

New GUI

And more!

Why 8.0?

* State of the art uPortal
* Record ownership
* Agency modeling
* Support for native, open SQL databases like Oracle, DB2, and MS SQL
* Full UNICODE support
* Total Java/J2EE solution

Fully integrated e-commerce

UniMarc, MARC21, MARCXML

Support for Sun Solaris, Linux, Microsoft XP, and Mac OS X

Faster, more scalable system

LDAP: light-weight directory access protocol

A secure industry standard protocol for managing user information seamlessly between multiple application environments.

Kerberos: highest level of encryption technology

Enables our libraries to provide total data integrity for user information and user activities.

Shibboleth: secure identity the Internet way.

Providing single sign-on authentication from inside and outside the library.

Database Independence: Native support for Oracle, DB2, and MS SQL

Leverage your current and future investments in high performance, scalable database solutions. [Sybase wasn’t investing in R&D, so Sybase is not on this list.]

Don’t panic: our intent is that we will be able to provide a no-cost migration to a new database. No contracts signed yet, but this is the plan. Will make an announcement by ALA Winter at the latest.

UPortal: Industry standard framework.

Enables a library to centralize the resources of its digital campus community. Provides powerful searching in a customizable and personalized user interface.

Java / J2EE : #1 programming language used for enterprise application development.

Providing a single, powerful link that binds the entire network together. Seven years and 2 millions software developers later, there has never been a Java virus of any consequence.

Unicode: Multiple language support.

8.0 Architecture

Designed by chief architects.

Designed to be modular, scalable and flexible from the beginning

Designed to be a system software platform

URSA first application using the platform

8.0 application suite using the platform

allows rapid development of new features and modules

plan to release major new functionality every 6 months.

Modules you didn’t buy ARE INCLUDED ANYWAY. Train on it all, try it out, buy once you decide.

March 2006 general availability for 8.0

8.1 due June 2006

get a migration utility that turns this into an upgrade instead of a migration

upgrade or migration?

Can be either

It is an upgrade from horizon 7.3 or 7.4

It offers a great time to evaluate your workflow and introduce more efficient policies and procedures

Don’t approach 8.0 with your 7.3 glasses on!

Take advantage of the training and allocate enough time to implement new workflows and new features.

If you want to treat this as a migration, Sirsi-Dynix will work with you.

Can place on test server without any cost.

Jack will write the migration scripts for 7.3 to 8.0 himself.

When is 7.x not supported? No plans to not support anymore. Dynix has always supported their older products, and that isn’t going to change now.

Horizon 7.x architecture

Two-tier architecture model

Horizon 7.x are “fat” clients

Performs the bulk of the data processing

Requires significant amount of bandwith

Requires locally installed application

Requires some business logic in the database server

Horizon 8.0 Architecture

Introduces “n-tier” architecture

Java “thin” client at the staff level

Database server

Data only

Application server

Business logic

HIP server: Jboss-application engine, TomCat-webservices engine, uPortal-presentation engine, Lucene-indexing engine

Application Server: jBoss-application engine, TomCat-webservices engine, Swing-presentation engine, Lucene-indexing engine

Database server: data management only. No business logic, stored procedures to triggers in the DB

Benefits of 8.0

Faster

Bandwith requirements are smaller

Requires less client processing power

No more CD installs at the local staff workstations-staff client launches from web browser

8.0 Hardware

small or medium sized libraries (option A)

#1 HIP server

#2 Database & Application server

#3 Web Reporter runs on former staff client PC [requires windows]

Medium or large sized library (option B)

#1 Database

#2 Web reporter

#3 HIP

#4 Application

AMD 64 bit, opteron processor—fast, reliable, affordable $8000-$12000 for server

No published server specs for 8.0 until January 2006

Benchmarks will be out in January. If you really can’t wait, email Jack, he’ll work with Tim Hyde to get you specs.

8.0 Database Server Support

Database vendor: DB2, UDB, V8

MS SQL server 2000/2005

Oracle 10g

Operating System All operating systems certified by database vendor

Hardware platform All hardware certified by database vendor

8.0 Application server support

Operating system: Linux 4.0 AS/ES

Solaris 10

Windows 2003

Hardware Platform All hardware certified by operating system vendor.

Solaris & Linux on 32 bit processor supports 4Gb RAM (JVM)

[Want 4gig ram in hip server.]

