SirsiDynix Symphony (new circulation and catalog system) update #10

I have just responded to a customer and want to share my response with you:

Why do I have such strange due dates for my books? 

The offline circulation system is set to our new 3-week check-out period.  However, because we knew we would be offline for a full week, we extended due dates on items checked out on our old system.  We had two related goals in doing this: reducing the number of items that would be due back during this offline period and preventing a flood of returns the next week after we are back online.  For this reason, you may end up with a variety of "illogical" date dues. 

Why are items being held on the hold shelf for so long?

We extended the period that books would remain on the hold shelf to be certain that our being offline would not prevent someone from getting an item they had been waiting for. 

Many of you will have already received this email:

Dear [Name],

Your login information for Symphony/WorkFlows is provided below. Please continue to use the Offline Session and do not login until Thursday, July 11, 2013. If the library or grouping information listed is incorrect or blank, please contact Erin Cody with the correct information.

User ID:

PIN:

Library/Group:

This, of course, replaces your old III password.  If you work at Central or Neighborhood Libraries or in LMS and this message does not reach you by the morning of Tuesday, July 9, send an email to erin.cody@houstontx.gov so she can investigate and resolve the issue before we go live on July 11.

We have one more "train the trainer" session on Enterprise, our new online catalog.  It is scheduled for July 10 from 10 – 11 a.m. in the Central Library's Concourse meeting room.  Please make sure that someone from your location has attended one of these sessions and has shared what they learned.  The handout from this training is available on the Staff Training Portal along with the full Enterprise training guide.

Updated "Your Library Card" brochures are being printed.  We do not yet have a Spanish version of the updated brochure but that will follow.  Additional print material to alert customers of changes is also on the way.

Take a look at the last page of the Offline Circulation Procedures.  On Wednesday, July 10, at the close of the day, it will be essential that the procedure to go from offline mode to online mode is followed at every workstation that has been used in Workflows while we have been offline (July 3 through July 10).  This is how the circulation and registration data will be uploaded to the system.  We will, of course, send out a reminder with more detailed instructions but I wanted to give you a "heads up" now.

Please continue to call or email with questions or issues.  We are almost there…

This email has been approved by Meller Langford, Deputy Director of Customer Experience.

Thanks,

Syma

Syma Zerkow

Chief of Library Materials Services

Houston Public Library

832-393-1484

syma.zerkow@houstontx.gov

We link people to the world.

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Offline Updates

Any items that you receive in Delivery to fill holds should be held until we go live in Symphony next week.  Until that time, we have no way to update the system with their status or notify customers that they are ready to pick up.  So please keep them in your work area for the next week.  Once we are live on Symphony, you can scan them in so that a hold slip will print and the notices to the customers will be generated.  Thank you for your cooperation.

The Print Shop is working on signs as well as handouts that highlight our change in circulation periods.  You should receive these by July 11, our “go-live” date.  In the meantime, the information has been posted on the Library’s public blog.  You may want to print out some copies of page 2 of the blog (according to the print preview on my computer, the blog runs 20 pages) and refer customers there, if there are any questions.

I have also heard that staff would like a sign indicating we are not accepting fines while we are offline.  I am sorry but I did not think to request that ahead of time and, with the holiday, you would probably not receive it until we were ready to start accepting fines again.  If a customer asks, please explain that we do not have access to their accounts.  We certainly do not want to accept their money and not have the ability to actually clear the fines from their accounts. 

I hope everyone made it through the first day of offline circulation with relatively few problems.  Have a wonderful 4^th of July holiday. 

Thanks,

Syma

Syma Zerkow

Chief of Library Materials Services

Off-line Circulation starts tomorrow - July 3

We begin using SirsiDynix Off-line Circulation tomorrow.  Fred e-mailed detailed instructions on off-line procedures this morning.  The information is also available on the Staff Training Portal as one of the Circulation Manual links.  The IT Helpdesk will be prepared to assist you with any problems you encounter.  And a lot of us will be backing them up.

