Bye Bye Aleph & Mango, Hello Alma & Primo: Home

Project Presentations

Below is a list of recordings for all major meetings and/or presentations related to the ILS Implementation Project. Many of these sessions were open and available to all library staff and cover topics that touch on all aspects of the project. Click on the corresponding link to view the presentation. Slides and other information may also be available.

Last updated March 31, 2021 - Table mostly taken from FALSC Next Gen ILS Implementation LibGuide 

The content below is duplicated from the official FALSC website solely for your convenience - one stop shop.

Only the recordings from week 2 will live here. The remainder will (most likely) be posted on a date in the near future here: https://falsc.libguides.com/ILS-Implementation/spring_ws_recordings 

Spring Workshop Recordings

FALSC have made the recordings of each session of the workshops available for staff to watch. The recordings listed below are from the Week 2 workshop held March 8-11, 2021. The presenter for all sessions was Pam Tejes from Ex Libris.

Please use these recordings as a refresher or to catch up on a session that you could not attend. However, they are not a substitute for the for the live, interactive sessions that are currently being offered each week until May 6th.  

Also, it is imperative that if you cannot attend the Introductory session offered each Monday morning from 9:30-10:30am, but you are attending other sessions later in the week, that you watch the recording of the Introductory session. For instance, if you registered to attend one or more sessions on Fulfillment (Circulation) which are offered on Wednesday and Thursday, you should either attend the Monday morning session or watch the recording listed on this page. Information given in the Introduction session will not be repeated explicitly in other sessions.

[Note: There were two technical issues during the workshop that temporarily halted the session and stopped the recording. Because of this, the first part of session 3 and the second part of session 8 have multiple recordings.]

Switch to Go Live Timeline

All institutions will go live on Alma/Primo VE on Tuesday, July 13, 2021.

In order to successfully transition all data from Aleph to Alma, it will be necessary to pause various system processes and services currently available to library staff and patrons. Below is a timeline that details when these processes and services will be affected. Please be assured that the dates listed were not made arbitrarily, but rather after numerous discussions between FALSC and Ex Libris; both keeping in mind the amount of time needed to successfully convert the data and the desire to allow the least amount of disruption to library services as possible.

March 1, 2021 - May 7, 2021 - Ex Libris Spring Workshops

March 10, 2021 - Functionality Testing Officially Begins

FALSC New ILS Implementation Timeline (All Phases): https://falsc.libguides.com/ILS-Implementation/timeline 

Eight Working Groups:

1. Acquisitions/Serials
2. Cataloging Authorities
3. Circulation/Resource Sharing
4. Discovery
5. E-Resources Management
6. Joint Use
7. Systems/Reports
8. Training

They want YOU !

To facilitate this broad participation, FALSC has set up eight discussion lists, one for each working group, where any library staff can subscribe. Each working group is obligated to post notes from each of their meetings to their respective discussion list and monitor all messages posted to it. The working groups are also encouraged to post questions to the list asking for input. They may also sponsor open web meetings from time to time to invite discussion on a particular topic. These lists are a wonderful way to stay informed and contribute to the project.

Feel free to subscribe to as many of these lists as you want. Joining a list is pretty straightforward, and instructions are listed below.

How to join an Alma/Primo VE Implementation Discussion List

1. Use the links below to join one of our ILS Implementation Discussion Lists:

ILS-ACQ-SER-DISCUSSION https://listserv.flvc.org/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ILS-ACQ-SER-DISCUSSION&A=1

ILS-CAT-AUTH-DISCUSSION  https://listserv.flvc.org/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ILS-CAT-AUTH-DISCUSSION&A=1

ILS-CIRC-RS-DISCUSSION   https://listserv.flvc.org/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ILS-CIRC-RS-DISCUSSION&A=1

ILS-DISCOVERY-DISCUSSION  https://listserv.flvc.org/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ILS-DISCOVERY-DISCUSSION&A=1

ILS-ERM-DISCUSSION  https://listserv.flvc.org/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ILS-ERM-DISCUSSION&A=1

ILS-JOINT-USE-DISCUSSION   https://listserv.flvc.org/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ILS-JOINT-USE-DISCUSSION&A=1

ILS-SYS-REP-DISCUSSION   https://listserv.flvc.org/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ILS-SYS-REP-DISCUSSION&A=1

ILS-TRAINING-DISCUSSION   https://listserv.flvc.org/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ILS-TRAINING-DISCUSSION&A=1

2. In the form that appears, enter your name and Email address.

3. Click Subscribe to sign on to the list. 

4. You will receive a confirmation email from LISTSERV.  Click the verification link to complete your subscription. 

Some early notes for March, from various sources. Additional notes will be added to the March tab through 3/20/21

• Alma workshops have begun. Recordings have not been posted yet to my knowledge.
• Functionality testing will begin Wednesday, 3/10/21.
• Primo VE seems to be the focus for bonus Friday webinars from FLVC this month. 
• Primo sign in (SSO OR Alma) Alma option is for FALSC employees
• Alma Analytics Overview – ALL Staff Teams Event - Tue 3/9 1-2:30PM - recording is now posted

Primo customizations – We can do our own (to a point) or have FALSC do it for us – After playing around a bit, we opted to go with the FALSC version using our branded colors & it’s now on our live site.  

