Technical Services Librarian Jim Rickerson is our institutional lead on this transition with our college archivist and Reference Instructional Librarian, Beth Pye, as our back up administrator. We have five different teams working on different aspects of this transition. One of the more difficult aspects during the transition, according to Rickerson, would be reevaluating our work flows. In order to prepare our system for the transition, we had to look at the way we configured our data in the old system and adjust so that it would fit in the new system. This includes system configurations for check out periods, fines, books on reserve, and notices. Pye believes that one of the biggest obstacles we have faced is time, specifically that we do not have enough. Ex Libris also provided us with a lot of cleanup tasks in order to prepare our library for the transition. This included weeding through our collection, pulling unused or duplicate books, and cleaning up our GIL-Find Database.
With Alma/Primo, we will no longer have multiple zones housing our GIL information. Currently, each institution has their own institutional GIL-Find zone as well as their own zone within GIL-Universal. Under the new system we will have one shared community zone between the schools in the university system in addition to their own institutional zone. This will improve GIL sharing.
Our next step in the transition process is testing our institutional sandbox. This is our opportunity to test out the new system within our institution to check for any bugs, issues, or inconsistencies. Our sandbox will essentially be a beta version with our institutional records that we will use to get more hands-on experience before the system goes live throughout the University System of Georgia.
Both Rickerson and Pye, as well as the rest of the library staff, feel good about the transition and agree that it will be a great next step for The Hightower Collaborative Learning Center & Library. Staff training will continue through the end of December and the University System of Georgia will role out the new system in May 2017.
With Alma/Primo, we will no longer have multiple zones housing our GIL information. Currently, each institution has their own institutional GIL-Find zone as well as their own zone within GIL-Universal. Under the new system we will have one shared community zone between the schools in the university system in addition to their own institutional zone. This will improve GIL sharing.
Our next step in the transition process is testing our institutional sandbox. This is our opportunity to test out the new system within our institution to check for any bugs, issues, or inconsistencies. Our sandbox will essentially be a beta version with our institutional records that we will use to get more hands-on experience before the system goes live throughout the University System of Georgia.
Both Rickerson and Pye, as well as the rest of the library staff, feel good about the transition and agree that it will be a great next step for The Hightower Collaborative Learning Center & Library. Staff training will continue through the end of December and the University System of Georgia will role out the new system in May 2017.