Solaris & Linux on 64-bit processor supports infinite RAM

Microsoft Windows limits JVM to 2Gb RAM only

Hardware trends:

Dual core technology: by adding a second core to a single processor, as much as 75% gain in performance can be achieved.

Hardware prices falling rapidly

*VMware is not supported in 8.0

Gigabit Ethernet: if your database server, and horizon application server are on different boxes, put those on a leg of your network that is gigabit Ethernet enabled since that’s where the heaviest traffic will occur.

Clustering support is not in 8.0, but will add that support in 2006

Blade servers: Jack is not a big proponent of blade servers. Can’t get leading edge processors. Not aware of any that have opteron 64 bit.

Staying at slower processors, because of cooling issues.

2nd reason: blade servers are just too new. They way the chassis is designed, may not be able to carry you far enough into the future, if the vendors want chassis redesign.

Upgrade is included in maintenance.

You pay for consulting.

You pay for training.

You pay for web reporter portion if you haven’t already bought it. Trying to work out a scaled down version of web reporter to be included with 8.0

Can’t run 8.0 without web reporter.

Telecirc-2 options. Existing telecirc will work with 8.0. hardware may need to be upgraded.

Telephone messaging from another vendor will also be offered.

CODI - What's all the Fuss about RSS?

Glenn Peterson, Hennepin County Library

What's all the fuss about RSS? or... what is RSS and why should I care?

What is RSS?

• Really simple syndication
• another way to publish your library's content
• XML based (computer to computer)

What's in it for me?
Setting aside the whole improved customer service thing for a moment...

• low effort, high (?) impact
• users will be asking for it
• recyclable - write once/read many
• other websites can publish your information (like the town or city website)
• enhance your reputation as a cutting edge library

What's in it for our users?

• new way for them to get your content
• users are in control
• users want your content
• easy to use
• spam free
• users can customize your content to meet their needs

Glenn then showed his Bloglines account as an example of an RSS reader.
Bloglines is one of many free RSS readers.

Shout out to Jenny (TheShiftedLibrarian), Michael (TameTheWeb) & Dave (Dave's Blog) who were listed in his Bloglines account.
If you're not reading these blogs, you should be! They're always filled with important stuff!

What should I feed them?

• Booklists
• Event listings
• My Account info (items out, items due, holds awaiting pickup)
• New book alerts
• Catalog searches
• Feeds based on subjects that interest them see AADL for an example

Tools for RSS

• RSS-to-javascript.com
• web application software (ASP, .net, PHP, ColdFusion, Perl)
• Java: Seattle PL's Casey Durfee's code
  

Hennepin Co. tries to protect patron privacy in their "items out" feed.

• Only include 1st name and initial
• Don't include barcode or pin in the Bloglines feed

LibraryElf was mentioned as another method of getting "items out/due/on hold" info.

[audience comment]
Garry from Kenton County Public Library runs a SQL then places it in XML to offer new book feeds. DVDs are most popular and stay in the feed for 14 days. He created tables in Horizon to store the new titles. Cataloging had to re-evaluate workflow when the feeds created huge request lists.

CODI - Mark Minasi Keynote Address

Mark Minasi Keynote: The Future of Windows

author of the Mastering series of computer books.

Visit his website for a free newsletter.

What's coming and when...

IE7 end 2006?

Windows Vista (weirdly pronounced vee-stah) end 2006

Windows Longhorn Server by the end of 2007

IE7

Will run on XP SP2, 2003 SP1

Will not run on 2000, NT4, Win 98, Win 95

Ships with Vista

Why do you care?

* UI improvements
* More secure
* RSS aware (enamored, actually)

IE7

* Tabbed browsing (FireFox anyone?)
* Search field will let you configure to any search engine…eventually
* Printing will auto-size to fit the page
* Less icon clutter
* RSS support (called “web feeds” in the inevitable MS-ese)
* Finds RSS links on a page automatically
* More UI stuff (thumbnails, shuffle) as betas progress
* Transparent PNG support

IE7 Security

* 1 click cleans out your cookies, internet history and passwords
* all active X controls need to be approved, even pre-installed ones
* IE in “protected mode” cannot modify any files or settings; just the temp internet files.
* Extra menu option lets you run IE with “add ons disabled” mode.
* “Manage add ons” now lets you delete some active X controls.

