Author: Dave

CODI 2005 – Day Two (am)

Now You’ve Bought Web Reporter, So What? …So You’ve Bought Web Reporter, Now What? (Thurman Smith – thurman.smith@sirsidynix.com)
As we’ve just put our order in for Web Reporter, I’m trying to attend as many of the Web Reporter sessions as possible!
Thurman based his session on one he runs regularly (that should be freely available on the SirsiDynix web site?)
Here are my notes…

  • Web Reporter has over 100 general reports built in
  • due to differing databases, some of the delivered reports are broken but support are able to fix them
  • desktop client software used by Web Reporter admins, but end users use the web portal (i.e. web browser)
  • Web Reporter comes with 3 levels of users:
    • Web Reporter User – least powerful, can run/print reports (but cannot export to Word/Excel)
    • Web Analyst – also export reports, can create reports from a template (but not from scratch)
    • Web Professional – also create reports from scratch, can save new reports to the public folders (where other users can access them)
  • …there’s also an Administrator login, but it wasn’t too clear when this should be used
  • Web Reporter monitors the named users (rather than simultaneous users), but (ignoring ethics, etc) several users could share the same named login
  • because MetaData is stored in the Horizon database, it gets backed up when you run your main Horizon backup process
  • terminology:
    • facts – columns in the database that contain numeric data that it makes sense to run calculations against (e.g. age, number of CKOs) – facts are not displayed in reports, but are wrapped in metrics
    • attributes – all other columns (e.g. borrower name
    • metrics – calculations on facts (e.g. the number of times a book has been checked out in a month)
    • filters – return a subset of results that make sense (e.g. filter by certain borrower types), this is the same as the SQL “where” clause
    • prompts – allow you to create an option that allows the user to specify specific choices (e.g. which locations do you want to run the report against?)
  • you can create new folders for each user, location, etc and then copy the reports that they want into them
  • some of the Web Reporter reports duplicate Horizon Item Editor reports
  • reports can be easily manipulated – e.g. “page by” location can be dragged down into the report to show all locations in a single report (but only Web Analyst/Pro can do that)
  • to print reports, use the built-in Web Reporter print icon rather than using the web browser print button
  • Web Reporter uses a cache, so that running the same report again will display the cached version – but the administrator can define how long the cached version is valid for (i.e. how long before it becomes stale)
  • metrics must always appear on the right-hand side of the report – you can add more than one metric to a report
  • if you modify one of the default reports, then you should save it to a new folder (or it might get overwritten by a project upgrade)
  • you need OLAP services to get the full functionality (do we even have this?!?!?)
  • easy to add totals to a report
  • you can view the SQL that runs by looking at the “report details” (in one of the drop-down menus)
  • the look & feel for each report can be easily changed using “auto styles”
  • for reports that take a long time to run, use the subscription options to schedule the report to run:
    • make sure that the schedule times are realistic (i.e. not the every 15 minute default)
    • scheduled reports sit in the cache waiting to be viewed
    • try to avoid running scheduled reports at the same time as Day End, etc
    • to email reports to the user, you need to use NarrowCast
  • NarrowCast might be an optional extra purchase (I don’t remember it being listed in our Web Reporter quote – I hope we get it!!!)
  • you need to be careful not to filter by too many options, otherwise you might end up with no results

CODI 2005 – Day One (pm)

For the afternoon, I headed to the Corinthian sessions…
Overview of Corinthian Modules (Jolynn Halls)

  • Horizon 8 brings a few terminology changes – the major one being that locations are now called “agencies”. Agencies can be at a much granular level than a location and they work in a heirarchy that allows sub-agencies to inherit their settings from the parent agency. So, changing a setting at a top level agency also changes the settings in the sub-agencies.
  • All types of records (item, bib, borrower, etc) support “record ownership”, so that audit trails of any changes can be viewed.
  • Calendar exceptions can now be set to repeat automatically (e.g. you just need to set up Christmas Day once).
  • Day End as we know it has gone, and you have much more control over how scheduled tasks (which run on the server) execute – for example, you can set Horizon 8 up to generate hold notifications every hour. As these tasks all run on the server, you don’t need to have a dedicated workstation running 24/7 anymore.
  • All of the CIRC rules have been brought together into a single place.
  • Custom block types – new types can be easily created.
  • All of the interface labels can be easily changed – e.g. “patron” can be changed to “borrower”. Different agencies can use different terminology (e.g. one could have “students”, another “patrons”).
  • Staff accounts can be set to expire on a specific date – useful if you have student workers.
  • The security role manager now supports a hierarchy/tree structure, making it much easier to set up roles and also to allow “read only” access to certain tasks / modules.
  • Indexing has been built into the Horizon client, and it’s also much easier to index everything.
  • Cataloguing sees much more control over the import process, with many more options for overlaying.
  • For CIRC, there’s the ability to display borrower photographs. Also, borrower details are now based on the vCard standard (e.g. separate fileds for first name, surname, etc).

