Summit Migration FAQ
Q. Does my institution need to change its catalog? A. No institution needs to change local catalog vendors.
OCLC’s system will replace INN-Reach but Alliance libraries may continue using Millennium for their local catalog systems. VDX will also work with non III systems, so long as they have robust Z39.50 and NCIP support
Q. Has OCLC done this for any other consortium? Is there a model we can look at to understand how it will work? A.
The Worldcat Group catalog at University of California and the use of VDX to manage requests will be very similar to how the Summit implementation is expected to work. Summit is a development partner with OCLC on the circ gateway and that will work differently than the UC implementation.
The Navigator product that the new Summit is based on has also been purchased by the University North Carolina libraries as well as others. Q. How can I stay better informed about the migration? A. In addition to official announcements and training, there are a number of email lists associated with the migration. Any member of an Alliance library can join any or all of these lists. You can also read minutes of the Implementation Team and various working groups on this site, and you will find documents posted here as well.
Q. How is progress on the WorldCat - circulation interface going and when will we get to see a preview? A. Progress on WorldCat Navigator can be viewed on the timeline. A preview can be found at http://summit.worldcat.org
Q. How is WorldCat Group different from WorldCat Local? A.
It will look, and work, very similar to WCL. Instead of three tiers of
search results -- local, consortial, all of Worldcat -- there will be
two tiers -- consortial and all of Worldcat. At this point it appears
unlikely that holdings will display the way that they do in the UW WCL
implementation. After a title is selected, the patron will be presented
with holding libraries but no status or specific holding information
(call number, shelf location). The patron will need to click on a
library's holdings to get that information from local catalogs.
Q. How will items be moved around? Will the courier service change? A. There are no anticipated changes to the courier service.
Q. How will resource sharing policies be affected by the migration? A. All policies will remain as they are -- only the system is being changed. If it becomes apparent at a later date that modifications are necessary for technical reasons, this will be done on a case by case basis.
Q. How will Visiting Patron and Pickup Anywhere work in the new system? A. On December 1, patrons will not have the same level of PUA and VP services that exist in the current INN-Reach system.
However, by visiting a library and being "adopted" locally as a patron, they will be able to check out materials onsite at other locations and initiate summit requests from those locations if they choose. This will work well for visiting patrons and for those who use PUA for a single remote site. Both of these workarounds take significant staff time to create multiple user accounts. Another downside will be that home institutions will not be aware of these loans for statistics or collection development. Q. I don't like the way the new interface returns results. Can this be changed? A. OCLC uses a proprietary algorithm that searches all fields in the records with
special emphasis on matches in the title, author, and subject fields.
Holdings count and recency of publication are also used to raise or
lower the relevancy of items. All searches are conducted against a FRBRized copy of the WorldCat database, plus certain non-WorldCat databases like ArticleFirst, ECO, MEDLINE, ERIC, and British Library.
OCLC tests adjustments to the algorithm to address key issues identified in usability and feedback (both from users and librarians). Changes should be expected in the first 3 months of 2009. The Alliance cannot control the behavior of the algorithm because it is intrinsic to the worldcat.org platform. Q. I'd like to see a side-by-side comparison of how the functions in Inn-Reach and WorldCat Navigator will be the same or different. A. Navigator will be different for both patrons and staff. For patrons, they will see Summit results followed by WorldCat results. Links to electronic articles will also be included.
For staff, this chart describes some of the major differences Q. Is a group discussing whether display of article records in search results should be suppressed? A. While there are inherent problems with searching records that represent resources of different granularity, one of the selling points of Navigator to Council when they decided to go with WorldCat Navigator was that the article records would be displayed. Response to such records in UW's implementation of WorldCat Local has been positive, so the presumption is that reaction to such records in the Summit catalog also would be.
