Day 1 of migration to Evergreen
Mar. 15th, 2012 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
monkey5sToday's training on the new ILS at work had several glitches. The training database was down at certain intervals, and they were working on the real database as the day went on.
Today's rudest consortium shock? We are now required to demand the patron's date of birth- even if they are over 18. And if you don't record it, there is a big, ugly prompt under the patron's name, stating that there is not a valid dob on record. The boss said every other library in the consortium considered this to be extremely vital to have on record. I thought, oh, hell NO, FACEBOOK. I expect you to PAY ME for my full demographic information, I am not handing it over on a silver platter. Of course, for anyone over 18 we require their driver's license or official state ID to set up their patron account, and he said we should just take it from there without telling them.
Today's ugliest in-house shock? The boss decided that, considering how many fields and toggling and so forth the new system required, we did need actual mouse devices at the circulation desk (currently the mouse is a nub in the center of the keyboard). We also replaced the under-counter monitors with flat-screens on top of the desk. I looked at them, and said, "when are we getting hoods for the monitors?" No, not going to. "Oh, you can't see anything on them from the sides." Except you can, quite easily, read everything from not very far back on the side (on the one side where the coffee is dispensed and new books are displayed on the counter, as well as the other side where the kids hang out at the low counter while they wait). Not to mention, any blocks or fine prompts are displayed in huge black letters and numbers in the larger-than-half-screen prompt field.
As for the rest, there are good things we're gaining, and we are also losing valuable, daily basics that we are loathe to give up. Such is life. For the patrons using their accounts at home, there are aspects even more frustrating than the one we're giving up, but if they are power users, there is all sorts of stuff they can do.
For our own training exercises today, we had to set up a fake patron account, and put on notes in different ways (because Evergreen has 3-5 ways to do ANY one thing), and then delete or archive them. Turns out if you archive the note, it will never go away as long as that patron has an account. I'm really glad we discovered this during training.
Then, for the personal note, I discovered that sitting on a hard wooden chair all day, alternating with standing and walking and shelving books as we were FINALLY able to check them in on the new system, led to massive amounts of arthritis pain. I could barely get from the car into the house this evening.
Then, as soon as I did, I had to nab the cat who's been limping heavily for two days and bundle her into a carrier. Chloe was NOT willing to go, I have many claw marks to prove it. I felt bad about having to haul another cat to the vet, exactly one week after Singer went for the last time. The vet wasn't home yet, and he had office hours this evening, so they will let me know when they do get to look at her, whenever that is.
ETA: Seems Miss Chloe would not limp for them at all. They found no wounds, but the shoulder was really tight, so he thinks it was sprained. He injected a little steroid, and she's en route back to me now.
And for followup on Singer, he think he had Feline Infectious Peritonitis (called feline AIDS because it, too, hijacks the immune system to spread- but there is no treatment for cats, and it's 100% fatal once it develops). Turns out that a cat that lived a block over from us was brought in two days after Singer, and also presented those symptoms. So he fears there may be a new stray in the neighborhood who is carrying it. But, there's still nothing you can do to prevent it, except try to keep your cats from suffering major stress to their immune system.
So. Stress continues, as it does. Tomorrow we go in to learn about fines and I forget what else, then we have to all help check in and shelve. SO VERY NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO A HALF-DAY OF MANUAL LABOR.
Today's rudest consortium shock? We are now required to demand the patron's date of birth- even if they are over 18. And if you don't record it, there is a big, ugly prompt under the patron's name, stating that there is not a valid dob on record. The boss said every other library in the consortium considered this to be extremely vital to have on record. I thought, oh, hell NO, FACEBOOK. I expect you to PAY ME for my full demographic information, I am not handing it over on a silver platter. Of course, for anyone over 18 we require their driver's license or official state ID to set up their patron account, and he said we should just take it from there without telling them.
Today's ugliest in-house shock? The boss decided that, considering how many fields and toggling and so forth the new system required, we did need actual mouse devices at the circulation desk (currently the mouse is a nub in the center of the keyboard). We also replaced the under-counter monitors with flat-screens on top of the desk. I looked at them, and said, "when are we getting hoods for the monitors?" No, not going to. "Oh, you can't see anything on them from the sides." Except you can, quite easily, read everything from not very far back on the side (on the one side where the coffee is dispensed and new books are displayed on the counter, as well as the other side where the kids hang out at the low counter while they wait). Not to mention, any blocks or fine prompts are displayed in huge black letters and numbers in the larger-than-half-screen prompt field.
As for the rest, there are good things we're gaining, and we are also losing valuable, daily basics that we are loathe to give up. Such is life. For the patrons using their accounts at home, there are aspects even more frustrating than the one we're giving up, but if they are power users, there is all sorts of stuff they can do.
For our own training exercises today, we had to set up a fake patron account, and put on notes in different ways (because Evergreen has 3-5 ways to do ANY one thing), and then delete or archive them. Turns out if you archive the note, it will never go away as long as that patron has an account. I'm really glad we discovered this during training.
Then, for the personal note, I discovered that sitting on a hard wooden chair all day, alternating with standing and walking and shelving books as we were FINALLY able to check them in on the new system, led to massive amounts of arthritis pain. I could barely get from the car into the house this evening.
Then, as soon as I did, I had to nab the cat who's been limping heavily for two days and bundle her into a carrier. Chloe was NOT willing to go, I have many claw marks to prove it. I felt bad about having to haul another cat to the vet, exactly one week after Singer went for the last time. The vet wasn't home yet, and he had office hours this evening, so they will let me know when they do get to look at her, whenever that is.
ETA: Seems Miss Chloe would not limp for them at all. They found no wounds, but the shoulder was really tight, so he thinks it was sprained. He injected a little steroid, and she's en route back to me now.
And for followup on Singer, he think he had Feline Infectious Peritonitis (called feline AIDS because it, too, hijacks the immune system to spread- but there is no treatment for cats, and it's 100% fatal once it develops). Turns out that a cat that lived a block over from us was brought in two days after Singer, and also presented those symptoms. So he fears there may be a new stray in the neighborhood who is carrying it. But, there's still nothing you can do to prevent it, except try to keep your cats from suffering major stress to their immune system.
So. Stress continues, as it does. Tomorrow we go in to learn about fines and I forget what else, then we have to all help check in and shelve. SO VERY NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO A HALF-DAY OF MANUAL LABOR.
