Tag: Ex Libris

Ex Libris Datacenter Migration and Outage

During Memorial Day weekend Ex Libris will migrate our cloud platform which includes Alma, QuickSearch(Primo VE), Leganto, and Esploro to a new datacenter.  From 9:00 PM on Saturday, May 29th until 09:00 PM Sunday, May 30th we expect the entire platform to be unavailable due to this migration activity.  The Ex Libris Implementation Team will be updating the libraries as the date approaches with more details.

Rialto

The technical implementation of Rialto is progressing well. The firm order buying cycle configuration is complete and work on transitioning the DDA from Oasis to Rialto will finalize soon. We hope to train Selectors on the use of Rialto over this coming summer.

Transition to ReShare

User request history in EzBorrow will not be migrated to ReShare. Instructions are being developed for users who wish to export this data in advance of the transition and will be shared in the near future.

As we approach the anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic and our move to online instruction, we are taking a moment to reflect on the past year in reserves. Throughout this year, we have made the leap from primarily physical reserves to a fully digital workflow that is solidly grounded in Alma processes and provided to users through Leganto. This effort included almost everyone in the libraries and was possible only through the hard work of our reserves units, public-facing staff and librarians, directors, and nearly every central unit.

Over the summer, Cabinet approved the Redesigning Reserves proposal to begin this transition. A few highlights from the completed work on this proposal include:

• Modifying reserves workflows to make use of new metadata fields in Alma to manage evolving reading list and citation statuses added through Leganto
• Moving and suppressing physical reserves items and the implementation of a chapter scanning workflow in QuickSearch to provide access to portions of these materials to users
• Adding the Reading Lists tool to the default course shell in Canvas and integrating a Canvas course load into Alma to facilitate the connection between these two systems
• Developing a focus group centered on improving fulfillment workflow processes, which reviewed the course reserves workflows and suggested modifications to improve efficiency and user experience
• Forming a copyright queue to address internal course reserves copyright approvals
• Changing the reserve workflow to center user communications in the local units and include liaisons and selectors at the correct points in the process
• Sunsetting the course reserves scope, which was centered around print reserves discovery, in favor of the reading lists tool and the Leganto Search, which includes reserves materials in all formats

While we are now successfully providing fully digital reserves for instructors and students, there are still ongoing changes. Some projects in process include:

• The Fulfillment Working Group and volunteer reserves units from Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick Douglass are testing a new reports strategy in Alma to help reserves units manage reading list and citation statuses.
• The Instructional Support Group is working on developing new documentation to help instructors create and populate their own reading lists and roll over their existing reading lists each semester to new courses.
• The Alma Digital Steering Group is creating an outline for how we might implement Alma Digital. This tool would change the reserves process in several important ways including integrated digitization processes, a move away from local server storage for reserves materials, the opportunity to review our reserves content for accessibility, and the potential to provide controlled digital lending.
• Cabinet will be reviewing a proposal focusing on student usage data collection in Leganto.

Thanks to all the work across the organization on reserves this year, we have not only successfully transitioned the course reserves process to digital instruction, but have improved on it in many significant ways. Though this was a year full of uncertainty and change, we have been able to build new connections across Rutgers and continue our mission to support teaching and learning through course reserves.

The new SOAR research portal, powered by Esploro, is now live and can be accessed at soar.libraries.rutgers.edu. Esploro helps advance SOAR’s mission to promote Rutgers scholarship by improving and extending our ability to collect and manage institutional research outputs.

Benefits of the new platform include:

• Simple, streamlined deposit of research outputs
• Integrated workflows for reviewing, approving, and managing deposits
• Support for over 50 resource types including articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, presentations, datasets, and creative works
• Automated capture of metadata from major scholarly publishers and indexes
• Automatic DOI registration for persistent identification and access
• Powerful analytics for tracking and measuring research impact
• A robust global infrastructure to ensure reliable and continuous availability

Additional enhancements are planned over the course of the next year that will further augment SOAR’s ability to capture publication data and provide a richer, more comprehensive picture of research activity at the university.

Please help us spread the word about SOAR to the Rutgers community. To facilitate this process, an outreach toolkit has been prepared and is available for download on the Staff Resources website at staff.libraries.rutgers.edu/communications/soar-esploro-outreach-materials. Inside, you will find resources including an email template, slide deck, flyers, known issues list, and other materials to help you communicate this change to your local users and stakeholders. For a brief introduction, watch Getting Started with SOAR.

Please note that all previously deposited assets have been migrated to the new platform and remain accessible via their assigned DOI. The following services previously offered through SOAR have been discontinued:

• “My Bibliography Link” – a shareable link to your personal collection of deposited works in SOAR
• “Faculty Survey Portal” – a custom portal allowing researchers to search your collection of works in SOAR

Last, but not least, I’d like to acknowledge the tireless work and dedication of the Esploro Working Group for getting this project off the ground (Kalaivani Ananthan, Marty Barnett, Abbey DiPaolo, Rhonda Marker, Chad Mills, and Geoffrey Wood) as well as the various colleagues who provided guidance and support along the way (Laura Mullen, Yingting Zhang, Amy Kimura, Sam McDonald, Dave Hoover, and Matt Badessa).

Please take some time to check out the new SOAR site and send any questions or comments to soar@rutgers.libanswers.com.