W. Frank Steely Library

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Systems Annual Report 2002-3

Overview

The Systems Division has been kept busy this past year not only with normal maintenance activities, but also with various special projects and reorganization of the division. The primary responsibilities of the division are maintenance of the automated library system (NKUIRE) and troubleshooting for other hardware, software and networking issues. The division works in cooperation with the Office of Information Technology on issues as needed. The division also reviews the hardware and software needs of all library departments. The division assists other areas of the library in making recommendations on various library-wide technological initiatives. During this past year in particular, the division has seen an expansion of its role in assisting with special projects throughout the library. It is important that these projects are coordinated so that user needs can successfully be met. The team balances these needs with budget and staffing constraints. The division contacts various agencies outside the university, primarily Endeavor representatives, Kentucky Endeavor Work Group committee personnel, and other computer vendors for various issues. During this past year, the division was reorganized to help meet the expanding roles of technological implementations and to further coordinate library-wide needs. The division was renamed the Systems Division (from the former Automation Division) in order to communicated this expanded role. The Automation Librarian position was renamed to Systems Manager to more fully define this position's role. In addition, the Web responsibilities were pulled into the division with the reassignment of the Electronic Reference Services Librarian to the division, subsequently retitled Web Development Librarian. A staff position from the Cataloging Department was also moved into the division as Web Assistant. Another staff position will be transferred into the division in the 2003-2004 year. The Systems Manager is primarily responsible for managing the division. The Systems Librarian is responsible for NKUIRE troubleshooting and questions regarding Voyager systems operations. The Systems Engineer is responsible for networking, PC troubleshooting, and special projects. The Web Development Librarian is responsible for maintaining the library Web pages and acting as liaison to the Reference and Instructional Services Division. The Web Assistant is responsible for assisting in Web page editing, troubleshooting OPAC problems, and general office duties. The division also maintains an average of 15 student work hours per week for assistance in these duties. During the spring, the Systems Manager was on sabbatical leave and duties were divided between the Systems Librarian and Systems Engineer. During the year, a total of 449 requests were resolved via the libauto troubleshooting email account. These included 29 printer requests (down from 32 the previous year), 144 PC requests (down from 240), 134 NKUIRE requests (down from 193) and 142 miscellaneous requests (up from 130). This downturn can be attributed to newer PCs and the fact that requests are more advanced - involving special projects, more detailed investigation, and therefore requiring more time to resolve.

Activities in the division can be subdivided into three broad categories: Voyager operations, networking/PC troubleshooting, and miscellaneous/special projects. These categories are addressed in detail below.

Voyager Operations

Most of the year in this area was spent on maintenance, troubleshooting and enhancing Voyager operations as well as making decisions necessary for the upgrade of the software to take place in August of 2003. Maintenance issues include keeping configurations up to date, patron file loading, library hours updating, user profiling, etc. There are also many "tweaks" to the system that are required as problems are identified. The Systems Librarian is primarily responsible for troubleshooting these requests with assistance from the Systems Manager as needed. Staff members are kept updated with changes in operations at the statewide level through the participation in the quarterly Kentucky Endeavor Work Group meetings. The Systems Librarian is primarily responsible for communicating this group's decisions to library personnel. There is also a Voyager Team in the library made up of personnel from various departments in both Steely and Chase libraries. This group makes decisions on changes that would affect the entire NKUIRE system. There were several major projects that took place this year in regards to NKUIRE. The biggest was the initiation of MARCIVE record loading. This project will involve loading approximately 300,000 bibliographic records into NKUIRE. During the year, the division worked with personnel in the Government Documents area on profiling, and test loading of records. At the end of the fiscal year, a procedure for loading records was in place and around 70,000 records had been loaded. Another project was implementation of the Ingenta project. The division worked with the Cataloging Department in making these records accessible via NKUIRE. Preparations were made for the upgrade of Voyager system software. These major upgrades take place approximately every two years. The Systems Manager also cataloged over 1500 LP titles from the Media Collection into NKUIRE as a sabbatical leave project.

