NHAIS Notes

Dewey Webinars on Feb. 7th

noreply@blogger.com (MaryR) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:30:00 +0000

Print and web versions of DDC 23 have been updated. Join OCLC for a free, live, 30-minute webinar on Tuesday, 7 February 2012, “DDC 23 Update” The webinar is being offered twice to accomodate audiences in as many time zones as possible.

OCLC Web session:

DDC 23 Update
You’ll hear an update on the print and web versions of DDC 23 and tips on using DDC 23 and WebDewey 2.0, including:

How to classify works about evolving technologies
How to classify complex works about groups of people
How to find updates to DDC 23 and track history of numbers

Enhancements to WebDewey 2.0 include:

Easy access on all pages to basic information (including updates to DDC 23)
Information about history of numbers
New icons to identify built numbers and Manual notes

If you want to attend one of these sessions, please register:

ILL Recovery - My two cents

noreply@blogger.com (MaryR) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:53:00 +0000

A question has come up on the listservs about dealing with pending requests today (step #1 of my earlier posting). I stand by the task list from before, but realize some more detailed clarification might help.

Based on the listserv discussion, and talking it over with David Harris (who deserves most of the credit for getting the ILL getting fixed), here is our recommendation:

Use request inquiry to look at "pending" requests made by YOUR library and cancel any of them that you no longer need because you have gotten via email or other arrangement
Review your incoming requests and mark as "shipped" any requests that you were working on (they are currently in pending status) when the system went down and that you sent to the requesting library. If you do this today they can be tracked from this point on as usual

How to get ILL back on track TODAY

noreply@blogger.com (MaryR) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:39:00 +0000

Our ILL server has been resurrected!
Our tests indicate that all data that was there when it went down (Thursday, Jan. 19, a bit before 11:50 a.m.) is still there.
This means that to get everything back on track each ILL library needs to do some catching up. Here's what needs to be done:

STEP #1 - URGENT!
Set to "shipped" all materials you sent to someone based on a NHAIS ILL request you had in hand when things went down. If this is not done today (which is January 19th in the ILL "clock" - tomorrow will be February 3rd) requests from January will go "Unfilled" overnight tonight. After today (Feb 2) the request will go "Unfilled" in the system and will need to be handled as if it were an out-of-system request from this point on. No, there is nothing we can do about this, even if your library is closed on Thursdays.

STEP #2
Set to "Received" any requests for which you got materials from someone based on a NHAIS ILL request, including any that you have already sent back to the lending library. Note: If the item didn't get "shipped" in the system prior to the end of the day on Feb. 2 you will get an error message on this. After today (Feb 2) the request is "Unfilled" in the system and needs to be handled as if it were an out-of-system request from this point on.

STEP #3
Set to "Returned" any requests for which you sent back the borrowed materials for a NHAIS ILL request while the system was down. Note: As with the "received" step, if the item didn't get "shipped" in the system prior to the end of the day Feb. 2 then you will get an error message on this.

STEP #4
Complete transactions for materials you got back from borrowing libraries while the system was down. It may be best to wait a day or two to do this so that the borrowing library has had a chance to "receive" and "return" the items in the system.
If you find anything amiss in the ILL system -- aside from duplicate search results which we know about -- please contact the NHAIS Help Desk at 271-2141.

ILL update Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Thursday, Feb. 2, 8:35 a.m.: Today NHU-PAC's ILL server will be tested on the network. It's possible that you may be able to reach the ILL login page during the testing. Please do not login and do any transactions until an all-clear message is posted here. Any work you do in the ILL program before then may be lost as the server will be rebooted without warning--possibly several times--during testing.

ILL update

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:50:00 +0000

Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2:50 p.m.: We're not out of the woods yet but at last there's some good news to report on the ILL front. Following several frustrating days that saw NHU-PAC's ILL server failing to respond to various tweaks, it's finally powering up properly with some new parts installed. Tomorrow we'll be reviewing its functionality with SirsiDynix to see what else needs to be done to get our automated ILL system back online.

Duplicate search results

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 8 a.m.: This morning's NHU-PAC server restart appears to have revived an issue we had a month ago: duplicate search results. Some NHU-PAC search results may be listed twice so that, for example, a search which ought to yield 33 results shows 49 instead. All are valid results but some are listed twice.

ILL still out

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:50:00 +0000

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 7:50 a.m.: All NHU-PAC services are back in operation following this morning's routine monthly restart of servers except that the ILL server remains on the blink. We're expecting to receive some new parts for the ILL server later this morning. We hope that will take care of its hardware issues and then we can look at whether there are any software issues standing in the way of restoring NHU-PAC's ILL program.

