Library Cards Created During Offline

Email from Fred Schumacher on Wednesday, July 3, 2013: 

Greetings all.

Customers who register for new cards while we are in Symphony Offline will be unable to use those cards on the computer reservation system.  On Monday of this week you should have received an envelope containing pre-made computer use cards (see below for original message).  You should issue one of these cards to any new cardholder who you register in Symphony Offline, as the new library card created in Symphony Offline will not allow them to use the computer registration system.  On 07/11, when the offline circulation files are uploaded to the Symphony server, the cards created in offline will start working with the computer reservation system.

Thanks,

Fred Schumacher

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Procedures for Circulating Laptops During Offline

Email from Fred Schumacher on 6/24/2013:

Greetings all.

Shortly, we will migrate from Millennium to the new Symphony ILS.  During the actual migration of customer records, we will be operating offline for all circulation transactions.  The Symphony Offline client does not accommodate hourly circulation of laptops, so we have developed a manual circulation procedure for you to use during the offline period – 07/03/13 through 07/10/13. 

The HPL Print Shop is printing special Laptop, Tablet and Gaming Device Circulation Agreement forms that will be sent to each location.  The forms are printed with the same agreement as  currently appears on the regular forms, but the bottom of the agreement has been altered in include a space to record the barcode of the item being borrowed and a time returned for the item.  Additionally, a cut-off customer receipt with spaces for item barcode, date, time out and time due has been added to the bottom.  During the time we are offline for the migration, you will need to use these forms to manually circulate laptops, tablet computer and gaming devices to customers.  The receipt portion of the form will need to be filled out for each circulation and issued to the customer.  At the time the item is returned, you will need to fill in and initial the time returned and inform the customer of any overdue charge owed, if the item is returned late.  Forms for items returned late are to be retained for further handling once we are online in the Symphony system.  Forms for items returned on-time may be disposed of in the normal manner.

Again, you will receive the forms from offline circulation of laptops shortly.  Put those forms aside for use during the offline circulation period – 07/03/13 through 07/10/13.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us in the Circulation Administration Department.  We will be happy to assist you in any way that we are able.

Thanks for your attention to this.

Fred Schumacher

Circulation Administration Manager

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SIRSI Training Reminders

Please remember your SIRSI training day and refer to the schedule. Alice has inserted a note on the schedule asking for all staff to practice with SIRSI when you are not scheduled on the desk/floor. Please take the opportunity to review the manual, practice the basic functions on WorkFlows, and enter some of the self-pace courses. Chris has saved a copy of the SIRSI manual on every station at the CSD. When there is down time and shelving is caught up, please take time to review the manual as well. Let's be prepared and ready to go for when we go live with SIRSI!

Thanks,
-Marcos

SIRSI Update #5

Email from Syma Zerkow on 05/31/2013:

Last week, I urged you to try logging in to the test database.  Unfortunately, some of you have had problems with the connection.  IT and SirsiDynix staff are working to resolve this. 

The train the trainer sessions on circulation have been completed.  We will have 4 teams of trainers conducting these 4-hour training sessions.  This will allow multiple opportunities to attend sessions at locations throughout the system.  A training schedule will be issued next week.

Starting June 11, we will be making changes in the bibliographic records for periodicals, microfilm, E- audiobooks and E-books so that they will import correctly into Symphony.  Once these changes are made, the ability to limit your search by these material types will disappear in both the Classic Catalog and Encore.  We will be posting information on the Catalog Search page and elsewhere.  The final language has not been set but it will be say something like:

TEMPORARY CHANGE IN CATALOG SEARCHING

To find magazines, go to Journals and Periodicals: http://0-atoz.ebsco.com.catalog.houstonlibrary.org/Titles/hpubl?lang=en&lang.menu=en&lang.subject=en

To find microfilm, add “microform” to your keyword search terms

To find E-books and E-audiobooks, add “electronic resource” to your keyword search terms

We will need to continue to use these workarounds until we go live on Enterprise, our new SirsiDynix online catalog.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact me or use Contact Us on the HALAN ILS Migration News site on the Intranet.  

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-Marcos

Updating Customer Records

Email from Syma Zerkow on 05/29/2013:

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.

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-Marcos

Important Dates Regarding ILS Migration...

Just a reminder...

Email from Syma Zerkow on 05/09/2013:

Our GoLive date for SirsiDynix Symphony is Thursday, July 11.  We are starting to detail out the timing of a lot of the changes and I want to make sure you were all aware of them.  I plan to send out updated information to staff on a weekly basis.  The Communications Division will begin a public awareness campaign for our customers in early June.

·         In order to reduce the number of circulation-related issues that will arise during our migration period (June 21-July 1), we have modified how the III system calculates due dates.  Our goal is to minimize the number of items returned over that time period but not affect our ability to check out or return items.  As a result, you (and our customers) will see a lot of unexpectedly long check-out periods.   Please accept whatever due date the system shows and, if a customer questions it, explain that we are moving from our existing catalog and circulation software to a new system and to make the transition as smooth as possible, we have temporarily changed the checkout period. 

·         Collections throughout the system will be more finely defined in the new catalog.  Every library will have locations such as Media, Beginning Readers, Graphic Novels, and more.  Sirsi informs us that due to the complex mapping of items to new locations, we need to keep item location changes to the absolute minimum during the migration period.  Therefore, we plan to stop floating materials beginning the week of June 17. When we go-live on Symphony, floating will immediately go back into effect.

·         During this period (June 21-July 10), no new titles or items will be added to the collection and we will be unable to delete items.  Staff will also need to follow new procedures to check-in periodicals and new procedures to create “items on the fly” (short records to allow circulation of items whose barcode is not in the system).

·         From July 5-10, we will be using Symphony Offline Circ.  During this period, no fines can be collected and no holds can be filled.  We will be able to register new customers.

·         Training for the new procedures will begin just after Memorial Day and run intensively throughout the month of June and continue on a regular basis thereafter. Training material will also be available on the Staff Training Portal.

·         We are working with Communications to develop FAQ’s to assist you in providing clear explanations to our customers about the changes.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact me or use Contact Us on the HALAN ILS Migration News site on the Intranet.

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-Marcos

Due Dates During Migration from Millennium to SIRSI Symphony

From Fred Schumacher on 5/8/13:

Greetings all.

As you know, we are preparing to migrate from III Millennium to a new Integrated Library System, SirsiDynix Symphony, in the near future.  As one means of ensuring that the change-over from the current system to the new one goes as smoothly as possible, we have arranged for the III system automatically assign due dates that will fall after the migration to the new system is complete.  Thus, you will notice that the system is assigning due dates in mid July for items checked out for six weeks now.  Please leave the system assigned due dates as they are; do not manually reassign due dates for these items.  Use the Renew function in Millennium to assign six week due dates; do not manually assign them.

As we get closer to the actual migration date, you will notice more and more items being assigned extended due dates by the system.  As that happens, please continue to refrain from manually reassigning due dates, and allow the system to calculate the due dates for us. 

If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact the Circulation Administration Department at 832-393-2222 (choose option 3).  We’ll be happy to assist you in any way that we can.

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-Marcos