Another SirsiDynix personnel change

Our "SureStart" Consultant, Diane Cunningham, who has participated in several onsite summits with members of our implementation teams, has announced that she is leaving SirsiDynix.

Diane's role in our ILS implementation will be assumed by Pamela Tejes, who was here in August for our Rooms Planning Workshop. Pam will be back onsite for several days in January as well as for our "Go Live" in March.

LJ article on Central Search and "clustering"

Library Journal recently featured an article about Serials Solutions' introduction of Vivisimo Results Clustering to its Central Search federated search product. You can find this article, which offers a good overview of what clustering is all about, in the November 1, 2006 issue, or read it online here. Then head over to the MPLIC Central Search test page to try it out for yourself.

Sirsi Implementation Teams: The Collection Exchange Team

On Nov. 14, a number of staff members involved in the Sirsi ILS implementation, including several members of the Collection Exchange Team, attended a live WebEx presentation by SirsiDynix consultant Margaret Pelfrey. Margaret introduced the basic features of the Unicorn Collection Exchange module, which is intended to help manage the rotation of collections among a group of libraries.

MPLIC is evaluating Collection Exchange as a means of managing our library system's Large Print Rotating Collection once we make the transition to Unicorn.

Role of the Collection Exchange Team:

• To coordinate the implementation of the Collection Exchange function
• To identify the requirements for data conversion and transfer
• To identify the requirements for reports and management information
• To identify the requirements for and to coordinate the delivery of staff training
• To identify and make recommendations on potential workflow changes

Reporting:

Reports to the Sirsi Implementation Management Team.

Membership:

Chair - Janet Majilton (Collection Development)
Ann Andrews (Collection Development)
Gina Cordell (History)
Paul Gahn (Automated Services)
Stephanie Masin (Collection Development)
Gina Milburn (Collection Development)
Philip Williams (Collection Development)

SirsiDynix Project Manager's Weekly Status Report #34

Unicorn Project Status Report

Note: New and/or revised information is italicized.

Status Report Date: 11/17/2006
Site Name: Memphis Public Library (24 libraries)
Client Contact: Steve Foster
Go-Live Date: 03/15/07
Software Release: GL 3.1

Project Manager: Jeannie Peters
Implementation Team: Damon Hunter (CS), Jenny Hendrickson (DC), Patty Suessen (TR), Diane Cunningham (SC)
Sales Representative: Laurie Chase

Major Activities/ Meetings Completed
Weekly call.
Judith Tigner was on this week’s call to discuss the change in personnel assigned to the Memphis project and to discuss current issues. Judith is following up on EPS/Rooms and Searching/Indexing issues that were discussed.
The upgrade to EPS/Rooms 2.1.3 is scheduled for 11/27.
The creation of a test instance of EPS/Rooms on the EPS/Rooms production server is scheduled for 11/28.
Alan closed several EPS/Rooms incidents and opened two more.
Damon ran a suite of rebuilds reports and will report the results of this when he has finished testing.
Serials Solutions has sent an introductory Article Linker letter to Memphis and will be contacting them to set up the first phone call.

Activities/ Meetings Scheduled for Next Week
Weekly call.
Data review on the production server.
Because of the holidays and short work week, there will not be a status report next week.

Outstanding Issues
Incident 212421 which relates to issues with rebuilds not running correctly – Damon is continuing his research on this issue.
Incident 210418 relating to EPS/Rooms is still open. Alan closed several incidents this week and opened two new incidents: 215129 and 215132.

Project Status:

Event	Status	Completion Date	Notes:
Schedule	Completed	01/24/06
Hardware Install	Completed	04/18/06
Software	Completed	06/02/06
Policies/Profiling	Completed	05/25/06
Data	On Schedule		Production load 3/14/07
SirsiDynix Training	On Schedule
Go Live	On Schedule

SirsiDynix Project Manager's Weekly Status Report #33

Unicorn Project Status Report

Note: New and/or revised information is italicized.