IE7 Anti-phishing

* system looks out for phishy behavior
* flashes the URL bar yellow
* Microsoft will run a service of known phishing sites and IE7 will check that service
* If you try to browse to a known phishing site, the URL bar turns red, and IE blocks you from going there.

Vista

* New version of workstation NT WS 6.0
* Not a version of server, that’s a year later
* Big foci:
o Very revised user interface
o Better security platform
o More .NET-sity including a .NET CLI shell
o Networking changes
o Platform for a new Office 12
o WinFS isn’t in (bad) but may appear later (good)

Program manager upgrade

The UI

* GDI became “Avalon” which is now “Windows Graphics Foundation”
* Great for GUI coders, games
* Lots o’ translucency
* Keyword “beautiful”
* Things preview more quickly although that may depend on CPU power
* Alt-Tab is a lot prettier; more thumbnails, shuffle
* Smooth zooming, you quickly choose how “close” you want to get
* Vector graphics
* Really needs a 2004+ video board

More UI—It’s the little things!

* “my computer” is now “computer”
* “documents and settings” is now “users”
* and there are search bars everywhere
* philosophy is search, browse, subscribe

User account protection—protecting us from ourselves

* used to be called “limited user account” LUA
* gives local admins two tokens: low-power admin and normal admin
* application checks the low power token, if it’s no good, then it checks the normal admin token—but it prompts you if you need it.

Windows firewall can block outgoing traffic

Sniffs out RAM & HD failures early

Server spec news:

your best buy is 64 bit hardware from AMD

32 bit is now considered “legacy” by Microsoft

Jack Blount agrees with this (64 bit from AMD), and mentioned it in another presentation.

CODI - Star Award 2005

Eileen presented the Star Award to Bob Gale.

David presented the Star Award to Bob Rasmussen.

Congratulations to you both, and thanks for all your hard work!

CODI - Make SQL Do the Dirty Work: Using Horizon Utilities

Eric Graham, SirsiDynix

Eric mentioned that there are several documents on the CODI site.
Look for the Administrators Toolkit

Then he went over the steps to create a Purchase Alert table in Horizon.

Cool! We currently use a SQL to gather purchase alert titles, but that requires us to run it, and it's not dynamic. Eric's instructions create a table in Horizon that updates each time you open the table. And...you can send titles from the purchase alert to the ACQ module! How cool is that?

Eric said he had submitted the SQL statements to be posted to the CODI site.

CODI - Using Bugzilla to Track IT Work Requests and Regain (Some of) Our Sanity

Eric Sisler & Veronica Smith, Westminster Public Library

2 support people. Were fielding & tracking requests in many methods: email, voicemail, sticky notes, hallway conversations.


New method has reduced phone calls by 80-90% thereby reducing interruptions which means better concentration on tasks.


Solutions looked at:

TrackIt - was cost prohibitive for them, had client requirements
FogBugz
Bugzilla - free!

As of Oct 2005, 451 known companies use Bugzilla.

Why use Bugzilla?
Accountability for all staff. Creates a paper trail of decisions, coverage during absence.
Notification via email. Proactive notification.
Knowledge base/FAQ

Customized Bugzilla to work in a library environment.
Most products are visible to all staff, but a few are for internal use by Automation Services. We periodically review existing products & components to see if anything new should be added or merged. Some of our current products & components are:

• Horizon (our integrated library system):
  • Cataloging
  • Circulation
  • Searching
• Computers:
  • Staff
  • Public
  • Network printers
• Network services:
  • Bugzilla
  • E-mail
  • File storage
  • Internet connectivity
• Don't Panic!:
  • Use this when you don't know how to categorize the ticket. We attempt to categorize these if possible, adding a new product/component if necessary.

Privacy concerns:
Logins required even to search the Bugzilla archive. [some support requests may contain patron info] They do a Bugzilla training session, then assign each staff member an individual login.
Bugzilla is configured so both Eric & Veronica get the email notification of a new ticket.
This eliminates contacting the wrong person if someone is on vacation or out sick.

Built a training module "Trainzilla" to use in their Bugzilla training.
They also use this for testing upgrades or additional customization.

Every field in Bugzilla is searchable by keyword.

Easy-to-use interface for staff.

Staff logging a Bugzilla entry chooses a ticket type: fix me (bug), request, or informational.