Analytics webinar – hopefully staff all understand what needs to be created & what already exists, etc.

FALSC- Working on 3^rd party integrations.

• SSO is working well so far – yea!
• IT staff is now testing patron loads – 7-8 institutions have passed & are done.
  • Nothing received from 12-13 Half of these conveyed they wouldn’t get around to this till late May
  • Other half – 6-7 institutions haven’t heard anything from their IT dept at all!
  • If you are one of these, get with your IT dept (We are not - Ours was submitted on time :-)
  • None of the submissions were perfect the first time – don’t want to delay too long.
  • FALSC will be making an edited version of their tracking spreadsheet so we will be able to see when our patron load passes.

Latest Timeline

• Built from go-live going backwards (FALSC & ExLibris have their own timeline – very detailed to coordinate tasks)
• Full timeline has been in our February folder in PIE (printer friendly) – now duplicated in full on the “Implementation Timeline” tab in box above (old overview timeline is on the archived 2020 page in this LibGuide).

May 1^st - UBorrow is suspended (UBorrow demo for Alma – beginning of April – You should have received an email invite from me on 3/11 to register for this)

May 27^th COB – Tech Services Freeze Begins – (6-week freeze) this is as tight as they could make the timeline.

• No Adding, Modifying, or Delete of ANY RECORDS in Aleph for the 6 weeks till Go Live.

• Some FALSC staff are scheduled after this point with tasks to accomplish by the hour.

May 28^th – FALSC copies EVERYTHING from Aleph Production Server

• Do not add/modify/change ANY RECORDS.
• FALSC can’t technically FREEZE or lock down cataloging or course reserves w/o also freezing circ. Any changes made in Aleph after May 27th will NOT be reflected in Alma…  (Just don’t – could potentially cause a circ problem or other issues.)

June 15^th – Alma Configuration Freeze

• Can continue making changes up till the 15^th – then that’s it.

June 28^th – Automated processes cease in Aleph  - EXCEPT those directly affecting circulation

July 2^nd – Patron loads stop

July 8^th COB - Fulfillment (circulation) freeze Friday 9^th – 12^th

Use offline circ program or something else… FALSC will host a How to use Alma offline circ software special webinar – details much later

July 9^th – Aleph placed into “read only” mode till July 2022 (1 year)

July 13^th - A BRAND NEW DAY

• Download & upload circ from Alma offline circ at beginning of the day
• Most things will start back up in Alma
• Patron file loads can begin
• Mango – “read only” mode w/ banners until Sept 30th

Q&A - The was some discussion and concerns about vendor records, acquisitions,.. – not us!

Love timelines and want to know more?

FALSC added a new tab on their implementation timeline page for the “Go-Live Phase” (An overview of their To-Do’s for those that are interested) - https://falsc.libguides.com/ILS-Implementation/timeline

Spring workshops – 10 weeks of training. There are 9 sessions & the first session is an intro session.

• Can sign up for only specific sessions BUT – should attend an introductory session prior to any of the other sessions. The recording for the intro session held during week 2 is below.
• Note: A recording is NOT as good as attending live. Nice to be able to ask questions, interact with Ex Libris trainer.

• There are FALSC staff at each session that are subject specialists for those specific sessions. Ex/Acquisitions – Jay, Circulation - Chrissy or Clayton
• They help the trainer get the training across – for us (related to how we are already set up).

Survey Update

• ILL – 28 institutions responded – need to hear from the others.
  • Results are being compiled by Chrissy.
  • Will be deciding how to replicate that functionality in Alma.
• Patron Loads (coming soon) – need to set up the routine.             
  • Ex Libris has parameters during which patron uploads can occur.
  • Will need to be more specifically defined for each institution.
  • How often do we (can we) provide a file? Get with Dean/Director/IT staff.

Q&A:

Potential training for after Go Live - Link ebooks to ERM

OMG - So many important meetings for February - many of which you will probably want to watch or at least view the slides for. 