To answer the question directly, there is no group discussing the issue right now. Currently, all available resources are dedicated to achieving basic functionality since getting the myriad of details ready in time will be difficult. However, like other configuration issues, this is reversible. Also, if your institution is one of the ones considering WorldCat Local, it would have the flexibility to not include these results if that was felt to be desirable. Q. Some of the pages I'm seeing here make no sense and contain lots of technical details A. Some pages on this site are used by the Implementation Team, working groups, and others assisting with the migration to help their work. Pages containing unfamiliar technical jargon are being used by those working on the migration so that local libraries will not have to burden themselves with development, extraction, or data manipulation problems. The working groups contain representatives from large and small libraries throughout Oregon and Washington, and we are committed to making sure that the needs of no library falls between the cracks.
Q. What does my institution need to do right now and what should we plan for? A. The Implementation Team and working groups are in close contact with a designated representative of your institution as soon as some preliminary planning is taken care of. Individuals at your institution may also be contacted directly to perform specific tasks such as preparing systems for the circulation gateway, holdings reclamation, and other steps necessary to keep things moving forward.
In just a few months, we will migrate a resource sharing system used by over 200,000 patrons at dozens of public and private academic libraries scattered across two states. Under normal circumstances a single library embarking on such a project would probably allow at least a year to plan, but we do not have that luxury. We will strive to inform people as much in advance as possible about any changes they will experience and minimize disruptions to local libraries. However, you may receive requests with little or no warning. For the migration to be successful, it is important that everyone be as flexible as possible and prepared to act quickly. Especially in the early stages when details are still emerging, patience will be necessary. You can help by staying tuned, providing feedback, and, for some, playing an active role in implementing and evaluating the new Summit. Q. What exactly is this migration anyway? A. The migration of Summit to OCLC’s consortial borrowing solution will
include:
Q. What is the Navigator Request Engine or NRE? A. The Navigator Request Engine and VDX refer to the same thing. These both refer to the software used to manage requests.
You will hear both terms because VDX was the name of the software when OCLC bought the company that produced it. The "Navigator Request Engine" terminology was developed in July 2008 to clearly show that it is a component of WorldCat Navigator. Q. What is the relationship between VDX and ILLiad? A. VDX and ILLiad are both interlibary loan management systems and both can be used to borrow and lend returnables as well as nonreturnables. However, the workflow for ILLiad is more efficient for nonreturnables so institutions that currently use it will probably want to continue doing so. Also, ILLiad provides copyright management and VDX does not.
If your institution does not already use ILLiad, it is recommended that you see if VDX will meet your needs before purchasing ILLiad. ILLiad is a powerful program, but it requires significant time and expertise to set up properly and to maintain. VDX will have the ability to communicate with local systems while ILLiad lacks this capability. Because of the amount of labor saved by integrating circ functions into the product, VDX is being used for Summit borrowing. Q. What is the timeline? Q. What will happen to local resources that are not in OCLC? A. As part of the migration, we will launch a reclamation project that generates record numbers for materials that are not in OCLC and also ensures that OCLC holdings data at the bib level matches what people have.
This solution will not work for certain types of materials such as electronic record sets or purchased record sets that you do not have a right to redistribute. In those cases, alternative solutions will need to be pursued. Q. What will happen to materials to materials our library does not wish to loan? A. As part of the profiling process, we will be identifying locations, formats, and other ways of identifying materials that show as available in the system but which cannot be requested by other libraries. Such materials typically include journals and videos, but there are other types of resources as well.
It is important to be aware that the availability service cannot see icodes, so the WC group catalog can't use them to influence how availability is displayed, nor can VDX use them for determining whether an item is requestable. Rather, other clues in the bibliographic and item records that appear in a publicly accessible place must be used. Q. What will my local catalog look like after the migration? A. The migration only changes the Summit catalog and replaces the INN-Reach resource sharing system. It does not affect your local catalog. Your library will have an opportunity to purchase WorldCat Local if it wants, but this is not required.
Q. When will I no longer be able to request items through INN-Reach? A. Shutting down an INN-Reach system is a complex process, and we can't just turn it off -- otherwise, thousands of transactions would be stuck in the system. Rather, we must stop accepting requests long in advance, track down outstanding items, and resolve all transactions in the system before we can shut it down gracefully.
