CARLI News September 30, 2020

CARLI News September 30, 2020

Submitted by mjhuls on Wed, 09/30/2020 - 12:39pm

CARLI Annual Meeting and Governing Directors Meeting

The CARLI Annual Meeting, planned for November 13 at the I-Hotel, will transition to a web-only format. A final agenda for virtual events is forthcoming. 

The Governing Directors Meeting will also be held virtually, as a part of the regularly scheduled Governing Directors Check-in Sessions on Thursday, November 12. An announcement will be sent to the Governing Directors email list with more information.

CARLI Job Opening

CARLI is currently seeking to fill a Library Services Coordinator position. CARLI's Library Services Coordinators work with CARLI management and staff, as well as member library staff to plan and implement new services, to develop and present continuing education programs in support of I-Share, the CARLI Digital Collections and other CARLI services. Please read the full job posting for more details about the position.

Applications will be accepted through 10/7/2020. We would appreciate your assistance in sharing with anyone that you think would be a good addition to the CARLI team.

Please contact if you have any questions.

ILDS News and Updates

Current List of Active ILDS Stops

CARLI has posted a list of libraries currently receiving ILDS. We will continue to update the list as more libraries resume service.

ILDS Item Quarantine Policy

In order to reduce confusion around the differences between the policies and recommendations of IHLS and RAILS for quarantining items, CARLI is recommending one quarantine policy for all ILDS libraries, specifically that all ILDS libraries quarantine outgoing items for 7 days prior to shipping the items through ILDS. The 7-day period for quarantining items should begin when a patron last touched the item. Items that are in stacks open to patrons should be quarantined for 7 days prior to being shipped through ILDS. The items for shipment should remain untouched for 7 days. Library staff that are following safe hygiene practices, wearing masks, and not working while symptomatic, should not restart the quarantine period by handling the item. After the item has been quarantined for 7 days, library staff should ship the materials through ILDS, following the normal procedures for creating labels and packing the bags.

IHLS and RAILS will not be quarantining the ILDS bags in their hubs. All bags going from one ILDS stop to another ILDS stop remain closed during the sorting process and therefore those items will not be touched by delivery staff. Once the item arrives at the destination library it should have been quarantined for at least 7 days (adding the quarantine period at the sending library to the time spent in transit).

Once the items arrive at their destination, the receiving library should follow their own internal guidelines for quarantining incoming items, however as long as the recommendation is followed no further quarantining of items should be necessary.

If you have questions concerning quarantine times, please contact . Continue to send all stop or start delivery requests to the individual Regional Library Systems using their ticketing support system email addresses:

IHLS –
RAILS –

These are challenging times and delivery processes continue to be fluid. Thank you for all you are doing in your library to make ILDS delivery a safe and efficient process.

ILDS Holiday Closure Survey

It is time once again to collect the dates that your location will be closed during the holiday season. Please complete the survey no later than October 19, 2020, so there is ample time for us to share this information with the RAILS and IHLS.

If your library will not restarting delivery before January 8, 2021, you do not need to fill out the survey.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding ILDS, please send an email to .

CARLI Resource Sharing in our New Age: Tips and Tricks in the Time of Alma and COVID

The CARLI Resource Sharing Committee is hosting a monthly discussion series: CARLI Resource Sharing in our New Age: Tips and Tricks in the Time of Alma and COVID starting Friday, October 23 at 11 a.m.

This first discussion will be about Curbside/Contactless Pickup and Staffing Challenges during a pandemic. Marcella Nowak from College of DuPage and Belinda Cheek from North Central College will be kicking off the session with a brief overview of how their libraries are responding to these topics. We want to hear from you, too!

Grab a beverage, bring your thoughts and feedback, and join us so we can learn together and support each other!

Note: Registration is required, but this session will not be recorded. Notes on tips and workflows shared will be posted to the CARLI website.

Open Textbook Library: MARC Records Added to Alma Network Zone

MARC records from OCLC's Knowledge base have been added to the Alma Network Zone for the open textbooks found in the Open Textbook Library. These titles will now appear in Primo VE when searching your institution's local catalog scope as well as the "All I-Share Libraries" scope.  

A quick tip: to compile Open Textbook Library titles in one Primo VE search, use the advanced search filter Author/Creator is "Open Textbook Library". This collection will continue to update and grow in Alma as additions and changes are made to the OCLC Knowledge base collection.

