Alma and Primo VE Project updates: Week of 4/22/2019

For a collated list, please review the Weekly highlights of the Alma and Primo VE project page.

• CARLI Office Staff:
  • Ex Libris began exporting a copy of the Vanguard libraries' data from our Voyager servers in order to build the Vanguard libraries' individualized test environments.
    • If you're curious- it's a time consuming process:
      • NCC took a little under 2 hours to extract;
      • NBY took about 3 hours;
      • UIC took 13.
      • SIC and UIU will be extracted during off-peak-Voyager-usage hours to make sure the extract does not affect the response time of the Voyager clients.
    • These tests of the Vanguard libraries are helping to benchmark how long the Voyager data export process will take during the test and production loads.
  • Those of us who will be attending the Ex Libris' 2019 ELUNA Conference next week discussed which sessions we'll attend in order to maximize our overall learning opportunities.
  • Talked with Vanguard libraries on Friday about the Fulfillment-related Configuration Form setting choices being considered by the libraries. We submitted outstanding questions held by the group to Ex Libris.
  • CARLI staff will activate sample consortial electronic resources in the Network Zone Primo Central Index.
  • CARLI staff have begun working on the Alma Administration Certification training process upon their completion of the Fundamentals and Essentials training series.
• Vanguard Libraries:
  • Have begun filling out their Alma Implementation Configuration forms using the Alma Implementation Configuration Form training materials and Alma Configuration Form guide to assist.
    • The Vanguard Libraries and CARLI Office staff held a conference call on Friday to discuss the Fulfillment-related Configuration Form setting choices the libraries are considering.
    • First draft is due to Ex Libris on May 8th, with the final on May 14th.
  • The Vanguard libraries are selecting staff member(s) who will be responsible for activating some sample institutional resources in their library's Primo Central Index.
  • Watched Fulfillment training videos and completed exercises using the Alma/Primo VE sandboxes for hands-on exercises.
• Your library can:
  • Consult the Alma Resources Handout from Kris Hammerstrand's presentation at the "Change is Good: You Go First! Leading Others To and Through Change" forum, and continue your analysis of the documentation mentioned within.
  • Examine the Technical Requirements for Alma and Discovery Implementation materials and share them with your campus IT staff as needed.
    • Pay special attention to the sections on IP range access, Alma authentication, printers, and email.
  • Review the CARLI Alma & Primo VE webpage and Frequently Asked Questions.
  • Continue working on the Pre-Migration Database Maintenance page's prioritized data cleanup projects, starting with the "Critical" projects. All Critical projects must completed by the end of August 2019.
  • Look over the Patron Record Purge documentation, and contact CARLI support with any questions about the process and your library's data. Before migration, we strongly recommend purging expired patrons that have no current activity. Running multiple patron record purges would be ideal (as soon as possible to remove long-expired records, and again closer to migration to remove more-recently expired records).

As always, you can contact CARLI support with any comments or questions.