LINKcat News

Patron expiration date extension request - January 2021

Some libraries have requested that we offer a patron expiration date extension again.  Below is the proposal from the Circulation Services Subcommittee that staggers the next expiration date over the next six months.

 

Here is the link to the Google survey form for your response- the deadline to opt-into this extension is Monday, January 25 at noon. If your library does not respond, or responds "No", patrons with your library listed as the Home library in their patron record will not have their expiration dates extended.  And please, only once response per library.

 

Here are the proposed extension parameters.  They are also listed in the survey form but the text is all bunched together.  

 

Patrons with an expiration date between 1/1/2021 and 6/1/2021 AND have a last name starting with these characters will have their expiration dates extended according to the following schedule:

A-D expiration date extended to July 1, 2021

E-H expiration date extended to August 1, 2021

I-M expiration date extended to September 1, 2021

N-R expiration date extended to October 1, 2021

S-V expiration date extended to November 1, 2021

W-Z expiration date extended to December 1, 2021

Bibliovation upgrade January 11, 2021

We are pleased to announce that there will be an update to Bibliovation after 9 pm on Monday, January 11. The upgrade does not require system downtime. This release (6.02.07) includes a couple of Circulation fixes. See the Release Notes for more information on the fixes.

IMPORTANT: After the upgrade, on Tuesday, January 12, please clear your browser cache before using Bibliovation.

This upgrade includes fixes that have been tested by SCLS staff and at some libraries. To the best of everyone’s assessment, the fixes are working well and any bugs identified during testing have been fixed. However, as we learned with past upgrades and patches, we may experience unexpected results following the upgrade. We may also discover new problems. We will use the Known Problems page to document any post upgrade problems. 

News Summary (12/1/2020-12/31/2020)

News (in case you missed it!)

• 12/17/2020 The minutes and ILS Report from the December 2, 2020, IC Meeting are available online.
• 12/16/2020 The minutes from the December 8, 2020, CSS Meeting are available online.
• 12/16/2020 2,644 bibliographic records were newly cataloged and/or updated in the database between 11/26/2020 and 12/15/2020.
• 12/16/2020 9,394 items and 1,023 bibliographic records (with only withdrawn items attached) were deleted in the monthly batch deletion of withdrawn items.
• 12/10/2020 Please check LINKcat URLs on library websites before January 15. See the LINKcat News blog post for details.
• 12/8/2020 The Bibliovation upgrade was completed last night. See the Release notes for a full list of fixes. See the LINKcat News blog post for some additional highlights.
• 12/1/2020 The monthly Bibliovation reports for November 2020 can be found online.
• 12/1/2020 The monthly LINKcat.info and LINKcat Mobile reports for November are posted.

Check LINKcat URLs on websites before Jan 15

Please check the LINKcat URLs on your websites before January 15. Soon after that, old URLs will lead users to a "page not found" error message.

Do this by hovering over the link. The information should appear in the lower portion of your browser. Or, copy and paste the link in a new tab, but don't hit Enter.

If they look like this...

http://launcher.linkcat.info/go.cgi... or
https://launcher.linkcat.info/go.cgi...

Replace them with a link that looks like this:

https://www.linkcat.info/ or
https://www.linkcat.info/app/work/1366215 or
https://www.linkcat.info/app/me/dashboard or
https://www.linkcat.info/app/search

If you prefer to send patrons to a branded version of the catalog, replace the "www" in the links above with your library's 3-letter delivery code.

Example:
Change https://launcher.linkcat.info/go.cgi?biblionumber=1366215
to https://www.linkcat.info/app/work/1366215 (general LINKcat)
or https://ore.linkcat.info/app/work/1366215 (ORE branded)

Old URLs would have been used in links created before December 2019. They were often used for book club or recommended book lists and guides to accessing LINKcat, for example, so those are prime places to look. Don't forget about links you may have stashed elsewhere, like on newsletters or social media.

News Summary (11/1/2020-11/30/2020)

News (in case you missed it!)

