Managing a Three-Ring Circusupgrading Aleph, implementing Primo, and

maintaining support for a quarter million users

Kevin J. Collins & Allie VerbovetskayaCUNY Office of Library Services

IGeLU 2014 | Oxford, UK | September 16, 2014

Big Apple

• 1 city• 5 boroughs• 8.2 million residents (in 1,214 km²)• 120 institutions of higher education– 20% of those are part of the

City University of New York (CUNY)

College of Staten Island

Kingsborough CC

Brooklyn College

Medgar Evers College

NYCCT

York College

Queens College

LaGuardia CC

CUNY Law

Macaulay Honors College

John Jay College

Queensborough CC

Guttman CC

Borough of Manhattan CC

Hostos CC

Bronx CC

Lehman College

City College

Hunter College

Public Health

Journalism

SPS

Grad Center

Baruch College

Big University

• 1 university system, 24 campuses– 11 senior colleges– 7 community colleges– 5 graduate and professional schools– The Macaulay Honors College

• 6,700 full-time teaching faculty• 540,000 students

Big Library Committees

• 1 central library office, 21 individual libraries• 14 library committees

-7 Aleph-related-1 SFX-1 Primo implementation

-1 EZproxy-4 e-resource &

infrastructure

Big Dreams

Upgrade Aleph(v18 to v21)

Support 21 libraries

Implement Primo

Coming summer 2014!

Big SurprisesGreetings

from NYC!

ALEPH UPGRADE

Application Server 1

libadmin.cuny.edu

• Aleph Exadata database

Load Balancerlibsearch.cuny

.edu

Application Server 2

Primo / PDS

PC GUI, Z39.50, self-check, OCLC

Connexion

WWW Users (HTTP, X-Service, Z39.50)

Shared disc /exlibris/aleph/*

Environment

U-Tree

Stage Aleph 21

• Production Aleph 18

Config / DB Test

Aleph 21

Production Aleph 21

Phase 2: July 10 -25, 2014

Phase 1: March/April

2014

Config / DB

Config / DB

Phase 3: July 10 -25, 2014

Config / DB

Project Plan

Centralized Resource Center

Centralized Resource Center (cont’d)

Gotchas

Aleph Publishing for Primo• job_list

! Publishing for Primo - p_publish_06

W1 12:05:00 Y CUN01 p_publish_06CUN01,PRIMO-FULL,LAST-DATE,000000000,999999999,20140701,20170701,, /exlibris/primo_publishing,Y,16,/exlibris/primo_publishing/scratch,Y

• /xxx01/prof_library

setenv p_publish_06_block 20000

PRIMO IMPLEMENTATION

Rigging

• Primo procurement• Advisory committee– Small– Representative

• Branding– Name– Logo

Execution

• Primo certification at ELUNA• Ex Libris training• Aleph cleanup• Input from advisory committee

Finale

• Usability testing• Soliciting & incorporating feedback• Continuing to improve UI

Current UI

Proposed UI

Words of Wisdom

• Ask questions• Get your hands dirty• Check your setup• Nag Ex Libris• Be flexible

SUPPORT MAINTENANCE

Business as Usual

• …with improvements!– Streamlined service requests– Tutorials for answers to frequently asked questions

QUESTIONS?

Kevin CollinsAleph Systems Librariankevin.collins@cuny.edu

Allie VerbovetskayaWeb & Mobile Systems

Librarianalevtina.verbovetskaya@cun

y.edu