Where are these slides & recordings? 

So glad you asked! Why, they are now in the box above this one on the "FALSC &/or Ex Libris Presentations". FALSC just added a similar table to their LibGuide today & I totally stole it! (With Daves' permission of course - got it in writing!) 

Biggest takeaways from the multiple February meetings so far:

*We received one of our two BIG Valentine’s Day gifts from FALSC late Tuesday 2/9/21 afternoon - Our instance of Alma (replacing - Aleph) 

We will get our instance of Primo VE (replacing - Mango) sometime next week

There are 2 links to our Alma instance & 1 to the Network Zone. All three links and their explanations are in the “It’s Finally Here” box on this page, as well as at the top of the Play Zones tab in our Alma/Primo VE training checklist.

Next 3 weeks: Get comfortable searching & verify our data migrated “correctly.”

We were instructed NOT to Change ANY data until the end of the month (when functional/workflow testing will begin.

•             Remember – The Data was frozen as of October 31^st
•             Anything we’ve changed in Aleph since 10/2020 will not be in Alma 
•             See an issue with a record – look for more records with the same issue. Can you find a pattern? (take screenshots if possible)
• Also make note of any slowness in Alma – document day, time, browser, where were you in Alma, what were you trying to do, etc… (this was an issue with the Vanguard libraries, but should be fixed).

A few things to spot check:

Data:

• Did all the data we wanted to migrate actually migrate?
• Check record counts – migration stats report, Alma search results vs Aleph totals
• Check records – data in the correct place, errors
• Any rejections (on statistics tab)
• Identify cleanup we may want to do before &/or after migration

Users:

• Correct user groups
  • External – Updated by the external system – patron upload. Anyone marked INTERNAL will NOT be updated
• Check the fields – is the phone #, address, etc… in the correct field 
• Note– emails were scrubbed so we don’t accidentally spam all our users during the testing period :-)

*We were also gifted with multiple documents that initially appeared torturous, but now seem much less so. FALSC (with the help of Aleph) has prepopulated most of the answers! We basically need to double check them and see if anything needs to be changed.  Copies of all those documents are in the “February FALSC Alma Documents” folder in PIE. This link also lives at the top of the Play Zones tab in our Alma/Primo VE training checklist. (Things that do not pertain to us (ex/ Acquisitions) should be left blank).

Remember - We need you!

• If you find something that may be an error or a cause for concern, add it to our shared Got a Question/Comment document that lives on the LibGuide at the bottom of the current month’s to-do list. That new tab is called “Uh Oh… Alma Instance Issues”. 
• Try to look for patterns before adding a single isolated issue. Then we can each look for additional issues before reporting them to FALSC. *Try to take screenshots and document the issues as best you can. After being reported, it will most likely head to the Full 40 “Known Issues” spreadsheet, which lives here: http://bit.ly/3791Qbs along with various other fun things....

Next Friday – “Open hours” meeting – Topic: NEW eresource activation worksheets… linking parameters (looking forward to cutover) – Jarrod & Shannon will attend.

UBorrow - Stop date before cutover - Tentatively 5/1/21. There will be additional information about this later.

March – May: Functional testing, & workshops, & setting up of 3rd party integration, Oh my!

Overview/Status of the Alma Implementation (as of 1/13/21)

• FALSC has been busy focusing on our Primo configuration worksheets
• Working groups will start getting together again this month
• On schedule for full test load phase - February 9th
• Update on Alma Essentials Training: 
  • Now called “New Alma Essentials Training” 
  • Same content but updated images of the new user interface

Webinars / Workshops / Trainings

• Spring “workshops” (not “trainings”) – Renegotiated between FALSC & Ex Libris, since they will be virtual
  • There will be a total of Ten – 4 or 5 day virtual workshops + Five additional follow up workshops after go live
  • Virtual workshops will be capped at approximately50- 60 attendees. Training sessions will be limited to make it easier for attendees to ask questions. There will be a sign up form (not created yet)
  • 1^st workshop will include working group members & FALSC staff and possibly (more than likely not) ILS coordinators. (A couple ILS coordinators expressed a strong interest in their teams being able to attend the same workshops.)
  • Other 9 workshops – all other interested library staff
    • Format: 2 – 2.5 hours in the morning and 2 – 2.5 hours in the afternoon – topics to be covered will be communicated - individuals will be able sign up for the entire course OR just a given session 
    • Tentatively - 1^st week of March – 1^st week of May
  • The Training Working Group is working on a webinar detailing pertinent workshop info including details about the sign-up form, dates, etc… - Webinar should be sometime in the next month. 
  • NEW INFO as of 1/25/21: The first workshop open to all library staff will be March 8-11 (the last May 3-6 which is also the final week of Spring Term at Polk).The main focus of the workshops are to go through and explain workflow issues with Alma. They are not intended to give staff step-by-step instructions how to do a particular function. Therefore, it is imperative that staff who attend these workshops have some knowledge of Alma. Library staff should have completed the Alma Essentials online training modules. FALSC is working on a couple of open sessions regarding Primo VE. These will be scheduled separately and will be later this spring (April – May). I know many ILS coordinators want their teams to attend during the same week, but I think we need to addend different weeks to maintain adequate coverage on AAL. This is assuming we are all planning to take advantage of the training.
• Other Webinars:
  • Recording: eresource webinar on December 9^th included good info – link on FALSC website reported as not working – FALSC will fix
  • Upcoming
    • February 9^th - Webinar for Local Implementation teams for full test load phase – invite will go out next week