Status Report Date: 11/10/2006
Site Name: Memphis Public Library (24 libraries)
Client Contact: Steve Foster
Go-Live Date: 03/15/07
Software Release: GL 3.1

Project Manager: Jeannie Peters
Implementation Team: Damon Hunter (CS), Jenny Hendrickson (DC), Patty Suessen (TR), Diane Cunningham (SC)
Sales Representative: Laurie Chase

Major Activities/ Meetings Completed
Weekly call.
Memphis voiced concerns to project manager about project. Their concerns have been conveyed to management.
Alan was on a call with Alex Feng and Jeannie Peters to discuss EPS/Rooms issues.
Jeannie Peters is investigating the setting up of a test environment for EPS/Rooms.
Jenny is working on requested data changes.
Diane Cunningham has been onsite this week for a Serials Summit.

Activities/ Meetings Scheduled for Next Week
Weekly call.
Data review on the production server.
Judith Tigner, Implementation Manager will be on weekly call.

Outstanding Issues
Incident 212421 which relates to issues with rebuilds not running correctly – Damon is installing another patch cluster and restarting rebuilds. They should be finished running by Saturday or Monday at the latest.
Incidents 211360, 211273, 210941, 210774, 210418 all relate to EPS/Rooms. Alex Feng addressed each issue on the phone with Alan. It is believed that most of these will be resolved with a move to version 2.1.3. If Memphis approves this move, it will be scheduled to take place as soon as possible.

Project Status:

Event	Status	Completion Date	Notes:
Schedule	Completed	01/24/06
Hardware Install	Completed	04/18/06
Software	Completed	06/02/06
Policies/Profiling	Completed	05/25/06
Data	On Schedule		Production load 3/14/07
SirsiDynix Training	On Schedule
Go Live	On Schedule

SirsiDynix Project Manager's Weekly Status Report #32

Unicorn Project Status Report

Note: New and/or revised information is italicized.

Status Report Date: 11/3/2006
Site Name: Memphis Public Library (24 libraries)
Client Contact: Steve Foster
Go-Live Date: 03/15/07
Software Release: GL 3.1

Project Manager: Jeannie Peters
Implementation Team: Damon Hunter, Jenny Hendrickson, Patty Suessen, Diane Cunningham
Sales Representative: Laurie Chase

Major Activities/ Meetings Completed
Weekly call.
Jeannie was introduced as the new project manager.
Alan continues to work with Central Search.
Jenny is working on requested data changes.

Activities/ Meetings Scheduled for Next Week
Weekly call.
Data review on the production server.
Diane onsite next week for Serials/Gov Doc Summit.

Outstanding Issues

Project Status:

Event	Status	Completion Date	Notes:
Schedule	Completed	01/24/06
Hardware Install	Completed	04/18/06
Software	Completed	06/02/06
Policies/Profiling	Completed	05/25/06
Data	On Schedule		Production load 3/14/07
SirsiDynix Training	On Schedule
Go Live	On Schedule

Central Search -- test installation is live!

Our new federated search system, Central Search, has been successfully installed by Serials Solutions. The site can be accessed here. (Please note that the URL can only be accessed by PCs within the library.) This site represents the "advanced search" interface for federated searching, which allows for narrowing searches to particular subjects or databases, and presents search results in "clusters." Basic federated search will ultimately be available through the EPS OPAC search box.

This is a work-in-progress, as Serials Solutions is still building connections to a number of our licensed databases.

The Federated Search / Link Resolver Subteam of the EPS Implementation Team will be reviewing the site over the next couple of weeks, but all interested staff are welcome to give it a test drive and submit feedback to Alan Stewart. (Please do not share the URL with library customers at this time.)

SirsiDynix Personnel Changes

This week we say farewell to our SirsiDynix Project Manager, Amanda Little. Amanda, who has been our Unicorn Project Manager since October, 2005 (and who has also overseen the EPS/Rooms part of the project since August of this year), is leaving the company for another professional opportunity. We look forward to working with her replacement, Jeannie Peters, for the duration of our ILS implementation project.