Course Reserves Staff Users Manual v.19

03/14/2008

This is the final repackaged version of version 17.01 before we move to version 19.  This repackaging provides fixes for several minor issues and may be used to repackage at a local institutional level.  This is a generic repacked GUI client that must be locally configured before use.

In the Aleph circulation module, when an item has a status of LOST and it is returned on Aleph, a window box comes with a "yes/no" request before continuing the transaction. The default setting in the GUI for this choice is "no", but choosing this causes the item not to be returned. Is there a way to change the default in that pop-up box?

In some instances where the tab16 and/or tab17 tables are changed, libraries may need these changes that effect the due dates to take place immediately. This document describes that process.

What is the difference between the XXX50 local patron and the Aleph Local Patron?

There has been some confusion about the Z305 local patron record called ALEPH that you see when viewing the LOCAL INFORMATION tab of your PATRON screens. This document addresses questions related to these patron types.

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)