• 11/25/2020 5,495 bibliographic records were newly cataloged and/or updated in the database between 10/29/2020 and 11/24/2020.
• 11/25/2020 19,168 items and 2,466 bibliographic records (with only withdrawn items attached) were deleted in the monthly batch deletion of withdrawn items.
• 11/25/2020 The minutes from the November 18, 2020, DIS Meeting are available online.
• 11/23/2020 A Bibliovation upgrade is scheduled for Monday, December 7 at 9 pm. See the Release notes for a full list of fixes. See the LINKcat News blog post for some additional highlights.
• 11/20/2020 The minutes from the November 10, 2020, CSS Meeting are available online.
• 11/18/2020 The minutes from the November 11, 2020, CMS Meeting are available online.
• 11/2/2020 The monthly Bibliovation reports for October 2020 can be found online.
• 11/2/2020 The monthly LINKcat.info and LINKcat Mobile reports for October are posted.

Bibliovation upgrade December 7, 9 pm

Bibliovation Upgrade

We are pleased to announce that there will be an update to Bibliovation starting at 9 pm on Monday, December 7. The upgrade does not require system downtime. This release (6.02.04) includes fixes to all modules of Bibliovation. See the Release Notes for a full list of issues addressed in this upgrade. Some, but not all, of the fixes, changes, and new features are listed below.

This upgrade includes fixes that have been tested by SCLS staff and at some libraries. To the best of everyone’s assessment, the fixes are working well and any bugs identified during testing have been fixed. However, as we learned with past upgrades and patches, we may experience unexpected results following the upgrade. We may also discover new problems. We will use the Known Problems page to document any post upgrade problems. After the upgrade, please clear your browser cache before using Bibliovation.

High Priority Fixes

This release includes fixes for the following high-priority problems (these problems are also listed in the Release Notes):

• Add Author field to the Title column in the Holds Queue report
• Add Copy number to the Holds Queue report
• Fast BIB Add default library
• Patrons with large volume of transactions have slow response times: Please note that our testing in the sandbox showed an increase in the response time speed. However, we will not close this ticket with LibLime until this fix is implemented and tested in the Bibliovation production database.

Changes and New Features

This release also includes the following changes and new features (these changes are also listed in the Release Notes):

• Normal tab now called Detail tab: The “Normal” tab on a bibliographic record is now labeled as “Detail.” The change will be reflected in manuals and training materials.
• Page navigation (pager) added to resolve response time problems for bibs with many items: In order to address response time problems on bibliographic records with many items, "pagers" of 20 items have been added in multiple places if a bib record has more than 30 items attached. This means that after the first 20 items on the record, the user will have to page through to the next set of 20 items. You can still search for individual items by item barcode and you can sort the entire list of items by clicking on the column headers. The pagers have been added in the following places:
  • If an individual library has more than 30 items on a bib record, then there is a pager on the Details and Edit Items pages. This would most likely occur only on the library's GENERIC records.
  • If there are more than 30 items on the entire bib record, then there is a pager on the Item Statuses page.
  • If there are more than 30 items on the entire bib record, then a pager appears on the title's details page in the LINKcat Discovery Layer. 
  • Please note that you can see your library's items first by using your library's custom Bibliovation URL. To use your library's custom URL, enter your agency code at the beginning of the URL. For example, a staff URL would be sca.scls.kohalibrary.com and a patron URL would be sca.linkcat.info.
• Page navigation (pager) added to resolve response time problems for bibs with many holds: In order to address response time problems on bibliographic records with many holds, "pagers" of 10 holds have been added to the list of holds on the bib record. To search the entire list of Holds, click the “Show All” button and enter your search parameter in the "Existing holds" Search field, or sort by the column headers. 
• Page navigation (pager) added to resolve response time problems for patrons with large volume of transactions: If a patron has more than 30 items checked out, then the patron record displays only the 30 most recent checkouts by default. There is a "View all" link that will display the full list of checkouts. This does not affect the checkouts display in the LINKcat patron dashboard. It only affects the staff display.
• Advanced Patron Search page: LibLime has added an additional “Search Patrons” button at the top of field list in the Advanced Patron Search page.
• OPAC/Staff notes in subscriptions now visible outside of Serials module in staff client: OPAC and Staff notes can now be seen while viewing a bibliographic record associated with a serials record in the staff view only.
• Renewals for serials subscriptions: There is now a section in the Serials module called Renewals. It will show subscriptions at a library that are close to their expiration date and gives options to extend and change the dates.

