The Solaris 2000.1 gold candidate is being installed today and should be officially released on October 9.  Scheduling of upgrades will begin after that.  At that time Voyager 98.1 will no longer be supported.

With Voyager 2000.1:

Acquisitions and serials are less click and key intensive and more forgiving.

Web OPAC interface is more “flexible” and “user-friendly.”

There is more integration of technical services modules:  “Cat in the Acq” and now “Acq in the Cat” functionality.

ILL functionality has been integrated into Voyager, however ILL is an optional module, with an additional cost.  This includes patron placed requests in OPAC and back-end tracking functions for staff.

Other new Endeavor Products to think about include:

1. Universal Catalog.  Sites maintain their existing database, export records and import them into Universal Catalog so that you don't have to set up Voyager Connections to the other libraries.

2.  Universal Borrowing is currently in Beta and is good for reciprocal borrowing 
            situations.

Universal Borrowing will utilize patron records from the various libraries sharing the
            system.

3.  Encompass is currently in Beta.  It consolidates access and management of all your electronic resources regardless of format or location: MARC, XML, Dublin Core, etc.  One search, one result set.

4.  Citation Server

5.  Imager Server

6.  Media Booking

Endeavor continues to work toward balancing both paper and electronic needs for its libraries.

There is a tiered support structure for maximum efficiency at Endeavor.

The level of response assigned by Endeavor could be:

Level 1, usually by phone is your first point of contact. This is where we go through a question and answer routine designed to help diagnose the problem.

Level 2 is where a support specialist takes over.  We should receive a personal response from Endeavor.  They will partner with us in order to determine what our priority is.

Level 3 is where a incident escalates to the Team Leads.

Level 4 is called Area 51.  (For those hard to get our stains.)  This is for highly
            technical issues.

Endeavor asks that before customers contact support they should be sure to:

            Read the documentation.

Sign on to SupportWeb and check the “Bugs and FAQ” database, also check for
            patches.

Once you have made sure you've checked the documentation and the support WEB, submit an incident via the SupportWeb form, phone, or email.

Always remember that if your system or module is down call Endeavor immediately.

Level 1: inoperable production system

Level 2: inoperable production module

Level 3: Other production performance related issues

Level 4: Non-performance related incidents

Level 5: Non-production issues (all “test server” issues)

Level 1: Highest priority

Level 3: Medium priority

Level 5: Lowest priority

1. Active

2. Awaiting resolution: determined to be a bug and is waiting for a fix from development; call if you want a status report.

3. Awaiting documentation:  Endeavor is waiting for more information from the customer.

4. Awaiting Verification:  Endeavor has provided a solution and is waiting to hear from customer verifying whether or not the solution worked.

5. Closed

Any incident can be escalated if the customer is not happy with the response.  Problems escalate in priority based on several factors:

Dave Carlson also mentioned that we could contact Andrea Kurs (spelling) if we needed additional copies of the manuals.

Q:  Is it true that with Voyager 2000, the Windows OPAC will no longer be supported.

A:  Yes, in addition there are no plans to change the “WEBvoyage” name at this time.  You can change it yourself on your catalog.  Windows OPAC will still be distributed, but there is no more development or support for this product.

Q:  Is staff searching changing? 

A:  In cataloging, no, but in acquisitions and circulation, since they are now 32-bit clients they will be changed.

Q:  Why do you recommend a 17-inch monitor for Voyager OPAC?

A:  Patrons have to do less scrolling on a 17-inch monitor.  Functionally things should be just fine, but there will have to be a lot more scrolling.

Q:  What report writing is used the most?

A:  90-95% use Microsoft Access because it is required for the Reporter Module.

Q:  Do all libraries wanting to take advantage of Universal Catalog have to be Voyager sites?

A:  No.  Real-time link to status information will be added in the future.

Q:  Could there be additional implementation support for small sites?  Are there changes to the way functional training sessions are conducted? 

A:  Endeavor is now splitting training into several sessions so that the training could happen closer to when it is needed.  This also allows there to be some time for libraries to try things out, to formulate questions and to ask at future training sessions.

Q:  Would Endeavor consider creating different versions of the documentation: one for technical folks, and one that is understandable.

A:  The new documentation is huge.

Q:  Are there any plans for ITV or online training sessions? 

A:  They are starting to think about it.  They did Acquisitions 2000 training sessions around the country and have a videotape of it - $25.00 per copy. Acquisitions 2000 training was the only training that Endeavor has offered for free so far.  Other training is a contractual issue and videotaping may not be allowed.