Alma Primo VE Training Opportunity: ELUNA Learns

CARLI has purchased a block of registrations for nine of the new Ex Libris Users of North America (ELUNA) online webinar series, ELUNA Learns. These sessions focus on Alma and Primo VE and the recordings are available for a year to those who register. These sessions are normally $25 per person; the CARLI block will be available free to I-Share library staff on a first come first served basis while our supply lasts.

To take advantage of the CARLI purchase, please register by sending a completed copy of our registration form via email to . 

CARLI will process your registration with ELUNA. Then ELUNA will follow up with two emails to you:

1) a registration confirmation (ignore the text about how to pay for your registration)
2) a second email from ELUNA with the webinar access credentials (these will be sent approximately 1 day before sessions in the future). 

Please note that ELUNA's policy is that these registrations are for one individual only and are not for group use.

Please remember to register through CARLI to take advantage of our group purchase.

We hope you find these sessions helpful!

Save the Date for CARLI Virtual Course: Understanding and Promoting Open Educational Resources

CARLI is pleased to present this 3-week synchronous and asynchronous course on open educational resources. Two options for attending this workshop will be offered in December 2020. This program will be offered multiple times throughout the year.

Option 1: Live Sessions on December 2, 9, 16 at 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Option 2: Live Sessions on December 3, 10, 17 at 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Attendees should plan to attend each live session for either Option 1 or Option 2.

The content of each option will be the same; those interested will register for one option only. 

This virtual course includes material that was first shared with the CARLI membership during the Open Textbook Network Train-the-Trainer workshops in Spring 2018, and is designed to help the novice person learning about open educational resources to apply the information from this program to build their own local programs and workshops. The program is open to all CARLI members including those that attended the 2018 program.

The virtual program will contain both synchronous (three live 75-minute Zoom sessions) and asynchronous (readings, videos, etc.) to be completed before each live session. The live sessions will include presentations, but the aim of the program planners is that these will incorporate a flipped classroom model to build community among participants as all share and discuss the topics.

Registration information is forthcoming.

Call for Presenters: Primo VE in Practice/Life After Going Live

The CARLI Instruction Committee is planning a fall webinar on December 2 at 1 p.m. that will be focused on instruction and the Primo VE user experience.

Volunteers are needed that are willing to participate in a moderated panel or deliver a brief 10-15 minute presentation focused on their practical experiences instructing patrons on how to use Primo VE whether at a reference desk, in a classroom, or other setting. The committee is seeking information on best practices for teaching Primo VE, examples of materials created for instruction or other strategies developed for making the most of the new system.

Interested presenters (either individuals or groups) should submit an approximately 100-word description of the approach or strategy they would like to discuss.

The deadline for submission is Monday, October 19, 2020.

Please contact committee co-chairs  or , or the  with any questions.

Professional Development Alliance

CARLI has partnered with *seven other library consortia to create the Professional Development Alliance. The PDA is a group of library consortia dedicated to sharing our professional development opportunities with other alliance members. This cooperative initiative multiplies the number and variety of online professional development opportunities available to the member libraries of each participating consortium.

In this pilot initiative, each PDA-participating consortium will open a select number of no-cost, online professional development sessions each month to the member libraries of the other participating consortia. Sessions will cover a broad array of topics of interest to library professionals. 

PDA offerings including registration information (converted into Central Time Zone) will be added to the CARLI events calendar and will also be announced to CARLI email lists. The CARLI calendar will direct participants to the host consortium to register; events will be held using the host’s preferred delivery platform. 

This new initiative aligns closely with CARLI's stated strategic priority to "explore opportunities to collaborate with other states or academic library affiliated organizations". Additionally, the pivot to an almost exclusively online workplace has emphasized the need for expanded learning opportunities. The PDA also provides a unique opportunity to enrich our awareness of the diversity of library staff across the nation, bringing us added perspectives and increasing our understanding of contexts beyond our own. 