In order to accomplish this, we will need to stop accepting INN-Reach requests on December 1. Q. Why does my institution need to enable the ability to place multiple holds on the same title? A. This is a technical requirement and there may be other long term solutions. When someone makes a request, Navigator places a hold in the lending system as a system user. Not allowing multiple holds has the effect of pushing requests for popular works all the way through the rota and into slower and more expensive ILL when local/regional resources are available. Because of the mechanism used, even distance students from the same institution might not be able to place a hold on popular titles when all but one volume or copy is available.
It is important not to confuse technical requirements with policy requirements. The technical requirement of allowing Nav to place multiple holds on titles does not prevent libraries from retaining their local policies and canceling holds generated in violation of those policies. Q. Why is this migration happening? A.
Since 2006 the Orbis Cascade Alliance has been pursuing an ambitious
set of projects (aka Strategic Agenda) aimed at significantly improving
service to students and faculty. Among these initiatives, Alliance
committees have been working on a major upgrade in Summit search
capabilities, investigating new resource sharing systems, and
evaluating standards-based services that work across multiple vendor
platforms.
As we pursue such next generation library services we are also looking for affordable systems and opportunities to form strong strategic alliances with vendors and consortia. INN-Reach has served us very well since the early 1990's and is a major part of the consortium's foundation. III will continue to be a key partner on local systems but our contract negotiation efforts over the past few months have led us to conclude that we are not able to sustain INN-Reach beyond 2008. The development and implementation of an OCLC technological platform for Summit has the potential to fulfill our goals very well: greatly improved discovery and more flexible delivery options in a cost-effective system that will function across multiple vendor platforms. More than this, this move marks the beginning of an important new partnership between OCLC and the Orbis Cascade Alliance. Q. Will I still have telnet access to the catalog? A. No. The new catalog will only be accessible over the web. If you use telnet for automation projects involving the catalog, you will most likely need to use WorldCat Grid Services
Q. Will ILL procedures change? A. Libraries that want to use VDX for ILL will be able to, but this is a local decision, but it is expected most libraries will not want to change their ILL procedures in the short term. Over the long term, there may be benefits to consolidating workflows.
Q. Will this change be transparent to current Summit users at our institution? A.
From a patron perspective, requesting should be largely improved.
Patrons will request an item in the catalog. They will be told that the
request has been sent. The patron can be sent emails at any action
stage of the process (yet to be determined). Requests will be sent to
holding libraries according to the rota. If there are no holding Summit libraries, requests can automatically be sent to other WC libraries using ILLiad, VDX, or WCRS. Patrons will not need to track requests in separate systems.
Q. Will training and assistance on workflow be provided for institutions participating in the migration? A. Absolutely. Because the VDX software is based on an ILL workflow, using the new resource sharing system will be very different from a staff perspective. This will require major changes to local Summit borrowing procedures, and a great deal of attention will be devoted to making sure staff can use the new tools to do their work.
A "train the trainer" is scheduled for July 16. On July 17 (Summit Day), OCLC reps and trained people will meet with staff for the first time. Once the system is installed in the middle of August, regional trainings will be held in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Spokane, and Walla Walla. Final details need to be hammered out but the expectation is that training will be held from mid August through September. Q. Will we be able to see the holdings of all the other "Summit" libraries, or will we just be told a copy is coming? A.
Staff will be able to see holdings of other Summit libraries
Q. Will we be required to provide a gap tape for the migration A. No. Although your institution will be providing records as part of the migration, these will only be used for purposes of setting and deleting holdings. Therefore, a gap tape is unnecessary. Once you have provided information for the reclamation, your library will need to be conscientious about maintaining accurate holdings in OCLC.
Q. Will we still need to coordinate our cataloging with the Alliance after the migration? A. Yes. Although we won't have a separate union catalog and certain limitations (such as the number of status codes) will be removed, we will still must coordinate terminology and map it for consortium use to best represent the holdings of all members in WorldCat. For example, if your catalog displays "Check Shelves," we need to know if it is requestable or not.
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