Essentially the message here is that in v19, the functionality that is currently split across a web ILL interface (for ISO ILL), and a GUI client interface (for non-ISO ILL) is being brought together into a single GUI client interface (GUI ILL2). This single GUI will be available in v18, but v19 will only have this single GUI, with the old GUI and Web interfaces being deprecated.

This will bring the ILL GUI in line with the other GUI interfaces in Aleph.

I’m looking forward to having the new ILL GUI, but to be honest our ILL dept works fine at the moment, and we probably don’t have enough traffic to gain much from the ISO ILL functionality.

I almost decided to go to the MetaLib/SFX session instead of this, as our Aleph installation is now pretty mature, and I’m having difficulty getting excited by small increments in Aleph functionality.

However, in his opening talk Matti mentioned a couple of things that would be covered to whet my appetite, so while Damyanti is hearing about MetaLib and SFX, I’m in the Aleph session, hoping that it keeps my interest…

Perhaps the most interesting development for us are:

Staff permissions

The first phase of enhancing staff permissions in in v18, this includes extra information about library staff – e.g. expiry dates. This should make the management of staff accounts earlier.

There are further development to come in v19 which look at workflows and processes to grant permissions, rather than very detailed individual bits of functionality.

Staff Interface for Aleph Configuration

This is starting in v18, and continuing in v19. Ex Libris are trying to integrate configuration within the Aleph GUI. This is not just to have the config tables edited via the GUI (which can already be done), but to simplify the process of configuration, with Function/Task oriented workflows, and a more intuitive and graphic UI. All this, of course, appropriately permissioned.

This latter development is something that was tried a few years ago, but didn’t really succeed, as they focussed on just giving a GUI to the text based tables – which didn’t really simplify anything.

In this case they are committed to actually using the interface to help the system administratror – ensuring that information in one table is cross checked with any dependent tables, and that any codes are ‘decoded’ in the GUI (so use descriptions rather than numbers in the the GUI)

As a demonstration of what they are going to do, they have done this for ‘Opening Hours’ (tab17 I think?) in v18. This allows non-systems staff to edit the opening hours.

In v19, they are starting with this new configuration GUI in the Circulation module – it is probably the most complex configuration.

In v19 they are also focussing on the ‘Task Manager’ – to make it easier to use, and view outcomes from the Batch logs. They want to improve the scheduler (job_list) to increase flexibility and also introduce a ‘Log Analyzer’ to analyse log files in search of errors, and to send alerts to operators under certain circumstances.

Integration of functionality into GUI

Ex Libris have been working on integrating the ILL functionality into the GUI client over the last couple of years. At the moment the ILL GUI lags behind the rest of the clients in terms of look and feel. However, the development of the ILL GUI has been tied up with the development of ISO ILL functionality.

The other functionality they are planning to bring into the GUI is the ‘Course Reading’. This really has been the poor relation module in the past, with a web interface, that doesn’t seem to have been developed at all.

However, Ex Libris are now working with a Course Reading working group to look at outstanding underlying issues and to implement the functionality into the GUI.

This sounds like a great step forward, but I hope they take it further than this, as the current Course Reading functionality falls well short of what we require for our course reading functionality.

ALEPH Publishing

This is the publication of records in MARC XML format. This is to support the implementation of Primo at least, but raises some possibilities of integration with other search engines – e.g. Google Enterprise search etc. It includes expand routines, and includes availability information.

They are also introducing a HTML publication format which could then be indexed by Google or other search engine – with a link back to Aleph. This sounds great (although not sure what Google will make of this?)

This publication process will be based on the OAI publication routines already present.

RFID

Integration of staff user client with RFID hardware.

This will allow the circulation client to directly access the RFID hardware. So far done with Bibliotheca, but they will need to do an integration with each hardware vendor, so it will be necessary to engage with Ex Libris and any hardware vendors you use to see this integration.

So far they can support check-out and check-in actions, and can update information on the RFID tags. This is done via SOAP.

Although this is a modest start, I think this is really exciting. I’m convinced that RFID provides a way of making libraries more efficient in their handling of stock – not just at the circulation end, but also in terms of acquisitions. However, for this to be realised, we need systems to be able to deal with information from RFID tags – to be able to deal with batch processing of items, and to even write information back to the tags – e.g. to say that a book has been processed/invoiced/received etc.

SMS

In v19, Ex Libris are introducing SMS Server Connectivity, with some additional infrastructure in the patron address file …

SRU

In v19 Aleph will support SRU to connect to other databases, currently with the following functions:

searchRetrieve
scan
explain

Not that interesting to us, but good that Ex L are keeping up with this new search protocol.

X-Services

Staff Authentication – to allow libraries to protect web pages with Aleph staff IDs. Generally I wouldn’t think this would be interesting – but the poster session on using php to report from Aleph yesterday used Aleph staff authentication (via the Aleph Staff interface), so I guess it will be of interest to others.