Q:  Several people expressed the desire of using the Voyager patron database for authentication to other databases.  For example, they want to search ProQuest Direct with the ProQuest Direct interface but have it authenticate against the Voyager patron database.

A:  Endeavor is exploring more issues related to authentication.

Q:  Security concerns were expressed from sites that use social security numbers for the patron logins. 

A:  SSL is an option that will encrypt the data on many web servers (recompile Apache with this module: modssl?).  Educational institutions can get it for free.  Sandi Gruver is already exploring this option for ORCA.

Q:  What will be needed in order to run Universal Catalog?

A:  Universal Catalog is a separate Voyager database.  You’ll not only need more disk space on your server, but you’ll need a separate server as well to do this.  The bib records are de-duped with holdings records from all the sites attached to them.  Cataloging will put records into the local database, and then export the records. and import them into the Universal Catalog.   It sounds like this could be used to share some cataloging.  Item status, as a feature of Universal Catalog, will be coming out at the end of the year.

Suggestion:  Endeavor should make the patch information clearer and differentiate between server patches and client patches.

Q:  What is Endeavor doing about Authority Control?

A:  Jane Burke has promised that Endeavor will send someone to discuss authority control at our next meeting and Dale Burke will go back to Chicago in order to be thoroughly trained in Voyager authority control.  Dale then plans to put on an Authority Control workshop for NWVUG and for VUGM 2001.

Q:  Concern was expressed about losing all of our WEBpac settings on the server after each upgrade.

A:  A preview catalog can be setup for testing before it is in production.  We can download the WEBvoyage structure (WEBvoyage binaries, configurations, html files, and clients) for the 2000 release.  We can try out various configuration settings and then just copy them over.  Dale Burke and Sandi Gruver will be exploring this issue in more depth in the next few weeks and will put out a separate message for ORCA staff.

Q:  If a library purchased Endeavor's EnCompass, would they still need ImageServer?

A:  Ideally, yes.  ImageServer will serve as an intermediate step for scanning the things, cataloging them in MARC and adding them to your database and it has some security controls.  EnCompass is designed for non-MARC resources, like searching the “Making of the America” information (an XML source), an ImageServer and a Voyager database simultaneously.

Q:  What is Endeavor doing about creating scripts to purge the patron database?

A:  This issue was discussed by the Circulation Task Force, but is not on their priority list for fixes to the circulation client.  I'm not sure this is really an issue only for the circulation client.  I believe this issue is more related to server maintenance.

The windows are designed using features similar to other Web resources.

The windows are designed to provide maximum use of screen real estate.

Many of the options are definable by the library, including the Header and Footer, the Toolbars on top and bottom, the Body colors, tab names, labels, the types of searches used in Find Results in, and limits set in Simple Limit.

Unwanted fields can be removed from the Course Reserve screen.

Limits can now be applied post-search.

The search results has a new look including a jump bar, library location (including temporary location) and status.

There is a “sort by” button to resort a result set and a button to “Post Limit” a result set.

Demo slide included Short View, Long View, MARC View – linked resources were displayed on both the Short and Long views.

Command search is still an option on the “simple search” screen and it can be set as the default.

Simple limits is much more flexible and can combine several criteria into a pre-set limit. 

These pre-set limits are easy to choose from the “Simple Limit” dropdown.

Search limits stay intact from search to search.

Post Limits are performed only on the titles in the Search Result list; it does not re-execute the search on the entire database.

Records can now be marked across pages by marking the first page, clicking on the retain selected button, going to the next page and repeating the process until all the desired records are marked.

Unicode display:  Non-Latin character sets will be displayed.

So how do you set all this up?  Answer: Very carefully! Once you have made decisions about how you will want your particular WEB catalog to look and work.

Leslie demonstrated the new version of WEBvoyage online.  The “Heading Search” option is gone!

There was a discussion about the relationship between the search configuration section of System Administration and the WEBvoyage files.  Currently 505t is not listed on the Search Definition screen – someone (everyone) should send in an enhancement request for this.

Stephanie Carter discussed the need to have a committee to find a place to hold the next meeting and serve as the point of contact for Endeavor.  There is a web archive of the listserv.  The group will explore the option of establishing a web site to post minutes and event notices.

We talked about having another meeting this year to have an Authority Control session conducted by Dale Burke.

We also talked about the need to have Voyager-specific report writing training.

The need was expressed to have breakout sessions for specific groups and that we need to encourage other staff at Voyager sites to attend.  We should have breakout sessions for the different modules:  Cataloging, Circulation, etc.