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Notes from IMT Technical Services Workflow Subcommittee (1/6/2000)

Attending: Linda Westlake, Lynn Brown, Karen Calhoun, Diane Hillmann, Scott Wicks (chair), Elaine Engst, Bill Kara

Meeting Time: We agreed to a regular meeting time every second Thursday morning from 10:30 to 12. Our next meeting will be 1/20/2000 in Olin 106.

Exploiting ALA:
We discussed our plans to make the most out of ALA in terms of gaining information on Voyager. Scott has set up a meeting with colleagues from UWisc, UPenn, and UHawai'i to discuss the acquisitions features of Voyager. The three colleagues represent one each from long term, short term, and soon-to-implement users.

Karen and/or Diane will be making contact with Gary Strawn (Northwestern) to discuss the possibility of his visiting Cornell to serve as a consultant and share with us his extensive experience and expertise with the Voyager product and his many helper applications including his new version of the Cataloger's Toolkit.

In addition, Endeavor will be hosting several opportunities for users to see the Voyager 2000 release. Both Diane and Scott have made plans to attend. Scott will ask specifically about the fund structure in version 2000.

Acq. and Cataloging Configuration Options:
Karen has taken the lead in forming a small task force to explore the various options for configuring and using the Acquisitions and Cataloging modules. She said that the purpose of the group's efforts is to learn more about the system and gather ideas for further consideration by others. She asked for feedback on the structure and format of the group. We were delighted that she had already begun this work and encouraged her to continue her current plan. When the group has something to show, they will be invited to present their findings to our subcommittee for our feedback and general reactions to their work.

Karen asked if we shouldn't form a parallel group to look more deeply into the acquisitions functionality. This was met with general agreement. Scott and Bill will investigate who and what such a group would be responsible for exploring. We anticipate beginning this work shortly after ALA as version 99.1 will have been installed and a copy of the Cornell database will be available for view.

Processing Centers:
This led us to discuss how and when we get the processing centers involved. How do we preserve the integrity of the test database with so many hands in the mix? We looked to Bill (chair of the Security Subcommittee) for answers. The issue is that in order to test the effects of configuration decisions, we need to have a stable database, one that we can predict. If we open up the files to all interested staff, we lose some measure of control. One suggestion is that we label records intended for specific use such as training examples as "hands-off!" Bill agreed with this suggestion as a solution using the security features is not a likely possibility for our test migration.

Communication is another concern. We want to be sure that all relevant information is communicated throughout the Library. Some of us are beginning to hear people wonder about how we will handle the transition period between systems, how we will be able to continue to serve our users, to prevent backlogs of orders, receipts, cataloging.

We agreed that the IMT Steering Committee is the appropriate body to relay some basic information to the Library community, both users and staff. We agreed that it would be logical for the Steering Committee to include some information that relates to the downtime, productivity, and interim procedures along with the announcement of the implementation schedule .

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last modified on: Oct.6, 1999