Brief NHU-PAC outage Tue 1/31

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:33:00 +0000

This being the last Tuesday of the month, NHU-PAC servers will be restarted this morning as part of scheduled maintenance. The NHU-PAC will go offline at 7:40 a.m. today and should be back in service within 10 minutes. Holdings Maintenance sometimes takes a few extra minutes to be restored but should be back in service by 7:55.

ILL update

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:12:00 +0000

Monday, Jan. 30, 1:15 p.m.: New parts for the ILL server are on their way. The plan is to install them tomorrow and see what happens. That doesn't necessarily mean the ILL program will be up and running tomorrow but it's a significant step toward our goal of restoring ILL service.

For suggestions on managing ILL in the absence of the automated system, see Mary Russell's message posted last Tuesday.

ILL Contact Lists - Another Format

noreply@blogger.com (MaryR) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:17:00 +0000

In response to my earlier post about ILL Contact Lists we got a question from a library asking them to be posted in Word or Excel so they can be used more easily for mailing. Pdfs are a pain to harvest addresses from, and that helps keep spammers from harvesting this info off our site which is why I am not going to post the info in a more accessible format.

However, if you are a NH library and would like a Word 2003 version of the document (which is what I have it in) you can email nhu-pac@dcr.nh.gov and ask to have the latest version emailed back to you for use internally in your library.

Updated ILL contact lists

noreply@blogger.com (MaryR) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:41:00 +0000

We have heard from a few libraries since we put the ILL contact info sheets up on the website that the email addresses were out-of-date. I updated the lists this morning, so if you are using them to directly contact libraries you want to borrow stuff from please update your copies. There are only a few revisions, so you may want to make the corrections on your existing pages rather than print new ones. I used red text for the changes so you can find them easily if you want to do this.

There are two lists: ILL contacts by HSA code and ILL contacts by Town

If you can contact a library directly that holds something you want to borrow, instead of filling the ILL listserv with general requests, that will save a lot of people a lot of email deleting.

If the contact info on these lists for your library needs correcting, please email the change (including your HSA code) to nhu-pac@dcr.nh.gov and I will do another update next week.

NC, LR vans cancelled Fri 1/27

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:27:00 +0000

Due to the weather conditions, the North Country and Lakes Region van routes are cancelled. For a list of affected libraries please refer to our website: http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/van_delivery/friday.html

At this point, I believe the three other van routes (Southwest A, Southwest B, Southeast) will take place, although perhaps a bit behind schedule.

Donna Gilbreth
Supervisor, Reference and Information Services
New Hampshire State Library
20 Park Street
Concord, NH 03301
603-271-2060
donna.gilbreth@dcr.nh.gov

ILL outage continues

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Thursday, Jan. 26, 11:45 a.m.: It was exactly one week ago that the first call came in from a user who couldn't get to the NHU-PAC ILL login page. The ILL server, the oldest one in our system, had crashed.

After repeated attempts in the past week to revive the server, we're now looking at options to replace it. I don't know how long it will take but be assured that we are working to have NHU-PAC's automated ILL service functioning again. When service is restored, it'll be the same ILL program, more or less, but we still haven't been able to determine if outstanding transactions can be recovered.

The volume of messages on the NHAIS-ILL e-mail list has increased significantly in the past week. You can help keep the traffic manageable by following the suggestions from Mary Russell in a message posted Tuesday.

What do you think about NH's LSTA Program?

noreply@blogger.com (MaryR) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:26:00 +0000

A recent announcement from Janet Eklund, Administrator of Library Operations, New Hampshire State Library:

As you may know, LSTA (Library Services & Technology Act) provides funds to each state. The amount of funding received by New Hampshire is based on a population-driven formula. In order to continue receiving federal LSTA fund, we are required to submit a plan every five years that outlines how our LSTA funding will be used to meet the goals of the Library Services & Technology Act. The act also requires NH to conduct an evaluation of its programs from 2008 - 2012. Our next five year plan is due to the Institute of Museum & Library Services in June, and will incorporate data from our evaluation. Our evaluation is due to IMLS in March.

Please take a few minutes (no more than 10 min. to complete) to take the survey to help the NH State Library in its evaluation requirement. We need you to complete the survey by the end of THIS WEEK. Click on this link to take you to the survey:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/779084/New-Hampshire-LSTA-Survey

The State Librarian and I thank you for your input.

ILL outage continues

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Wednesday, January 25, 8 a.m.: Diagnostic procedures will continue today as we try to determine what can be restored from our crashed ILL server and what needs to be replaced. For suggested interim ILL procedures, see Mary Russell's Tuesday message.