News Summary (10/1/2020-10/31/2020)

News (in case you missed it!)

• 10/21/2020 616 bibliographic records with no items attached (that were created before 7/1/20) were deleted from the database.
• 10/21/2020 8,781 items and 1,035 bibliographic records (with only withdrawn items attached) were deleted in the monthly batch deletion of withdrawn items.
• 10/16/2020 Updates have been made to a policy and the linking manual to reflect Criterion Collection videorecordings being on separate records. See the LINKcat News blog post.
• 10/15/2020 The minutes from the October 7, 2020, IC Meeting and October ILS Report are available online.
• 10/14/2020 See the LINKcat News blog post for information about the moratorium on changes to existing bibliographic records, which starts Friday, October 23.
• 10/1/2020 The monthly LINKcat.info and LINKcat Mobile reports for September are posted.
• 10/1/2020 The monthly Bibliovation reports for September 2020 can be found online.

Full cataloging moratorium starting October 27

We are continuing our work on the authority control project to update existing OCLC bibliographic records in our database with up-to-date author, subject, genre, and uniform title (series) headings.

LibLime will be importing and overlaying bibliographic and authority records. This means that there needs to be a full cataloging moratorium this weekend with no work done on bib records (including BSEs). This will start tomorrow, Tuesday, October 27.

During this time, staff cannot:

1. Create, edit, or overlay records (BSE and MARC).
2. Use "Send to Catalog" from GetIt to create bib records.
3. Create new LOCAL or PERM records.
4. Delete or merge bib records.

During this time, staff can continue to:

1. Create, edit, withdraw, and delete item records for items owned by your library.
2. Use "Send to Catalog" from GetIt to create item records.
3. Work with Purchase orders in GetIt (as long as you don't send bibs to the catalog).
4. Work with Receiving and Invoicing in GetIt.
5. Update and create GEN records.
6. Do serials checkin in Serials.

This is planned to be completed for Friday, October 30. Once completed, cataloging and acquisitions staff will receive an email (should be early in the morning) when it is ok to resume creating new BSE records and sending to catalog from GetIt.

Linking Manual/Cataloging Policy changes for Criterion Collection videorecordings

The ILS Committee approved changes on October 7, 2020, to reflect that Criterion Collection videorecordings should be on separate records from other releases.

• Videorecordings Searching and Matching Policy has been updated to include Criterion Collection as a required matchpoint in the Edition field.
• Section VIII, Videorecordings of the Linking Manual has been updated to include information about Criterion Collection videorecordings.

Moratorium on changes to existing bib records October 23 through around October 29

SCLS and the Madison catalogers are currently doing an authority control update project that will update all of the existing OCLC bibliographic records in our database with up-to-date author, subject, genre, and uniform title (series) headings. During this time, Madison cataloging staff cannot overlay or edit existing OCLC bibliographic records. 

 What this means for you right now

Starting next Friday, October 23, if you submit changes to Madison on the following ILS Work Request forms:

Request to Add ISBNs or UPCs to Bibs

Report Problems with Bib Records

Report Duplicate Bib Records

those changes will be held by Madison until the next week or following week. The changes will be done after the project is completed the next week. Unfortunately, we don't have an exact end date at this time, but it should by the end of the next week.

 During this time, you can continue to:

1. Create BSEs and link items
2. "Send to catalog" from GetIt for both bib records and item records
3. Create, edit, withdraw, and delete item records for items owned by your library
4. Create LOCAL, PERM, or GEN records

What this means for you during the next week

Around October 28 or 29, there may be a day (or possibly two days) where we will ask you to refrain from creating BSEs and using "Send to Catalog" from GetIt to create new bib records while the updated bibliographic records are loaded into Bibliovation by LibLime. We will send an email out about this as soon as we have solid information. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly how long it will take for all of the updates to be made to the bib records and how long it will take LibLime to load the changed bibs back into Bibliovation.