Corinthian System Administration and Overview of Security (Shelley Neville, aka The ACQ Queen)
Some of Shelley’s presentation repeated things Jolynn had covered in her session (see above), so I’ve missed those out…

  • You can create sub-administrators for each agency (aka location).
  • There’s a new feature called a “protected domain” – this basically defines the data(base) areas relevant to each agency, e.g. you can set it up so that location A can’t change location B’s data.
  • No need to set up a different agency/location if you want to have different CIRC rules for a portion of the stock (e.g. at Huddersfield we currently have a separate Short Loan location because the CIRC rules need to be different than for the main stock).
  • Creating new agencies is easy, as they automatically inherit the settings from their parent agency – from there, you can easily go in and make any relevant changes (i.e. exceptions).
  • Staff can log in with a common login, but you can set up certain transactions to require the staff member to log in using their own username/password. For example, you could log your CIRC desk PCs in using a common login, but to override a fine, the member of staff would need to authorise it by entering their own personal login. That means you get a proper audit trail.
  • Almost everything generates an audit trail, so you can easily see who broke/deleted things.

CODI 2005 – Day One (am)

Following on from Pat, the Horizon 8 development team got 10 minutes each to wow us with the new features in each module – the biggest cheer of all was for the graphical prediction pattern tool in the Serials module 🙂
For what it’s worth, here are my brief notes of those features:

  1. ACQ
    • “research” button that shells out to a chosen web site (e.g. Amazon / Dawson EnterBooks, etc)
    • multiple VIP
    • hold can be placed on patron selections, ready for when stock finally arrives
  2. CAT
    • record management – easy method of creating item lists from multiple search criteria
    • batch edit of items in any item list – these changes can be temporary (changes can be restored later on) or permanent
    • URL checker – item level, built in web browser, easy change of 856 link via browser, schedule full URL check of catalogue (inc. domain exclusions)
  3. CIRC
    • quick access of patron records from nav bar
    • multiple email addresses from patrons
    • patron records can be easily linked together
    • checked out items automatically appear on screen
    • requests can be grouped and prioritised
    • requests groups – can set up many requests, but have them cancelled when X copies have been fulfilled
  4. Serials
    • check-in – pre check-in notes (e.g. processing instructions), quick access to check-in history, audit trails (inc. staff info)
    • graphical calendar for prediction patterns
  5. HIP 4.1
    • Kids PAC – channels
    • ADA
    • multi language
    • Howard Country – created their own skin
  6. ERM (PowerPoint slides)
    • processes can be allocated to individuals, with automatic alerting to let them know when new tasks are ready
  7. Web Reporter 1.4
    • generate notices (send via NarrowCast)

My notes from Ed Riding’s ERM Module session are here (login required).

CODI 2005

Sunday afternoon
Well, it turned out that half of Minneapolis got to Hell’s Kitchen ahead of us, and the wait for a table was 90 minutes. Instead, we finished up at Caribou Coffee (next door to Brit’s Pub) for breakfast.
We wanted to get something to feed the Loring Park squirrels with, but all we could find at Target was a catering sized pack of “Squirrel & Critter food” …so, we ended up buying that!
Within minutes of arriving at Loring Park, we were surrounded by dozens of hungry squirrels – a few are even tame enough to eat straight from your hand:

CODI 2005

Sunday morning
The start of our 2nd full day in Minneapolis and the last of the jetlag has finally gone. Outside it’s grim and murky – ideal for making the English abroad feel just like they’re back home 🙂

…at least the weather here is still better than what we left behind in the UK:

Yesterday morning we wandered off to try and find somewhere for breakfast but, after strolling up and down Nicollet Mall and Marquette Ave South, the best we could find was a small Starbucks. So today, we’ve done a bit of research and decided the nearby Hell’s Kitchen looks like a good place to go!
We were surprised how few people there where walking around the streets at 9am on a Saturday morning. It wasn’t until we were heading back to the hotel that we realised that they’ve got more sense than to wander around on a chilly morning – they’re all using the Skyway system. I can’t think of a single city in the UK that has one of these.
After freshening up, we walked up to Nicollet and jumped on the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit and went to the Mall of America ($1.50 each way). My jetlag caught up with me, and the huge 50ft Snoopy in the center of the Mall started looking really surreal – I half expected it to come alive and start a rampage 😀
Bryony was well chuffed with the Hello Kitty store, although the promised appearance of the eponymous feline at 12pm failed to materialise. Given my hazy jetlagged state, that was probably a good thing!
In the afternoon I headed off to the Summit meeting, whilst Bryony went to Loring Park, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and the Walker Art Center.

CODI 2005 – Minneapolis

Bryony and myself are off to the CODI (Customers of Dynix Inc) Conference in Minneapolis at the start of November and I’m hoping to blog as much as the conference as possible.
As there’ll be several other conference blogs, I might go for a UK slant on things – so expect stuff like “by ‘eck – it cold enough here to freeze the knickers off a vicar’s wife!” and other comments about the weather & lack of decent tea making facilities 😉
At the moment, the only other blog URL I’ve got is for Kelli Staley’s ‘Brary Web Diva (www.kellistaley.com/blog.htm).
As a Brits abroad, I suspect we might have to go and gawp at the Brit’s Pub. Apparently it’s exactly like stepping into a real pub in the UK – it’s got pictures of the Royal family on the wall and a bowling green on the roof.
Bryony’s also discovered that there’s a “Hello Kitty” store in the Mall of America, so I suspect she might spend at least half of the week in there!

new UK “Psycho” release


To anyone thinking of buying the new region 2 release of Psycho, my advice would be…

…don’t bother!

To be honest, I’m getting utterly tired of the way Universal UK is treating Hitchcock fans and this release is just another shining example of how little the UK branch of the company cares.
First of all, the film transfer is exactly the same one they used for the original 1999 release in the UK – the bitrate graphs are exactly the same.
For crying out loud – it says “SPECIAL EDITION” on the packaging! What on earth is special about re-re-releasing a 6 year old transfer that was regarded as being poor to start with?
Secondly, we have the extras… but wait, where’s the excellent 94 minute “Making of” documentary that’s been available on every US release of the DVD since 1999? Heck, it even appeared in the UK Psycho Collection set! Sadly, it’s not included in this so-called “special edition”.
Instead of that, we get the heavily edited “AFI Salute” (15 minutes instead of the original 71 minute broadcast) and the “Masters of Cinema” interviews (again, edited down to 34 minutes from the original 55 minutes).
So, don’t even think about buying this DVD – put the money towards getting the US “Masterpiece Collection” instead!

advance notices / pre-overdues

Once again, apologies for the delay in getting the script available!

introduction

At Huddersfield, we’ve recently gone live with a bespoke Perl script for generating pre-overdue emails:

advanceNotices.pl
settings.ini

To run the script, use the following command:

perl advanceNotices.pl settings.ini

You can use multiple settings files and then just tell the script which settings to use, e.g.:

perl advanceNotices.pl settings1.ini
perl advanceNotices.pl settings2.ini

To run the script, you’ll need the following:

  1. an installation of Perl (e.g. ActivePerl for Windows)
  2. the following Perl modules:
  3. a working ODBC connection to your Horizon database – if you use ODBC for EasyAsk or ReportSmith, then that should do

The script also expects to be able to create log files and these are stored in a subdirectory called logs – create this subdirectory within the directory where you’ve got the script. So, if you run in the script in C:scripts, then create the subdirectory C:scriptslogs.
To use the script, you’ll need to edit the “settings.ini” file and also make a couple of small changes to the Perl script.

the “settings.ini” file

The “settings.ini” file contains the following settings that the script uses to generate the emails:

  • days_in_advance

    The number of days in advance to check for items due back – e.g. if you set it to 1 and run the script on a Monday, then it will generate emails for items that are due back on the Tuesday.
  • debug