It is both an exciting and frightening time.  We know customer service issues will arise and we have confidence that you will be able to handle them well.

If you need assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask. 

Thanks,

Syma

Syma Zerkow

Chief of Library Materials Services

Staff Workstations

IT staff is attempting to visit all locations today to verify that your SirsiDynix Workflows workstations are correctly configured and labeled.  To assist them, please go to every computer on which you have Workflows, double-click the icon and log-in to halantest.sirsi.net with username: CIRC and PIN: CIRC.  If any of the terminals cannot complete the download and bring up the Workflows circulation screen, alert the IT staff person who comes to your location.  They will need to do some extra procedures to get that terminal working properly.

Thanks in advance for your help and cooperation.

Syma 

Syma Zerkow

Chief of Library Materials Services

SirsiDynix Symphony (new circulation and catalog system) update #9

 I would like to start this week's message with an apology.  There have been some contradictory messages about how you should handle new materials plus we have made a few mistakes in LMS.  We have been able to send out many more items than I anticipated originally.  For most of these items, it is no problem to check them in and put into circulation.  However, most new AV and many new bestsellers are ordered for a generic floating location (JFLT).  Since we have stopped floating until we go live in Symphony, the III system is putting those items "in-transit" rather than changing them to your location.  Please store any items that are "in-transit to JFLT" and check them in again once we are live in Symphony after July 11.  When they are checked in after July 11, the location will change to your library.  If you checked some items in without noticing the "in-transit" message and placed them on your shelves, we will eventually clear that up once we are live in Sirsi.  I appreciate the calls and emails we've received alerting us to this issue.

The Print Shop will be emailing a sign you can display on your service desk alerting customers that they MUST have their library card in order to check out items between July 3 – July 10.

From July 3 – July 10, the III catalog will still be available to search so you will know if we own a title and what the call number is.  However, the information on whether a particular item is checked out or on the shelf will not be accurate since all of the circulation activity will happen offline in Sirsi.  As a reminder, during this time, customers cannot place holds and we cannot pull and fill holds.

ILL will continue to send out items that come in from other libraries for our customers.  As of tomorrow (June 29), customers will be unable to place any ILL requests.  That function will resume once we are live on Sirsi.

A handout with screen shots illustrating procedures for offline circulation will be available shortly.  Other offline circulation information: 

·        By Monday afternoon, each location should receive a supply of Computer Use Only cards to use only while we are offline.  Do not create computer use only cards in the Offline system.

·        Alert new users who register while we are offline that their PIN will not be issued until we are live in Symphony.  Please ask them to return to the Library after July 11 to get this important information.  Note:  we will have a "forget your PIN?" link from the Enterprise online catalog but we do not know if it will be available by the time we go live.

We held our first Enterprise training session today.  There are 2 more scheduled:  July 1 from 11-12 in the Central 6^th floor training room and July 10 from 10-11 in Central's Concourse meeting room.  They last one hour and are intended to be "train the trainer" sessions.  Please be sure that at least one person from each location attends this training so that they can share the information with others.  The wonderful handout created by Thuy Vo is available on the Staff Training Portal.

The staff Intranet page now features a direct link to the Library Blog.  It is worthwhile to take the time to read what is posted here.  A number of customers have posted questions and you can read our responses.  This can give you a good idea of what questions you will face from your in-person customers (although I am sure you know most of them already)  as well as an appropriate response.

Please remember that SirsiDynix Circulation training is mandatory for all Central and NL staff.  If you have not already signed up for a session, contact Circulation Administration ASAP. 

Thank you all for your patience and understanding as we quickly approach our week of offline circulation. 

This email has been approved by Meller Langford, Deputy Director of Customer Experience.

Thanks,

Syma

Syma Zerkow

Chief of Library Materials Services

Houston Public Library

832-393-1484

syma.zerkow@houstontx.gov

We link people to the world.

If you would like to receive periodic emails from Mayor Annise D. Parker and the City of Houston on topics of interest to you and your neighborhood, please go to www.houstontx.gov and register with CitizensNet.