October PDA Offerings:

  • Librarians Across Disciplines: Mitigating Archival Chaos
  • Transcending Meatspace: Virtual Reality Library Events via Mozilla Hubs
  • Assessment of Student Learning in Academic Libraries
  • Teaching Information Literacy K-16
  • Demystifying Research and Publishing in Libraries
  • The Happy Place: Creating Positive Library Spaces Using Emotional Intelligence
  • Git and GitHub for Libraries
  • Tips and Tricks for Facilitating Meetings Online

We want to hear from you! If you have a topic you would like to see as a continuing education program, send your idea to .         

*Professional Development Alliance (PDA) participating consortia are:

CY21 E-Resources Selection System Opening by October 12        

CARLI's E-Resources selection system will be open by October 12 through November 6. Many vendors have kept pricing flat this year, including:

  • AAAS (for existing customers)
  • American Mathematical Society
  • Duke Press
  • eHRAF
  • John’s Hopkins - Project Muse
  • JSTOR (will be giving a discount of 3.5% - 5% at billing)
  • Sage Premier
  • Wiley

An announcement will be sent to E-resources contacts when the selection system is available. As always, please email any questions to .

E-Resources Licensing Activities

CARLI is currently working on the renewal of our license with the American Chemical Society.

CARLI is beginning discussions with Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to potentially switch to a transformative model starting in CY22. Our current contract with ACM runs through CY21 and we do not intend to change the pricing model until it ends. 

Transformative agreements have grown over the past several years, and CARLI has been following their development. These agreements encourage publishers to move to an open access publication by bridging between the current subscription "access" model to a model of paying authors' publication fees upfront by the library. For further information, you can read numerous posts on the Scholarly Kitchen blog.

Recently, the ACM opted to move towards complete open access by 2025 using a transformative model. ACM looks at publication trends and bases fees over the number of articles published in ACM journals by institutions over the past three years. It then places institutions in tiers, upon which it bases its fees. For large research "publish" institutions, their cost for ACM will increase substantially, but their faculty will not pay fees to publish in ACM journals. For smaller "read" institutions, the price will go down significantly because their faculty do not publish. Most CARLI members will see a net decrease in costs to ACM, but first we must have a commitment from several large institutions to make the agreement work. The ACM model is one that should work with consortiums with members from a variety of institution sizes, and not just large research libraries who have taken the lead with this type of agreement.

CARLI Board Adopts Proposals to End Overdue Fines and Processing Fees

At their September 18, 2020 meeting, the CARLI Board of Directors approved two proposals that will end the practice of I-Share libraries charging overdue fines for their main circulating collections and processing fees for any lost materials. These policy changes will cover both I-Share resource sharing transactions and "local" circulation to patrons affiliated with the institution. At the discretion of the institution, overdue fines may still be assessed to local patrons late in returning limited access collections such as reserves, equipment, and other special materials. Please note that libraries may still bill any patron for the replacement of lost materials, but may not charge an additional processing fee. These policy changes are mandatory for I-Share libraries, but all CARLI Governing Member institutions are encouraged to adopt them.

These proposals are the result of a discussion by the Board at their June 2020 meeting and subsequently put out for public comment. The comments received were overwhelmingly in support of suspending both overdue fines and processing fees. The comment period is now closed but those received are available for review along with background material about this policy change.

I-Share libraries may implement these changes on their own or ask CARLI to make these policy configuration changes on their behalf. This work may be done at any time and must be completed by January 1, 2021.

Please complete this form by November 10, 2020 to indicate whether you will edit your Alma policy settings to eliminate overdue fines and lost material processing fees, or if you would like the CARLI staff to do this work on your behalf. If you do not currently charge overdue fines and/or processing fees, please check those responses on the form. 

Send any questions to .

Proposal on Alma Bulk Due Date Extension Approved by CARLI Board of Directors

The CARLI Board of Directors has voted to approve the proposal to do another bulk extension of due dates in I-Share to February 1, 2021. Please view the complete details in the proposal text.
 
Please note that this due date extension will extend the due dates of items now due October 1 to February 1, and will also set up a fixed due date of February 1 for items charged after the batch change is made. The February 1 date will apply to all I-Share (resource sharing) loans and will also apply to all local circulation unless the I-Share library requests a different policy for some or all of their local circulation. Please see the proposal below for more detail on this change and options for local circulation changes. 

This proposal came from many of the participants at an open discussion session for CARLI library directors held on September 3, 2020. The proposal below was crafted by the CARLI staff and the CARLI Board voted by email to approve this earlier this week. As always, please direct any questions or requests for help in modifying your local circulation settings to .  Please don't hesitate to ask for help; we know everyone is still new to Alma and we would rather you ask for help than struggle with this work.