    Set this to either yes or no – if set to yes then all emails will be sent to the address(es) specified in the debug_email setting rather than to the patron. You should leave this set to yes until you’ve finished your testing!
  • debug_email

    If debug is set to yes, then all email notices are sent to the address(es) listed in this setting. To send to multiple addresses, separate each address with a space.
  • summary

    Set this to either yes or no – if set to yes then the script will send a summary email to the email address(es) specified in summary_email
  • summary_email

    If summary is set to yes, then a summary email is sent to the address(es) listed in this setting. To send to multiple addresses, separate each address with a space.
  • smtp_server

    Set this to the IP address (or DNS name?) of your SMTP server.
  • email_replyto

    Set this to the email address that the notices should appear to have come from – this is also used as the “reply to” address.

The remaining settings are used to decide which types of borrowers and items are suitable for sending the notices. If you want to send notices to all patrons for all types of items, then simply leave each of the settings blank.
If you prefer to fine tune the borrowers / items, then you need to set up suitable inclusions or exclusions.
So, if you have a specific list of borrower types that you want to send the notices to, then list them in the inclusion settings.
Alternatively, if you have a specific list of borrower types that you don’t want to send the notices to, then list them as an exclusion.
However, don’t try setting both a borrower type inclusion and exclusion, as that doesn’t make sense!
For example, if you only want to send emails to borrower types STU, FTP and PRE, then you’d use:

btype_include         STU FTP PRE

As well as borrower types, you can also add inclusions or exclusions for collection codes, itype codes and location codes.
In the example “settings.ini” file that I’ve posted are the settings we use at Huddersfield. If you look at it, you’ll see that we don’t send emails to lef borrower types (which stands for “left”) and we don’t send notices for the SL location (which is Short Loan).
If you want to, you can create multiple settings files – for example, you might want to send 1 day in advance for everyone except part-time borrowers, and then have another file that’s set up to send 3 days in advance to only the part-time borrowers.

setting up the script

As well as setting up the “settings.ini” file, you need to make a small chance to the script to set up your ODBC connection information. These changes need to made near line 100:

my $dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:ODBC:REPORTSMITH',
      'report', 'abc123', { RaiseError => 1 });

You’ll need to change:

  1. REPORTSMITH – change this the name of your ODBC connection
  2. report – change this to your ODBC connection username
  3. abc123 – change this to your ODBC connection password

final notes

  • At Huddersfield, the script runs daily on the HIP server as a scheduled task.
  • There’s a few lines of code that are commented out relating to providing a direct secure link to the patron’s “items out” page in HIP. Let me know if providing this kind of functionality in your notices is of interest, and then I’ll send you further details of how to do this.
  • You can probably guess that the script isn’t for the faint hearted! If you’re looking for an easy method of implementing pre-overdues, then you might want wait until Dynix build the functionality into Horizon or maybe take a look Alpha-G Consulting solution.
  • I can only offer limited support for the script (d.c.pattern@hud.ac.uk), but I’ll try and make sure that any bugs get fixed.
  • If you spot any errors in these instructions, please let me know!

Finally – have fun and I hope the script comes in useful!

Horizon “reconst” in Perl

Apologies to everyone who was interested in this for the delay in getting it posted!
The Horizon database stores several fields (e.g. title, author, etc) in the format “processed” / “reconst”, where the “processed” column contains the text stripped of punctuation and the indefinite/definite article, and “reconst” contains the stripped characters.
For example, the title “The great Aussie fashion : Australian fashion designers 1984-1985 /” is stored in Horizon as:

processed:
    great Aussie fashion Australian fashion designers 1984 1985
reconst:
    <M /7R-M: MThe

The “processed” version of the title is much more suitable for sorting than the original title.
Browsing through the Horizon mailing list archive, I came across a set of instructions for interpreting the “reconst” value.   As we generate a lot of custom HTML reports at Huddersfield, I decided to have a stab at coding the instructions in Perl:

reconstructTitle.txt

To use it in your own Perl script, just paste the subroutine in and call it with the “processed” and “reconst” strings, e.g.:

reconstructTitle( $processed, $reconst );

I’ve only used the code for reconstructing titles so far, but it might also work with author names, call number, etc.
The code is definitely “beta” and I’m not sure if it handles every “reconst” command yet, but feel free to make use of it.  If you can improve it, please do!