SirsiDynix Symphony (new circulation and catalog system) update #8

  As you know from Dr. Lawson's message, we are changing our circulation period to 3-weeks with one renewal for most items.  DVDs cannot be renewed.

In addition, you need to know that items are renewed from the renewal date, not from the due date.

   We have already had one customer complain about this change and we anticipate that you will be dealing with this concern from a number of other customers.  Please review this response so that you will have a ready explanation to offer:

We share your concerns and we have requested that the vendor develop the capability of renewing material based on the due date. This is a major programming change since most library circulation software renews materials from the renewal date (our current system is the exception). We anticipate it will be at least a year before this could become a reality. In the meantime, we hope that the 3-week check-out period with e-mail reminders when it is time to renew will mitigate the inconvenience for most of our customers.

I hope you have seen the FAQ's and timeline on the Staff Intranet page.  In addition, the link from the banner on the Library Homepage goes to the Library Blog where you can see what has been posted about the change for our customers to read and their questions with our answers.  You may wish to print the FAQ's out so you have quick responses to other questions customers may pose.

When you or a customer logs in to your library account, a new message will be appearing in the next few days.  This has also been posted to the Library Blog.

If you had previously opted in to the Reading History, that information will transfer to the new customer accounts system. However, some other information will not carry-over.  We recommend that you print out or email to yourself anything you have saved in "My Lists" as well as any "Preferred Searches." You can then re-create them in Enterprise, our new catalog.  Also, our new catalog does not feature Customer Reviews, Ratings, or Tags.  You may wish to save your reviews and add them to a social reading network such as Goodreads or LibraryThing.  The current catalog will be available through July 2. 

  We are planning a one-hour training session to be held at multiple locations during the first two weeks of July to review the features of the online catalog.  Look for an announcement from HPL Training. 

  This week starts our real transition to the new system.  You should now be following the new procedure for items on the fly and for checking in new periodicals.  Some new items are still coming to you in Delivery.  Please check them in as usual.  If you have questions or problems with either of these procedures, please contact me and I will have someone get back to you.

  Lastly, it has been pointed out to me that I have not addressed one of your most serious questions:  Why on earth are we doing this in the middle of the Summer Reading Club?

  We are all very aware that the timing of this change is not good.  Unfortunately, HALAN's contract with III expires at the end of June.  We have made arrangements to start paying them on a month-to-month basis but it is costing tens of thousands of dollars to do this.  We had to bite the bullet and make the change as quickly as possible.  We (Administration and HALAN staff) are deeply grateful for your willingness to do "one more thing" when you are already doing so much. 

If you have any questions, please contact me. 

Thanks,

Syma

Syma Zerkow

Chief of Library Materials Services

Houston Public Library

SirsiDynix Symphony (new circulation and catalog system) update #7

This coming week we will have some major changes.  On June 21, we will begin exporting our catalog records from the current III system so that they can be imported into the new Sirsi system.  Any changes we make to catalog records after that date will not be carried over to the new catalog.  Therefore,

June 20

• Last day to delete items from III.
• Last day to check-in periodicals in III.
• Last day to check-in NEW books and materials received in Delivery.  New materials will not start to reappear until mid-July.

June 21

• Any item on the fly must be linked to the new bibliographic record "Item on the Fly" rather than the actual title.
• Any periodical checked-in must be done using the Google Docs spreadsheet and barcode method.
• Floating is stopped. Items should go back in-transit to the location indicated by the system when they are checked in.

This past week, the catalog records for periodicals, microfilm, e-books and e-audiobooks were updated so that they will function properly in Enterprise. The information on how to search for them is posted on the main catalog page but we know that many customers use the search box from the main website so please be prepared to assist our customers when they are looking for these materials.

• To find magazines, go to Journals & Periodicals. 
• To find microfilm, add “microform” to your keyword search terms. 
• To find E-books and E-audiobooks, limit to the location HPL Electronic Resources.

