LINKcat News

Schedule a Koha Circulation Play Date

We are offering libraries the opportunity to schedule a Play Date at their library; to have Heidi Oliversen come to your library and let staff "play" with the Koha Circulation functionality while she is there.  If you are interested, please email Heidi O. at hjo@scls.lib.wi.us with the phrase "Play Date" in the subject line.  Once we get an idea of how many libraries are interested, we'll send out a Doodle to coordinate trips.  Plan on her spending about 1-2 hours at each library.

Collection code cutoff for new and deleted codes is Sept. 15

If you have been thinking of adding new collection codes or deleting codes that you are no longer using, now is the time to do it. You will not be able to request new collection codes, or have any of your collection codes deleted, after Sept. 15, 2010. After Sept. 15, we will be finalizing and testing the collection code mapping that will dictate how all of the Dynix collection codes will migrate to Koha.

To request a new collection code, fill out the New Collection Code Request form. You can request deletes by using the Delete Collection Code Request form. Remember that if there are items attached to a collection code, it cannot be deleted. All items attached to a collection code must either be moved to a new code or deleted from the system before the code itself can be deleted. You can request that the collection code be changed on a batch of items by filling out the Batch Change Collection Code Request form.

Koha Training Registration is Open

We are pleased to announce that registration is open for the online workshops for the Koha training.  You may register from the ILS web site training page (login required).  We tried to make the registration page and workshop description page as self-explanatory as possible, but here are some tips.

Who May Attend the Online Workshops

Online workshops are open to all library staff. 

However, we have limited registrations for most of the workshops.  For the workshops that do not say *unlimited registration*, we ask that you sign up for only one session for your library and (if possible) allow multiple people to participate using the same PC with speakers. 

One session of each workshop will have unlimited registration and is clearly marked as such.  You may register multiple people from your library for the *unlimited registration* workshops and they do not need to use the same PC.  Basically, a registration represents one PC regardless of the number of people watching the presentation from that PC.  

We will be recording one session of each workshop and will post them for later viewing.

Pre-Requisites and Designated Trainers

All of the workshops, except the Koha PAC workshop, are pre-requisites for a hands-on workshop.  Staff who are designated module trainers must attend the appropriate pre-requisite(s) for that workshop.  The pre-requisite workshops are listed under each module on the workshop description page. Designated trainers should be sure to register, even if the registration is for a group of people, so that we can verify attendance.

If you need a refresher on designated trainers, please see the earlier blog post "Certifying the Trainers."

Full Workshops

If the workshop you would like to attend is full, you will be added to a wait list.  However, you should sign up for one of the other sessions of that workshop to assure that you have a seat.  We will be verifying that the designated library trainer for each module is attending the required workshops.  If necessary, we may need to adjust registrations to make certain all libraries are able to attend a workshop. We will also add additional workshops as necessary.

Registration Questions

Please contact Michelle Dries (608-242-4720) with registration and workshop questions.

Migration Update

Here is a summary of what has been happening recently with the various aspects of the LINKcat Dynix to Koha migration.

System Setup and Training Database

We have been working on setting up the system parameters in our Koha "sandbox."  We are doing our best to replicate our existing Dynix setup. Once we are done, LibLime will copy the sandbox and create a new training database that all LINKcat Library staff will be able to play in.  This should be done by early next week.

Training

We are putting the final touches on the LINKcat Library training schedule. We are re-adjusting some of the hands-on workshop dates and scheduling the webinars.  Registration for some of the workshops should open within a few days. 

Development

Our Go Live development projects have been sorted into 3 phases. All of the specifications for Phase 1 are complete and LibLime is working on writing the software for those projects. LibLime has assigned additional staff to complete the specifications for Phases 2 and 3.  The migration committees are already seeing an increase in specifications to review. LibLime will be sending us newly developed software features to test on a weekly basis. We are on target to have our core development completed by Go Live in January.

Data Migration

We will be starting our third data migration test on August 17th.  The first two were done on a different "flavor" of Koha (LibLime Enterprise Koha).  Since PTFS purchased LibLime, we are now going to be migrating to the PTFS Master "flavor" as it has more features that pertain to public libraries.  Therefore, we must start the migration test process over again (but building on what we learned with the first two). We will do two test migrations before the real one begins in December.  The migration committees will be assisting us with the test migrations as well.