Brief NHU-PAC searching outage Wed 1/25 am

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:37:00 +0000

Wednesday, Jan. 25: There will be a brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching starting at 7:40 a.m. today. This is to allow updating of searching indexes. Searching should be restored in about 5 minutes.

Desperate Times - My 2 Cents

noreply@blogger.com (MaryR) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:12:00 +0000

We continue to work with SirsiDynix and our NH Department of Information Technology colleagues to figure out what is wrong with the ILL server and get it sorted out. It will be at least another few days and could be longer, so some interim ILL procedures are probably called for. There has been some discussion of this issue on the NHAIS-L listserv and several good points have been made there:

The searching functions of NHU-PAC can be used to identify which libraries hold an item -- please use this tool to identify potential lenders and contact them directly.
Good records of what you have loaned and what you have borrowed are a valuable tool -- if you don't have an internal record keeping system for this you should set one up. Especially while you are potentially borrowing and lending materials with no external (read NHAIS) tracking system for them
Using helpful subject headings on your emails, like "select ill" makes it easier for people to know whether they can (or want to) respond to your request.

The library directory can be used to look up contact info for libraries. Rather than looking up each library individually though, I thought it might be easier for people to have a "cheat sheet" of the ILL contact info for each NHAIS ILL participant. There are pdfs of these sheets (8 pages each, or 4 sheets double-sided) on the NHAIS Services ILL Resources web page. There is a list sorted by town and one sorted by hsa code. This info was compiled from the NHAIS Services ILL registration records and corrections should be sent to nhu-pac@dcr.nh.gov

ILL outage continues

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:08:00 +0000

Monday, Jan. 23, 3:10 p.m.: NHU-PAC's ILL server remains out of service. Tomorrow we'll be working on seeing what can be recovered from the system. Once that's determined we'll have a better idea of exactly what needs to be replaced.

Remember that the rest of the NHU-PAC remains up and running (catalogers, please note that there remains an issue with searching logins and Holdings Maintenance) so you can determine which libraries hold materials you're seeking. For contact information for individual libraries, consult the Directory of New Hampshire Libraries. In addition to going there directly, you can use the "Directory of NH Libraries" subtab on NHU-PAC's About NHAIS tab.

ILL outage extended

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:59:00 +0000

Friday, Jan. 20, noon: The news isn't good. NHU-PAC interlibrary loan service will be unavailable for several more days. Repeated efforts to revive the server have been unsuccessful. Replacing the server won't happen today. It will take a coordinated effort among several parties to get this done and not all the parties will be available until Monday.

Is all the data about ILL transactions gone? Maybe. Maybe not. The data is stored on a disk array that's separate from the server so there's some hope that it can be recovered.

The next message about this situation will be posted sometime Monday.

ILL offline Thurs pm/Fri am

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:52:00 +0000

Thursday, Jan. 19, 3:50 p.m.: NHU-PAC interlibrary loan will be unavailable at least through noon on Friday while efforts continue to restore the server.

ILL server still down

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2:00 p.m.: There are major issues with NHU-PAC's interlibrary loan server. We're trying to recover the system now but plan on NHU-PAC ILL being out of service for the rest of the day. The rest of the NHU-PAC is unaffected by this outage.

NHU-PAC ILL offline

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:50:00 +0000

Thursday, Jan. 19, 11:50 a.m.: NHU-PAC's interlibrary loan server is currently offline. We're looking into the problem.

Moose Grant Application Deadline is April 27

noreply@blogger.com (MaryR) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:28:00 +0000

This Conservation License Plate Grant Program is a State of New Hampshire funding source made possible by the sale of "Moose License Plates." Grants are available to public institutions with stewardship of publicly owned documents that are significant to the history of New Hampshire.

The 2012/2013 Moose License Plate grant program is now open. The Guidelines and Application form are now available at http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/moose/index.html

Libraries contemplating submitting an application, who wish to discuss their proposed grant activities, or who want help with the application, can contact Janet Eklund, Administrator of Library Operations, NH State Library, at 603-271-2393.

The submission deadline is April 27, 2012.

Holdings Maintenance back online

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:50:00 +0000

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 7:50 a.m.: NHU-PAC's Holdings Maintenance server is back online. As was true yesterday, all functions appear to be working reliably unless you're using a searching login or a saved list. For an explanation of those terms, see Mary Russell's Tuesday afternoon message.

Brief Holdings Maintenance outage Wed am

noreply@blogger.com (David Harris) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:34:00 +0000

Wednesday, Jan. 18: NHU-PAC's Holdings Maintenance server will be offline starting at 7:40 a.m. Service should be restored within 15 minutes. Other parts of the NHU-PAC are not affected by this outage.