I almost decided to go to the MetaLib/SFX session instead of this, as our Aleph installation is now pretty mature, and I’m having difficulty getting excited by small increments in Aleph functionality.

However, in his opening talk Matti mentioned a couple of things that would be covered to whet my appetite, so while Damyanti is hearing about MetaLib and SFX, I’m in the Aleph session, hoping that it keeps my interest…

Perhaps the most interesting development for us are:

Staff permissions

The first phase of enhancing staff permissions in in v18, this includes extra information about library staff – e.g. expiry dates. This should make the management of staff accounts earlier.

There are further development to come in v19 which look at workflows and processes to grant permissions, rather than very detailed individual bits of functionality.

Staff Interface for Aleph Configuration

This is starting in v18, and continuing in v19. Ex Libris are trying to integrate configuration within the Aleph GUI. This is not just to have the config tables edited via the GUI (which can already be done), but to simplify the process of configuration, with Function/Task oriented workflows, and a more intuitive and graphic UI. All this, of course, appropriately permissioned.

This latter development is something that was tried a few years ago, but didn’t really succeed, as they focussed on just giving a GUI to the text based tables – which didn’t really simplify anything.

In this case they are committed to actually using the interface to help the system administratror – ensuring that information in one table is cross checked with any dependent tables, and that any codes are ‘decoded’ in the GUI (so use descriptions rather than numbers in the the GUI)

As a demonstration of what they are going to do, they have done this for ‘Opening Hours’ (tab17 I think?) in v18. This allows non-systems staff to edit the opening hours.

In v19, they are starting with this new configuration GUI in the Circulation module – it is probably the most complex configuration.

In v19 they are also focussing on the ‘Task Manager’ – to make it easier to use, and view outcomes from the Batch logs. They want to improve the scheduler (job_list) to increase flexibility and also introduce a ‘Log Analyzer’ to analyse log files in search of errors, and to send alerts to operators under certain circumstances.

Integration of functionality into GUI

Ex Libris have been working on integrating the ILL functionality into the GUI client over the last couple of years. At the moment the ILL GUI lags behind the rest of the clients in terms of look and feel. However, the development of the ILL GUI has been tied up with the development of ISO ILL functionality.

The other functionality they are planning to bring into the GUI is the ‘Course Reading’. This really has been the poor relation module in the past, with a web interface, that doesn’t seem to have been developed at all.

However, Ex Libris are now working with a Course Reading working group to look at outstanding underlying issues and to implement the functionality into the GUI.

This sounds like a great step forward, but I hope they take it further than this, as the current Course Reading functionality falls well short of what we require for our course reading functionality.

ALEPH Publishing

This is the publication of records in MARC XML format. This is to support the implementation of Primo at least, but raises some possibilities of integration with other search engines – e.g. Google Enterprise search etc. It includes expand routines, and includes availability information.

They are also introducing a HTML publication format which could then be indexed by Google or other search engine – with a link back to Aleph. This sounds great (although not sure what Google will make of this?)

This publication process will be based on the OAI publication routines already present.

RFID

Integration of staff user client with RFID hardware.

This will allow the circulation client to directly access the RFID hardware. So far done with Bibliotheca, but they will need to do an integration with each hardware vendor, so it will be necessary to engage with Ex Libris and any hardware vendors you use to see this integration.

So far they can support check-out and check-in actions, and can update information on the RFID tags. This is done via SOAP.

Although this is a modest start, I think this is really exciting. I’m convinced that RFID provides a way of making libraries more efficient in their handling of stock – not just at the circulation end, but also in terms of acquisitions. However, for this to be realised, we need systems to be able to deal with information from RFID tags – to be able to deal with batch processing of items, and to even write information back to the tags – e.g. to say that a book has been processed/invoiced/received etc.

SMS

In v19, Ex Libris are introducing SMS Server Connectivity, with some additional infrastructure in the patron address file …

SRU

In v19 Aleph will support SRU to connect to other databases, currently with the following functions:

searchRetrieve
scan
explain

Not that interesting to us, but good that Ex L are keeping up with this new search protocol.

X-Services

Staff Authentication – to allow libraries to protect web pages with Aleph staff IDs. Generally I wouldn’t think this would be interesting – but the poster session on using php to report from Aleph yesterday used Aleph staff authentication (via the Aleph Staff interface), so I guess it will be of interest to others.

Some bits and pieces on development – new modules for ILL and a planned course reading module are coming up. Ex Libris continue to invest in other technology to complement their products (e.g. Lucene and JBoss), and are increasing their use of QA testing tools.

One major development is the Primo product – but more of this later.

Matti is running very (very) quickly over product developments – but too quickly for me to get down. However, there are specific sessions on much of this throughout the day, so I should be able to provide more detail later.

