Course Reserves Staff Users Manual v.19

Welcome to the PALNI Project web site. The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana was organized as a non-profit membership organization in 1992, and provides sophisticated resource-sharing and library automation services to its 24 member libraries. Visitors are welcome to select any of the menu items to the left and top to search the PALNI online library catalogs, to read the latest PALNI-related news and announcements, to display the PALNI Events Calendar, or to learn more about the PALNI project, organization, membership, or online systems.

This site is also intended to serve as a PALNI "community" web site. Staff at PALNI libraries may register for their own usernames and passwords. Registered users may post their own news articles, comment on and discuss postings by other users, participate in PALNI online forums, exchange ideas and information with their PALNI colleagues, and access protected system documentation, meeting agendas and minutes, and other PALNI archival information.

These pages are administered by the PALNI Project Team whose offices are at the Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority (INCOLSA) in Indianapolis. Please send your questions, comments, and suggestions to the PALNI staff at staff_at_palni.edu.

As previously accounced, PALNI is now able to provide proxy service for any library that wants it. We have installed EZProxy and are able to run an instance of it for each PALNI library. Just to review, the main purpose of a proxy server is to provide a way for your off-campus users to access your licensed electronic resources. It does this by basically replacing the user's home IP address with the address of the proxy server, which is registered with the vendors to which you want to provide access. From the vendor's perspective, it looks at if the user is coming from a registered IP, rather than from their actual home IP. For those vendor's who authenticate by username/password, EZProxy can also log the user in without the user ever seeing the actual username/password.

In practice, the way this works is you preface the URL for the vendor with the proxy address, e.g. http://ezproxy.palni.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com. When EZProxy receives the request it checks the user's IP address. If the IP address is in EZProxy's configuration files, i.e. the user is on-campus, then EZProxy just sends them on to the vendor and stays out of the picture. If the user is off-campus, then EZProxy asks them to enter a username and password. In our case, EZProxy is currently setup to query the Aleph patron database, so the user would enter their library ID and pin. If the username and password are valid, EZProxy sets a cookie and routes the user to the target URL. All traffic between the user and the vendor is then routed through EZProxy for the duration of the session. It is also possible to configure EZProxy to authenticate the user against LDAP or any of a number of alternate authentication sources.

Task Force Charge:

This Task Force will exist for the fiscal year 2006-07 at which time it will have completed the following tasks:

Background Information:

It has been five years since PALNI signed a contract with ExLibris to implement the Aleph system. Much has happened during the past five years, and we now find PALNI at a point where all full participating member libraries have implemented the Aleph system. However, not every library is using Aleph in the same manner. Some libraries have sufficient staff with high level skills to provide needed “system librarian” services as well as desired customizations. Others have implemented most of the modules on a minimal level while a few libraries have implemented only the most basic modules. Currently, PALNI staff offers assistance type support in the form of answering help desk and telephone queries on information to help “systems librarians” complete their tasks. In addition, PALNI staff offers training for new institutional staff as well as periodically offering sessions for those institutional staff wanting to refresh their skills.

The question before the PALNI now is whether or not ongoing training and support is being provided in a manner that is sufficient to meet the needs of all of its members. If the answer is yes, then no further action needs to be taken. However, if the answer is no then we need to take action. The needs of member institutions probably vary from just desiring a customized OPAC to obtaining answers to queries that help system librarians support Aleph on their campuses to needing PALNI to provide full “system librarian” services as well as many other variations.

One of our objectives for this fiscal year is to identify types and levels of services that we should offer the supported organizations. Therefore, as PALNI chair, I am proposing the creation of a PALNI System Service Task Force to investigate the possible need for offering different types and levels of service to the full participating supported organizations using the ALEPH system. The task force will consist of five members in the following manner, two board members, one PALNI staff member, and two members from the full participating PALNI supported organization library staffs.

Task Force Members:

• Eileen Saner, AMBS, Chair(esaner@ambs.edu)
• John Lamborn, Wabash (lambornj@wabash.edu)
• Richard Lammert, Concordia (lammertra@ctsfw.edu)
• Ron Schuetz, Franklin (rschuetz@franklincollege.edu)
• Sherri Parker, DePauw (sparker@depauw.edu)
• Vince Lucas, PALNI Central (vince@palni.edu)

Task Force Charge:

This Task Force will exist for the fiscal year 2006-07 at which time it will have completed the following task:

Background:

During the last five years, PALNI has been involved in the selection and migration to a new integrated library system. This was a time consuming, personnel intensive task. With the major portion of the migration complete, the PALNI Board needs to give careful consideration as to ways to add value for the member libraries that extends beyond the ILS. The charge to this task force is to identify such products and services with the understanding that those institutions wanting to use such products and services could be charged additional fees in a similar manner to fees charged for ContentDM or periodical databases. It should be noted that during the last 14 years, PALNI has been able to build sizable reserve funds. While this task force is not being required to make recommendations as to how to utilize these reserve funds, this group needs to be aware of the current financial situation as it fulfills it charge.

At the September 5 meeting, the Executive Committee voted to create the PALNI New Services and Products Task Force to consist of the PALNI Vice-Chair, one other board member, one PALNI staff member, and two member library staff members.

Task Force Members:

• Ken Gibson, Hanover, Chair (gibson@hanover.edu)
• Jeff Beck, Wabash (beckj@wabash.edu)
• Chadwick Seagraves, Marian (cseagraves@marian.edu)
• Jason Boley, PALNI Central (jason@palni.edu))
• Rick Provine, DePauw (provine@depauw.edu)

Task Force Charge:

This Task Force will exist for the fiscal year 2006-07 at which time it will have completed the following task:

Background:

The PALNI organization was founded in 1992 as one of the first state-wide automated resource sharing networks for private academic libraries. PALNI member libraries pay annual membership fees to PALNI, Inc. that cover 100% of the cost to operate and manage the organization. As per the PALNI bylaws, Article VII: section 4, a task force must be appointed every three years to examine the cost sharing formula. The current annual plan requests that during the development of the formula, consideration be given to possibly lowering annual costs and creating an equitable formula that is as straightforward as possible. It should be noted that during the last 14 years, PALNI has been able to build sizable reserve funds that are generally considered by the PALNI Board to be for future ILS upgrades and/or capital improvements. Given this situation, the PALNI Board needs to seriously deliberate ways of leveraging these reserve funds to the best advantage for the organization and its member libraries. While this task force is not being required to make recommendations as to how to leverage these reserve funds, this group needs to be aware of the current financial situation as it develops the cost sharing formula.

At the September 5 meeting, the Executive Committee voted to create the PALNI Cost Sharing Formula Task Force to consist of the PALNI Treasurer, two other board members, and Vince Lucas.

This Task Force will exist for the fiscal year 2006-07 at which time it will have completed its charge.

Task Force Members:

• Kelley Griffith, Marian, Chair (kelleygr@marian.edu)
• Lisa Guedea Carreño, Goshen (lisagc@goshen.edu)
• Robert Roethemeyer, Concordia (roethemeyerrv@ctsfw.edu)
• Vince Lucas, PALNI Central (vince@palni.edu)

PALNI Values Statement
(Approved By PALNI Board on November 17, 2005)

PALNI is a 501(c)3 organization that has as supported organizations twenty-four private colleges, universities and seminaries in Indiana. All of these institutions have joined PALNI because of a belief in the power of collaboration as a mechanism for improving library services. The PALNI Board of Directors believes that a broad statement of the values that undergird the organization and a statement of values that guide the implementation of consortium programs are useful tools in reminding ourselves of first principles that should be honored in our work.

These values establish the context for the consortium and provide a foundational statement for the organization.