Wasn't so bad
Feb. 1st, 2012 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
monkey5sToday I attended the training for cataloguing in the new ILS we will be using. It was... overwhelming, of course, and there will be one whopper of a steep learning curve, once we are using it firreals.
The good- BUCKETS! You can put many items in a bucket, and process them all at once. The time this will save on discarding books is nearly unimaginable. It will also be incredibly easy to change status on items we want to have on display. Put them in the bucket, change status to "on display", LEAVE THEM IN THE BUCKET- and when the featured items are no longer featured, change the status back.
The bad- I predict many battles over who has the lead record in the new consortium (and don't think I don't get that X-Files buzz off that concept!). But then, that's why the boss wanted us to be the first adopters. WE'RE NUMBER ONE! Oh, sorry. It's just... you can change other library's records, so there might be... issues.
Also bad? The OPAC interface is radically different from what we have now. It will be a steep learning curve for our patrons, as well. We have trouble getting them to scroll down now- on the new system they will have nothing useful on the first results visible. Very cluttered and confusing.
And the... weird. Or, I dunno, indifferent- there are AT LEAST two different ways to get to any feature in cataloguing. AT LEAST TWO. Often more. So, trying to set procedures? Whoa.
But, on the good side, it turns out that we will have to stop adding new data on the legacy system only eight days before we migrate. The total data freeze will be only three days. Which, yeah, pain in the labanza, but hey, SO MUCH EASIER than the three weeks I had heard first.
And I can tell, my biggest first adjustment will be terminology, followed by the wacky locations of the various important buttons for different functions. ("You change this here, and you can change this, and this, and this, if you need to. Then, you have to scroll BACK UP to the top of the pane, and remember to click the button there to make the changes permanent. BUT THEN, you still have to go back to the other screen, and then RELOAD the screen to have the changes visible. Oh, and don't forget to change this other thing, too.")
So. Yeah. Learning curve. But we will persist until we have it beaten into submission. Or, at least, until Evergreen releases another upgrade. We're working on version 2.1 now, and there were bugs in what the instructor was trying to show us.
Until then, I'm just going to look forward to the bucket!
The good- BUCKETS! You can put many items in a bucket, and process them all at once. The time this will save on discarding books is nearly unimaginable. It will also be incredibly easy to change status on items we want to have on display. Put them in the bucket, change status to "on display", LEAVE THEM IN THE BUCKET- and when the featured items are no longer featured, change the status back.
The bad- I predict many battles over who has the lead record in the new consortium (and don't think I don't get that X-Files buzz off that concept!). But then, that's why the boss wanted us to be the first adopters. WE'RE NUMBER ONE! Oh, sorry. It's just... you can change other library's records, so there might be... issues.
Also bad? The OPAC interface is radically different from what we have now. It will be a steep learning curve for our patrons, as well. We have trouble getting them to scroll down now- on the new system they will have nothing useful on the first results visible. Very cluttered and confusing.
And the... weird. Or, I dunno, indifferent- there are AT LEAST two different ways to get to any feature in cataloguing. AT LEAST TWO. Often more. So, trying to set procedures? Whoa.
But, on the good side, it turns out that we will have to stop adding new data on the legacy system only eight days before we migrate. The total data freeze will be only three days. Which, yeah, pain in the labanza, but hey, SO MUCH EASIER than the three weeks I had heard first.
And I can tell, my biggest first adjustment will be terminology, followed by the wacky locations of the various important buttons for different functions. ("You change this here, and you can change this, and this, and this, if you need to. Then, you have to scroll BACK UP to the top of the pane, and remember to click the button there to make the changes permanent. BUT THEN, you still have to go back to the other screen, and then RELOAD the screen to have the changes visible. Oh, and don't forget to change this other thing, too.")
So. Yeah. Learning curve. But we will persist until we have it beaten into submission. Or, at least, until Evergreen releases another upgrade. We're working on version 2.1 now, and there were bugs in what the instructor was trying to show us.
Until then, I'm just going to look forward to the bucket!