Some bits and pieces on development – new modules for ILL and a planned course reading module are coming up. Ex Libris continue to invest in other technology to complement their products (e.g. Lucene and JBoss), and are increasing their use of QA testing tools.

One major development is the Primo product – but more of this later.

Matti is running very (very) quickly over product developments – but too quickly for me to get down. However, there are specific sessions on much of this throughout the day, so I should be able to provide more detail later.

Starting with a presentation from Matti Shem Tov – the CEO of Ex Libris. First point of business is following up on the recent press release announcing that the private equity firm ‘Francisco Partners’ have wholly acquired Ex Libris.

The message from Matti is that this changes nothing in terms of the day to day business or management. It simply gives secure financial backing to the company, which will allow expansion, or acquisitions for the company.

Some impressive statistics – according to Newsweek 71 of the top 100 univiersities in the World use at least one Ex Libris products. SFX seems to be the best selling at the moment, with over 1000 customers – and to ‘celebrate’ together with eIFL.net, they have dontated a copy of SFX to the University of Lesotho (in southern Africa).

To support this donation, Ex Libris are asking the community to share their expertise to help with the implementation and use – you can register at http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/sfx1000.htm

Starting with a presentation from Matti Shem Tov – the CEO of Ex Libris. First point of business is following up on the recent press release announcing that the private equity firm ‘Francisco Partners’ have wholly acquired Ex Libris.

The message from Matti is that this changes nothing in terms of the day to day business or management. It simply gives secure financial backing to the company, which will allow expansion, or acquisitions for the company.

Some impressive statistics – according to Newsweek 71 of the top 100 univiersities in the World use at least one Ex Libris products. SFX seems to be the best selling at the moment, with over 1000 customers – and to ‘celebrate’ together with eIFL.net, they have dontated a copy of SFX to the University of Lesotho (in southern Africa).

To support this donation, Ex Libris are asking the community to share their expertise to help with the implementation and use – you can register at http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/sfx1000.htm

Another poster session – some interesting stuff this time from Budapest and Berlin. They are using php and SQL to produce web based reports. They’ve created a structure so that you can easily extend the available reports.

You first define a form for variable input, and then the SQL – using the entered variables where appropriate. This makes for an extendable system, without requiring detailed knowledge of php – and results can be output in html, excel, csv etc.

Perhaps just as interestingly for us is that they’ve used an open source package called ‘ahk’ (auto hotkey), to allow for easy movement between the results of these reports and viewing related information in the Aleph client. We might be able to use something like this to enhance our ‘liaison dashboard’ – which is an application built with MS Access and ODBC to Aleph to allow display of information not easily available in the Aleph client (or at least not on a single screen).

Done by Nagy Elemer Karoly from Budapest and Leo Krauthausen from Berlin (eknagy at omikk.bme.hu, krauthausen at ub.fu-berlin.de)

Another poster session – some interesting stuff this time from Budapest and Berlin. They are using php and SQL to produce web based reports. They’ve created a structure so that you can easily extend the available reports.

You first define a form for variable input, and then the SQL – using the entered variables where appropriate. This makes for an extendable system, without requiring detailed knowledge of php – and results can be output in html, excel, csv etc.

Perhaps just as interestingly for us is that they’ve used an open source package called ‘ahk’ (auto hotkey), to allow for easy movement between the results of these reports and viewing related information in the Aleph client. We might be able to use something like this to enhance our ‘liaison dashboard’ – which is an application built with MS Access and ODBC to Aleph to allow display of information not easily available in the Aleph client (or at least not on a single screen).

Done by Nagy Elemer Karoly from Budapest and Leo Krauthausen from Berlin (eknagy at omikk.bme.hu, krauthausen at ub.fu-berlin.de)

An interesting poster session from Roskilde Bibliotek in Denmark. They have started to accept online payment for Aleph fines. They do this very simply with a 3rd party service called ‘DIBS’ (http://www.dibs.dk) which handles the credit card payment, and communicates with Aleph.

The workflow is that the user logs into Aleph, sees payments due, and chooses to pay them. They click a button which passes them onto the DIBS website, with the correct amount ready to pay. They enter their details (credit card number etc.) and click ‘pay’, and DIBS accepts payment, and passes details of the payment back to Aleph.

It wasn’t completely clear how this last bit of communication was achieved – apparently programmed by Fujitsu (who are the Aleph distributers in Scandanavia), but the presenter though it had been done using the x-server.

We’ve always been slightly wary of taking card payment for fines, partly because of the transaction charge is high on relatively small amounts. However, in this case, they were passing the charge on to the user (approximately 10-12 pence per transaction), and this seems to be accepted.

I’m not sure this would be accepted in our library, but perhaps we could support this when the fine is over a certain amount?