CARLI staff will send email updates to you as we make these changes in Alma.

Alma Primo VE Update

While this is an Alma and Primo VE update, the top item this month is a reminder that the CARLI staff plan to take Voyager and SFX offline permanently on October 30. As we have said before, if these systems have a failure before October 30, they may not be brought back online. This marks the end of a long era for CARLI and its precursor organization, ILCSO, as we have been running resource sharing software on our own servers since 1978, and Voyager since 2002. 

On a somewhat related note, we have heard that in our flurry of Alma activity, some institutions forgot to download their FY20 Voyager annual statistics. If this is the case for your institution, just send a note to and we can restore those files to your CARLI ftp directory. 

Earlier this September, the CARLI Board of Directors approved some important changes that impact Alma and Primo VE. First, the Board approved doing another bulk renewal of all I-Share resource sharing loans to a new due date of February 1, 2021. Many of our members reported concerns about students still not being able to return materials with the ongoing COVID-related schedule changes. This renewal will address some of those issues. In an even more significant change, the Board also voted to require I-Share libraries to stop charging overdue fines and lost material processing fees by January 1, 2021. Both of these are covered in more depth in separate articles in this issue of the CARLI newsletter. 

As we begin to settle in on Alma and Primo VE a bit, we are doing some restructuring of our Alma and Primo VE pages on the CARLI website. We have added a new section on "Known Issues" that covers some of what we have learned about things that are not working as we expected in Alma and Primo VE. Some of these are being addressed by Ex Libris in future software updates, and where available, we are listed the expected dates for those changes.

Remember that you can use the search box on our website (e.g., just key in "known issues") to help you quickly navigate our website when you don’t have the url handy. We hope you find the Known Issues page to be helpful and informative, but as with any resource like this, it is not possible for it to be comprehensive, so if you don't find the answer to your question there, remember that you can use a Google search to search the Ex Libris Knowledge Center, or, as always, contact us at our support address.  

As mentioned before, CARLI has a consortial membership in ELUNA, the Ex Libris Users of North America. ELUNA has recently launched a new series of online continuing education events called ELUNA Learns. These events typically have a registration fee of $25 per person, but CARLI has purchased a block of over 500 registrations that are available to I-Share library staff on a first come first serve basis. See the separate article about this opportunity elsewhere in this issue of the CARLI newsletter.

Also another reminder that Ex Libris offers an ongoing series of continuing education events, most of which are offered at no cost! We would encourage you to look at their training registration site. One that may be of interest to many of you is an upcoming series on Alma Analytics, which is what reporting is called in the Alma environment. These sessions are typically offered both live and as recordings. Please register for these on your own, there is no need to contact CARLI unless you need a reminder of where to find the course list.

The October Alma and Primo VE monthly software update will be installed by Ex Libris on Sunday, October 4, 2020. The October release is what Ex Libris calls an "infrastructure release", that is, it will focus on upgrades to the system internals and not on bug fixes and enhancements.  Ex Libris posts release notes in their Knowledge Center documenting the changes and fixes coming each month.

Finally, CARLI plans to continue every-other-Thursday Open Office Hours webinars at least through this fall. Please join the CARLI staff and your I-Share colleagues for these informal and informative sessions, or watch the recordings from our website. We are especially enjoying seeing the growing number of I-Share library staff helping each other with their questions and workflows during these webinars. See the CARLI calendar for dates and connection details.

Preservation Tip: A Snapshot of Our Preservation/Conservation Response to COVID-19 at CARLI Member Libraries: Project Introduction

Meghan Ryan, Special Collections and Cataloging Librarian at National Louis University

Earlier this year, as the coronavirus pandemic became a global crisis, CARLI member libraries like many libraries throughout the country faced new challenges. From the closure of physical locations to navigating transitions to remote and contactless environments, safely meeting the shifting needs of our communities became a priority and a new way of life. We faced the task of continuously maintaining awareness of new and emerging research about COVID-19. Libraries aligned policies with quickly changing federal and state health and safety guidelines as well as institutional policies. While many can acknowledge it has been quite a challenge, it has also been an opportunity to reflect and rethink the way we provide services to our communities in a changing world.