Circulation training is now in full swing.  And the good news is that the Symphony Circulation Manual is now available on the Staff Training Portal:

https://sites.google.com/site/hplstafftraining/

I have asked each site to verify with the IT Helpdesk that all staff workstations can access Workflows.  Hopefully, any issues will be resolved quickly so you can practice what you are learning in the Circulation training on our test server.

if you have any questions, please contact me. 

Thanks,

Syma

SirsiDynix Symphony (new circulation and catalog system) update #6

Training for circulation in Symphony is kicking off in earnest.  Here are the scheduled classes for the coming week:

• June 10 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Robinson
• June 12 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Carnegie
• June 13 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Stella Link
• June 13 – 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Central - Computer Lab
• June 14 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Kashmere-Gardens
• June 14 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Central - Computer Lab

Check the full email from Fred Schumacher dated June 6 for additional times, sites, and registration information.  In addition, Pat Ogea and Gail Ibarra are making visits to many Neighborhood Libraries to meet with staff and show them how to handle periodicals after June 19.

One thing you will discover when you attend the training is that the abbreviation for Houston Public Library in Symphony and Enterprise is HOU.  We did not want to use HPL because Huntsville Public Library (abbreviation HNT) is part of the HALAN consortium and we do not want to get confused. 

In Enterprise, the online catalog, we will be using the formal name for several neighborhood libraries that were not listed that way in the III online catalog.  Those locations affected are Freed-Montrose, Henington-Alief, McCrane-Kashmere, McGovern-Stella Link, and Shepherd-Acres Homes.  So don’t panic if you no longer see Acres Homes at the top of the list of locations in the online catalog J.  In Symphony Workflows, we continue to use our old abbreviations prefaced by HOU, so in Workflows, you would find Acres Homes under HOU-ACR.

In next week’s email, I plan to review what will be happening when and discuss further changes.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact me or use Contact Us on the HALAN ILS Migration News site on the Intranet. 

Thanks,

Syma

Updating Customer Records

As you are updating customer records, please do not delete or change the “g” message field.  This field is used to create the message that customers now see when they log in to their account that reminds them to update their personal information in preparation for the move to Sirsi.  I believe that some of you may be changing it from “g” to “x” or deleting it entirely once the customer has updated their information.  Unfortunately, that creates a problem.  We are using that field to send a series of messages about the change (right now we are trying to alert customers that PINs will be required in the new system) and when you change the “g” to “x” or delete the “g” completely, we are no longer able to mass update those records. 

Thank you for your cooperation.  If you have any questions, let me know.

Syma

Syma Zerkow

Chief of Library Materials Service

SirsiDynix Symphony (new circulation and catalog system) update #4

Everyone should have the SirsiDynix Workflows icon on your staff workstation.  If you don't, please contact the IT Helpdesk.  The test database will be available for you to use starting Tuesday.  To access this site:

• Double-click the WF icon
  A Configuration box will appear and should have:
      o IP address: halantest.sirsi.net
      o Port: 7014
      (If necessary, change the IP address and port to match the information above)
• Log in with:
  User ID: CIRC
  PIN: CIRC
  WorkFlows will open to the Circulation Tab.  If you experience problems with any of this, please contact the IT Helpdesk.

 You can now begin to explore the interface.  Since this is a test database, you will see some functions that we will not be using and some things that have not been configured quite the way we expect to have them in our live version.  And the full database is not yet there.  Nevertheless, there is enough for you to use to become familiar with the system.  You will see that Sirsi has all the same functionality that we are used to but in some cases, the terminology is different.  I've put together a short table of some of the most obvious vocabulary changes:

There's a link to Help on the left menu and one along the top.  If you use the link on the top menu, be sure to select "context" and it will bring up information relevant to the screen you are on.  The link on the left menu automatically brings up the context specific help information.  Symphony's Help screens are excellent so it is a good idea to get used to using them.

"Train the Trainer" sessions have begun and continue through next week.  General training will begin the following week.  As always, if you have any questions, please contact me or use Contact Us on the HALAN ILS Migration News site on the Intranet.  Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.

Thanks,

Syma