AUSTRALASIAN INNOVATIVE USER GROUP

Chair’s Report on IUG & Visit to III Emeryville 2013 IUG 24-26 April 2013 The following report aims to give an overview of the Conference and to pick out highlights from sessions I attended. Detail of individual papers will be available on the IUG web site and CSDirect.

http://csdirect.iii.com/documentation/presentation_archive.php

Opening Christine Rigda (IUG Chair) Kim Massana (III CEO) The conference opened with a brief video by III staff stating various key values of the company, followed by what can only be described as a musical, popstar welcome for Kim Massana, the new CEO, taking up the musical theme of the conference reception this year : 1970s -1990s music.

Kim began by introducing himself as being from Barcelona, with an Irish wife, and American children who regard themselves as English (Kim : “go figure!”). In terms of the Company, he emphasised the following

new strategic directions

new structure

international expansion, and he is keen to make III less US-centric

greater openess & engagement with customers

more collaboration with customers and third parties

more integration and development, to be vendor neutral Also regarding the company, Kim stated that they aim to increase their overall staffing by 40 people by the end of 2013. Kim’s first specific reference to products was to the partnership between III and Ebsco. More below. He went on to comment on the “unprecented” level of signup for Sierra. III realise there have been problems with Sierra. Sierra 2.0 is due for beta testing at the end of 2013. Kim also reiterated that III “remain totally committed to Millennium” as we as InnReach and Skyriver. The nest release for Millennium will commence beta testing in the first quarter of 2014. In 2013, IUG was able to offer 28 scholarships to fund attendance by US members. These are funded by the Gerry Kline Family Foundation. (BE : these are only available to US members). IUG also awarded Crystal Awards to attendees who have been to more than 15 IUG Conferences. They received a trophy and were taken to the baseball one evening in San Francisco.

Keynote speaker Garry Golden, Futurist

http://innovativeusers.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78:keynote-speaker&catid=19:upcoming-iug&Itemid=218 http://www.garrygolden.net/ http://www.garrygolden.net/IUG2013/ Garry’s main theme was that libraries need to identify possible futures, particularly in relation to areas such as

alternatives to formal learning

reaching out via online tools

places / spaces as a service Conference highlights Encore Reporter to be merged (back) into Decision Centre – for general release June 2013 http://csdirect.iii.com/documentation/presentations/iug2013_K05_D05.ppsx RDA Forum training issues Implementation at Universiy of Michigan Ken Wells (III)

RDA customers were surveyed

indexing is now offered for RDA fields, with the usual fee being waived

plans for Sierra o link to RDA toolkit o context sensitive help o material type icons for 33x fields o modified editor for 33x fields

Sierra I attended several sessions about Sierra. Most presenters spoke very favourably about the implementation and support from III and it was sometimes difficult to get beneath this rosy picture. As of 20 April, 173 sites had gone live with Sierra.

Implementation

Some sites commented that the project management supplied by III for Sierra implementation was excellent

“easiest migration ever”

went “very smoothly”

“painless”

Other sites thought the process was not so good.

testing, testing, testing

getting the timeline right

report all issues to Help Desk

don’t be scared by Sierra list-serv General issues

single interface for all modules praised – but note the admin stuff including authorisations is managed through a separate web interface

some sites found Sierra interface intuitive and did not offer formal staff training

new fields are available for searching in create lists

increased security between Sierra client and server

direct access to SQL database information e.g. fines payments

some create lists problems

printer settings not retained when switching users

Sierra Knowledge Base to be available on CSDirect Sierra Phase 2

more APIs

ebook integration

series holds

RDA functionality

“Sierra Everywhere” for mobile devices Partnership between III & EBSCO 95% of this session was in fact EBSCO going on about how good EDS was, with interminable comparisons with Summon etc. The III APIs enable –

EBSCO results to be included in Encore Synergy. In beta testing and to be in general release June 2013.

My Millennium data to be included in EDS (only for Sierra customers) CSDirect improvements

SalesLogix interface currently used for Encore to be rolled out for Millennium support

“calls” to be renamed “tickets”

ability to attach documents, images to tickets

great visibility and transparency for information, progress etc of tickets

Sierra Knowledge Base

new single support email - support@iii.com InnReach & ArticleReach III renew commitment to IR and AR

expanded product management team

refreshed product vision

renewed development effort The new software release will offer

enhanced matching

RDA support

link maintenance to update central database

airpac for IR

enhanced reporting e.g. o what titles are sites lending and borrowing? o how long from request to pickupo o collection development and rentention of data

Also planned is IR integration with the EBSCO EDS. Innovative Backstage “Backstage” as it was called this year is an extremely valuable feature of the Conference. Manned by III staff it is a great opportunity to follow up calls or issues and to put faces to names. Even people one has had altercations with in the past via email turn out to be very nice! Backstage also include the Quick Hits Theatre, where III devote 25 minute presentations to wideranging and enlightening topics e.g.

release updates

webpac displays

fiscal close

managing overdues & bills

Conference Dessert Reception

San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge

Cable cars

Alcatraz

Tiger cub & mum at San Francisco Zoo

Bruce Eames, Chair 2013-2014