• • • February 16^th - Primo first look webinar
    • March 9^th – Ex Libris Webinar Alma Analytics

Reports subgroup of the Systems-Reports Working Group

• Asked the other Working Groups to compile lists of reports necessary for Day One of the new system, as well as those reports that would be ‘nice to have’.
• Out of the Box reports from Alma Analytics: http://bit.ly/3oKxfrn
• Aside – we will be tweaking reports for months to come….

End of February – timeline for the freeze for “cutover” will be finalized. (cataloging, circ)

• Related – Uborrow – how soon should we shut down the lending service on Aleph to come up live on Alma – this will need to be done earlier… materials need to get back to their home library. None of the requests or items in transit in Aleph ILL will be transferred over. Only the loans will transfer over. You’ll have to refer back to the original Aleph if that info is needed.
• Shut down other ILL systems as well? (USF uses Illiad….)

Updates on Work by ILS Coordinators

• Primo VE Forms – received about 30 forms 
  • FALSC sent in default settings for any institution that did not submit a form 
  • FALSC was surprised more institutions did NOT ask for a digital collection to be uploaded. Training session in mid feb/march – how to add additional digital collections
  • DISC – resource type settings for any digital collections for FALSC, in the hope the digital collections will be correct. That meeting is overlapping with this meeting. They are working on it!
• User Role Forms 
  • Received 22 forms so far
  • Can put “All” for staff doing work for multiple branches
  • Shift in previous instructions - If staff will not be doing “testing” no need to add them… If you have the time, go ahead & set them up. We will keep our members listed (I think the shift in guidance is because FALSC wants to make sure they get something submitted for every institution, instead of having an all or nothing situation.)
  • There will be some generic accounts for testing purposes – not planning to use those accounts after go live
  • With Alma we will want to get rid of accounts where staff have left. If staff do not appear in the patron/staff load in the future, that staff account will be dropped
  • After go live institutions will have the option to manage their own accounts

Other & Future Topics:

• EDS 
• Overlap period for EDS – ebsco discovery services – the licensing agreement for EBSCO EDS is ending soon - FALSC is making plans to talk to EBSCO – looking at an “overlap period with EDS”. FALSC has begun talking with EBSCO. FALSC knows where they stand with EBSCO & want to see what other things they can negotiate… As soon as there is something solid they will let us know. 
• EDS going away or potentially going away? – FALSC confirmed “Research Starters” will NOT be a part of Primo VE. There might be something similar in PrimoVE.
  • Found these points in the “Discovery Working Group Minutes” for December 9^th: 
    • EBSCO & Central Discovery Index (CDI) differences
      • Pulls in metadata from many vendors to the CDI and it is available for searching. You will not get the metadata from EBSCO databases in CDI in Primo VE. Will turn on access to EBSCO databases in ERM, but that does not control what you are searching but what you can link to. CDI has access to more vendors’ metadata than EDS.
      • A webinar on Primo VE for February to discuss how CDI and Primo VE works? Yes, very helpful for all staff. Perhaps multiple sessions can help for other topics too. Maybe a broad overview open to everyone without getting too much in the weeds would help. Cherie will come up with some possible topics and share with us to see what we want to offer. Limit to one hour at a time. Will plan them in January.
      • UBorrow/ILL was not set-up for Vanguard phase. It will be developed during the all 40 test load phase.

• Data review (starting in February):
  • ExLibris will give us tips on reviewing our data in the upcoming webinar
  • Report issues that are not on the “known issues list” to the help desk.
  • Ideas from other institutions: 
    • Create spreadsheet of what people regularly do – to make sure everything gets tested.
    • Create a known issues list for their college. Review the issues internally first, then have one person report verified issues to FALSC