In that spirit, this year the CARLI Preservation Committee is gathering snapshots from the diverse range of perspectives of CARLI member institutions to explore various responses to the pandemic. With specific institutional action, impacts on preservation practices, and keeping up with developing information, we hope that these snapshots will provide the broadest range of responses to shed some light on how our work can continue as well as to provide a record of how libraries responded during this unprecedented time.

Snapshots will be shared throughout the year in the CARLI Newsletter as well as collected on the project webpage. 

Other Library News

ILLINET Survey Now Available 

The ILLINET Interlibrary Loan (ILL) & Reciprocal Borrowing Statistical Survey is now available . Libraries are required by administrative rule to complete the Illinois State Library's annual survey of interlibrary loan traffic. [23 Ill. Adm. Code 3030.200 (a) (2) (O)]

The FY2020 (Ju1y 1, 2019–June 30, 2020) ILLINET ILL Traffic Survey must be completed by March 31, 2021.

The ILLINET Interlibrary Loan Code [23 ILL. Adm. Code 3030 Exhibit A] governs ILL among ILLINET member libraries.  ILLINET member libraries should review the ILL Code to ensure that the library continues to meet resource sharing requirements that are necessary for continued system membership. See here for more detailed information about adherence to the ILL Code.

For questions regarding the ILLINET ILL Traffic Survey or for the username and password, contact the Illinois State Library at 1-800-665-5576, ext. 2. Contact Counting Opinions for technical assistance by email at or by phone at 1-866-850-8366.

OCLC: Collections and Facilities: Caring for Your Resources During COVID-19

The challenges of reopening during a pandemic have led to many questions about the handling of materials as well as the management of building operations. From allowing the virus to die naturally, to using disinfectants, to applying UV light or heat treatment—there are many options to consider. Join this 60-minute webinar from the REopening Archives, Libraries and Museums (REALM) project to hear how some organizations are implementing policies and procedures around the use of these various treatments and considerations that could inform your own local decisions. You will also hear an update on REALM testing efforts and the development of project resources. 

Collections and Facilities: Caring for Your Resources During COVID-19 will be presented on October 8 from 3–4 p.m. ET.

Upcoming CARLI Events and Meetings

Important Dates

The CARLI Office staff will remain in remote work status until further notice.

October 4               Alma Monthly Release
October 30             Last Day for Voyager

November 1           Alma Monthly Release
November 3           CARLI Office Closed for Election Day
November 8           Alma Release Update
November 26–27    CARLI Office Closed for Thanksgiving

Meetings

October 7         Resource Sharing Committee
October 8         Alma & Primo VE Open Office Hours
October 12        Preservation Committee
October 15        OER Committee
October 21        Collection Management Committee
October 21        Instruction Committee Meeting
October 22        Alma & Primo VE Open Office Hours
October 26        Public Services Committee
October 27        Created Content Committee

November 4      Resource Sharing Committee
November 9      Preservation Committee
November 12     Alma & Primo VE Open Office Hours
November 30     Executive Committee
November 12     CARLI Governing Directors Meeting
November 13     CARLI Annual Meeting
November 18     Collection Management Committee
November 19     OER Committee
November 23     Public Services Committee
November 24     Created Content Committee
November 30     CARLI Executive Committee    

Webinars, Forums, Workshops and Training

October 7          iSchool Career Fair
October 13        PDA Series: Librarians Across Disciplines: Mitigating Archival Chaos
October 14        PDA Series: Assessment of Learning in Academic Libraries
October 19        PDA Series: Transcending Meatspace: Virtual Reality Library Events via Mozilla Hubs
October 20        PDA Series: Teaching Information Literacy K-16
October 22        PDA Series: Demystifying Research and Publishing in Libraries
October 27        PDA Series: The Happy Place: Creating Positive Library Spaces Using Emotional Intelligence
October 28        PDA Series: Github: A Primer for Librarians
October 28        PDA Series: Tips and Techniques for Facilitating Meetings Online

November 18       PDA Series: Restoring Our Attention
November 19       Understanding and Promoting Open Educational Resources

Consult the CARLI calendar  for the most current list of meeting times and locations.

Contact Us

Please direct all questions and comments about the e-newsletter to . Subscribe to CARLI email lists to receive the latest news on topics of interest to you.