Networking / PC Troubleshooting

The bulk of work in this area continues to revolve around troubleshooting PC/printer problems, reconfiguring replaced PCs, and setting up new PCs. The 2001/02 PC replacement plan resulted in 36 new PCs assigned to the library. Time was spent throughout the year setting up these PCs. The 2002/03 replacement plan resulted in over 60 PCs assigned to the library. These were delivered during the late spring/early summer. Ten PCs were obtained through the loggia grant, but remained in storage at year's end awaiting loggia infrastructure improvements. Setting up and reconfiguring PCs requires a lot of time. These setups are done while juggling other division activities. Most printer problems revolve around the UniPrint (cost recovery) software. These problems should subside now that printing is now in Steely Library alone and can be more closely monitored. Laptop ports were configured in various locations of the library for student use. PCs were also set up in new locations of the library (group study, Media Collection) and in areas where moves took place (Archives, LRC move to Steely). Several staff also had to be migrated from Eudora to Outlook email software during the year to comply with general campus guidelines and all staff were migrated to the exchange server. The Systems Engineer also worked with Archives personnel to set up access for the Freedom Center PCs.

Miscellaneous / Special Projects

Changes in Systems Division reorganization required a lot of time during the year. The reassignment of a librarian to the division (Web Development Librarian) added administration issues to be resolved. The duties of this position included those already in the previous position (Electronic Reference Services Librarian) with less reference responsibilities but adding the duties required for staff (Web Assistant) duties. A lot of time was spent by this position in redesigning the library Web site, working on recommendations for a campus-wide policy, and training the Web Assistant. The Web Assistant also spent time being trained for OPAC troubleshooting and general office duties. There were also a myriad of special projects worked on entirely by the division, or in cooperation with other departments. Some of these projects were mentioned above. The division worked with the vendor and OIT (NKU Office of Information Technology) on the setup of wireless laptop PCs. While the majority of the work was done in the fall, work was suspended in the spring (due to sabbatical by project manager and other complications). The implementation of this project was still pending at year's end. The division also worked with the library Grants librarian on the successful receipt of a loggia PC grant which will provide 10 PCs, with port connections for up to 19. Grant work also took place for equipping a library "smart classroom" with 10 laptops and a grant to equip the library with two assistive technology PCs. Other projects included the setup of the eReserves PC, purchase of a library proxy server, work with various library/campus departments on the setup of the 4th floor lab and technological needs for the library information services desk.

Systems Division personnel also work in non-technological areas of library service. The Systems Manager completed an MBA degree, served on the Executive Committee of the state Kentucky Voyager Users Group, NKU representative to the Kentucky Endeavor Consortium Working Group, Departmental United Way Coordinator, as Chair of the Ft. Mitchell Baptist Church library committee and bass clarinetist for the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. The Systems Librarian served on the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG) Finance Committee and Awards and Recognition Committee, EndUsers 2003 and 2004 Planning Committees, NKU representative to the KYVL Endeavor Consortium Working Group, KLA Academic Section Awards and Membership Committees. She served on the Faculty Senate Budget Committee and other library committees as well as provided cataloging and consultation services for the libraries at the Cincinnati Nature Center, member of the Friends of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and on a Focus Group at Cincinnati Public on the future of the library. The Web Development Librarian is currently a member of the KYVL ADA Workgroup, Chair of the SAALCK Web Design Task Force, and member of the Kentucky Virtual Library Collections Committee. He serves on the Faculty Senate and is a member of both the Benefits Committee and Sabbatical Subcommittee. He was also a Guest (ex officio) to the University Web Redesign Task Force. He serves as Chair of the library Web Committee. The The Systems Engineer is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Technology Management at NKU, chaired the Staff of Steely organization, was a committee member of the campus Learning Systems Advisory Group, chair of the group that evaluated several fund raising plans for the library and chaired the committee to evaluate the Docutek system for online reserves.

updated: Wednesday, 24-Aug-2005 11:53:50 EDT

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