Training activities
Acquisitions review class
Suzanne announced that the class, which is geared to the needs of Collection Managers, is scheduled for September 15 and 16. Suzanne will forward to Betsy the invitation to Collection Managers and other Public Service staff sent by Trudi in early September. The class consists of a live demo with information about how to search for fundcode data, orders, etc. primarily using the Search Module and the Nav Map. There is a handout with screenshots.

Betsy mentioned that the catalogers would like to attend an Acquisitions intro class as well. The group concluded that it would be better for the catalogers to attend a class specifically addressing cataloger needs rather than joining the CM-oriented classes, especially at this late date. Jimmie and others commented that the catalogers would benefit from learning how to locate order data including identifying if a title is on standing order and how to determine the Collection Manager associated with a particular order. Suzanne pointed out that while the specific Collection Manager for a title is not recorded in Aleph, staff can find the fundcode and check it against the listing of fundcodes on the Monographs Unit Web site http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/rs/monographs/codes/alephbudget.htm. Betsy said she would touch bases with Michele about a class for the catalogers. [Subsequent to the meeting, Michele agreed to lead a class later in the fall to review basic Acquisitions functions and answer the catalogers' questions.]

CM Support Unit class
Suzanne reported that she is developing a class for the CM Support Unit to discuss workflow changes necessitated by Aleph.

Class for Circulation staff
Betsy announced that she, Jorge, Doug S., and Doug K. met with Vanessa Jewett and Dee Hawes from Access Services on 8/27/04 to plan a class for Circulation staff. A number of training issues of interest to Circ staff were outlined. Jorge, Doug S., and Doug K. scheduled times to visit Vanessa and Dee on location on September 9 and 10 in order to gain a better understanding of Circ processes before developing the class. The plan is to offer the class by mid-October.

Diacritics class
The September 8 diacritics class was cancelled due to the many absences caused by Hurricane Frances and has not been rescheduled yet.

Authorities classes
The authorities workflow continues to be finetuned. Three authorities-related classes were offered in the summer, and more are under consideration.

Serials cataloging class
While not directly related to Aleph, Naomi reported that CONSER training material has been ordered and will be used to conduct serials cataloging training for a new serials team created when the Serials Cataloging Unit was disbanded during the RS reorganization. There is sufficient training material to offer the class to interested Health Science Center Library and Law Library staff.

Macro Express
Julia announced that the September 3 Macro Express class had to be cancelled due to Hurricane Frances. The classes held thus far have been well received.

Authorities meeting at FCLA
Gerald, Priscilla, and Julia attended a meeting at FCLA with Mary Ann and Daniel to discuss global change functionality in Aleph as well as a few issues related to configuring reports. Gerald summarized his minutes from that meeting [Link to minutes]

STP checklists
Betsy reported that Michele is working on the Acquisitions STP checklist.

Betsy referred the group to the updated STP cataloging checklist located in the Public Folders/RS Aleph Cat STP. The checklist was also included in an e-mail to the group dated 9/2/04.

The checklist provides status information about a variety of Aleph functions and requested customizations. Cecilia asked the purpose of creating such a checklist. Its purpose is threefold:

Betsy reminded the group that the checklist is a work in progress and requested that group members send in additional items.

Link-checking
Information about link-checking needs to be added to the STP cataloging checklist. Betsy asked the status of efforts to establish a link-checking program for use with Aleph. While there is no link-checking program in place yet, Julia and others have been investigating options. Julia explained that Smathers has approximately 142,000 856 links. The first step in the process, with which Julia has been experimenting, is creating a file containing the Aleph system numbers and corresponding 856 links. Lawan said that the file must be an HTML file residing on a Web server. A linkblocker should be used for certain categories of records, such as selected journal aggregators, if required by license agreements, but Lawan pointed out this is accomplished through the link-checking program and does not necessitate eliminating the links from the Aleph file prior to running the link-checking program. Naomi cited a helpful resource, NISO's Link Checking Best Practices http://www.niso.org/linkcheck/NISOLinkCheck.html.

A question was raised about the need to check links in holdings records. Naomi and Cecilia explained it was decided some time ago not to put links in holdings records. This was previously considered as an alternative to housing links in bibs in order to prevent link loss due to inadvertent bib overlays.

Loaders
Julia reported that Genload is being used successfully to load YBP virtual and firm-order records. Aleph's "YBP loader", dubbed locally the "Vendor loader" because of its applicability beyond YBP, is being configured for loading YBP slip order records (EOCR) and, eventually, other vendor records (e.g., Casalini, Harrasowitz). In the future the CM Support Unit will assume responsibility for loading the YBP EOCR records when problems related to location inputting have been resolved.

LKR (Aleph linking field)
Aleph's LKR field provides a mechanism for linking bib records. Cecilia announced that Aleph's LKR functionality as described in the Ex Libris documentation is purported to allow up to 1,000 LKR fields per bib. However, we now understand the actual number is 99, which is still misleading because the LKR count in Aleph includes the records associated with the bib LKR (e.g., ITM, UP DN), effectively reducing the overall number of LKR fields that can be added to a bib to approximately 25. Information about the LKR field is available in the Cataloging Training Module, p. 51-54.

Format and Material Type in Web OPAC display
Betsy mentioned that the presence of the format and material type in the Web OPAC display may be causing confusion among staff and patrons. Recently, Shelley Arlen pointed out that it is misleading to have "Format BOOK" display for a microform publication, yet this format is the appropriate format for microforms. The format and material type Web OPAC displays are derived from coded data in the bib as opposed to textual data that can be revised by catalogers. Rich has been notified about the concern.

Browse and Keyword searches in Web OPAC
The Catalogers Training Group recently suggested that the Web OPAC be changed to default to the Browse search box rather than the Keyword search box, and Betsy forwarded this recommendation to Rich. Members of the training group shared comments from Public Service staff re. patrons not understanding why their searches yield many unwanted hits, and Naomi commented to the trainers that studies have shown most searches are for known items where browse searching is more precise.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 14, 10:00-11:30am, Library East Conference Room.