IT staff labels requests with statuses of fixed, can't fix, or won't fix. [an example of "won't fix" is a request to unblock the website myspace.com] They also won't fix a request to relocate a Horizon field for 1 person's request unless others using that module agree.

Documentation on what they customized on Bugzilla.

How does it work?

• Staff creates a "ticket" for their issue/problem.
• Email is sent to Eric & Veronica.
• One of them claims the ticket as their project
• If additional info is needed from the reporting staff member, comments are added to the ticket in Bugzilla, which automatically emails the reporting member and any other email addresses added to the ticket.
• Staff responds, providing the additional info in Bugzilla
• Bugzilla sends Email to Eric or Veronica (whoever is handling the ticket)
• Issue gets fixed
• IT staff marks the ticket "closed"
• Bugzilla sends email to reporting staff, and any others on the ticket.

Can be useful, as the email can be set to notify an entire department, so the morning shift and afternoon shift don't report the same problem to IT.

Staff are encouraged to search Bugzilla for an open issue before reporting it.

Creates a searchable database that can be used in troubleshooting.
Can also record seldom/complicated tasks.

As comments are added in Bugzilla, automatically sends email to appropriate parties so everyone is kept up to date.

They had 875 tickets entered in 8 months.
Staff are encouraged to call for urgent patron needs during office hours, or call if unsure if it's urgent. Staff may be told to "Bug it, man!"

Pitfalls & Concerns:
Staff expectations: ticket entry does not guarantee an immediate response. Most tickets are added to the queue and handled in turn.
No response from ticket reporter: ticket closed due to lack of interest
Unresolved issues not in Bugzilla: "no tickee, no workee"
One ticket=one issue
ticket overload: same amount of "stuff" to do, just tracked better

CODI - Channel Your Efforts to Limitless Content: How to Set Up Channels in 4.0

Dennis Todd, SirsiDynix

Channels concept based on uPortal.

Step by step: Publishing a channel.

Who can create a channel? SA user. Any SA user on Horizon can create channels in HIP.

Channels use a wizard for publishing. You can choose from: custom, applet, image, inline frame, portlet, RSS, web proxy, WSRP, XML transformation.

Choose your channel type.
Channel name.
Channel description (this is what displays to the users.)
Be sure to click "finished" on the final review screen to save your channel.

inline frame & web proxy are for web
custom: as if you're writing a program in uPortal.

Image channel required fields:

• URL of the image
• image dimensions
• hyperlink for the image (optional)
• caption and sub-caption (optional)

Cannot add ALT text for an image--this will be an accessibility problem.
A workaround is to do it as HTML.

Inline frames required fields:

• URL of the HTML document

• height of the frame

hint: don't make your frame too short. If a channel isn't tall enough for the content, it will give you a scroll bar.

[audience question] What is the recommended monitor resolution? Developers used 1280x1024 but HIP does adjust to any resolution nicely.

Web proxy channel required fields:

• URL (required)
• enable HTML filter (turn on)

Web proxies demand well-formed HTML. Use an HTML validator and look up valid HTML to find out how to do it correctly.
Don't assume because it worked in the browser that it's ok. Dennis said that browsers are more forgiving of HTML inconsistencies now, and you really need to use an HTML validator.

So what's the difference between inline frames and web proxy?
Inline frame keeps the fonts, sizes, etc of the URL
If you want a consistent look and feel for your HIP, use web proxy.

RSS feeds
for example: the NYT Best Seller list as RSS
[audience question] Does clicking a link in an RSS feed open in the same window or a new one? It opens in a new window.

RSS required fields:

• URL of the feed
• RSS version of the feed

Dennis said for HIP, regardless of the version the feed says it is, it works best if choosing "RSS 0.9x" [OK, but what if you're podcasting?!? Then the feed must be RSS 2.0 to support enclosures, will HIP support this? --ks]

RSS hint: use RSS validator

Create your own RSS feeds!
You could use the shareware $39.00 FeedForAll

Luke plugs Blogger because it's free! and easy to use...it's what I use for our library RSS feeds

(i thought his name was Neil--if not, let me know & where you're from!)... said they use an RSS feed for new books! I'd like more info!

also mention of Casey Durfee from Seattle PL and his RSS coding

Dennis' final tip: if you modify a channel

• delete the channel from the layout & re-add it.
• completely close your browser & re-open it.