Making the Big Move: Moving to Cloud-Based OCLC’s WorldShare Management Services (WMS)
November 8, 2013
Brad SpryLibrary Webmaster
Shoko TokoroElectronic & Continuing Resources Coordinator
Michael WinecoffAssociate University Librarian for Technical Services
UNC Charlotte Atkins Library• FTE: 23,975• Member of the Association of Southeastern Research
Libraries (ASERL)• Material budget (FY13):
$3.7 M (base budget) + $1M to $2M one time funds
• Library staff: 59 SPAs, 29 EPAs • 3 library locations:
Main Library, Architecture Library & Center City – no physical materials
• Library Collections:1,598,300 physical volumes, 438,500 eBooks, 66,451 paid eJournals, 11,000 streaming videos, 350 databases
Why did we switch?
• Search results: Our previous search infrastructure is outdated in ways that seriously under-represent the extent of our holdings, and the material we can make available to patrons. Further, it did not allow for quick/powerful refinement of search results or facets. Search in WMS is better on all these scores.
Why did we switch?
• Reducing the cost and complexity of our search infrastructure: WMS will reduce the number of systems currently required to do search. This will simplify the task of maintaining and integrating search systems, and it will radically reduce their cost.
• Possible servers/services no longer needed: – ILS, EDS, Syndetics, Eres, Serials Solutions, Marcive
Why did we switch?
• Management reporting: In an environment that relies increasingly on data to drive decisions our previous system was incapable of meeting our needs. WMS will allow us to derive critical managerial data to inform collection building, staffing, and resource allocation decisions.
Overall Migration
• Preparation and implementation took 6 months (October 2012-March 2013). We’re still migrating!
• Over 850,000 monographs and 32,000 serials• Had a fulltime project manager – very helpful! • Staff participated in webinars and used the
sandbox to learn WMS• July 3, 2013 – Go live date
WMS and WCL Pluses
• Web-based -- no client to install– Works with Chrome and Firefox
• Shared vendor file• Shared serial check-in• Patrons like faceted results and access to ILL
Migration Overview• Goal: migrate the search, circulation and catalog
infrastructure • No MARC holdings in our serial records – ARG!• FTP file limits were restrictive
– 90,000 character limit in MARC records– 90,000 MARC bibliographic records per file– 100 MB file size limit
• Different formats need to sent separately• OCLC does not migrate acquisitions or authority data• Local bibliographic data preserved sometimes in different
fields
Migration Steps
• Complete the data migration questionnaire• Prepare translation tables• Prepare for batchload project (s)– Approve Scope Statement– Extract bibliographic records from ILS and send to
Batch Services• Maintain holdings during migration• Extract and send circulation transaction data• Send gap file for monographs and serials
Acquisitions Workflow
• We order in YBP GOBIs system as previously • Orders are ftp’d to encumber the funds in WMS• Must have a record in WorldCat for ordering• Catalogers must select either monograph, serial or
multipart monograph to receive item• Catalogers add the barcode (link the item)• Pseudo records for laptops must be in the system in
order to check out• Electronic invoices/EDIFACT will be supported the 3rd
quarter of next year
Technical Services – Workarounds
• Refunds/credits – [December 2013]• Bound-with materials – [3rd qrt 2014] • Shadow system necessary for call numbers –
[Planned, but unscheduled]• Bulk item update for location, status, etc
[Planned, but unscheduled]• Paying an item costing more than $99,999.99• Printing of serial checkin labels
Collections Development & Electronic Resources Unit
Before – 2 librarians, 4 staff + 2 students• Collection development
librarian (AUL)• Electronic & Continuing
Resources Librarian• 4 staff
– Electronic & serials cataloging– Usage statistics– Gifts & Course development– Serials Solutions & EZproxy
• 2 students– Check access & journal projects
Changes – 3 librarians, 2 staff + 4 students
• Upgraded to an advanced-level staff position
Will be added soon for KB maintenance, EZproxy, usage statistics
• Combined and upgraded to a position for Non-Serials Electronic Resources Librarian
Will be added for ER management & licensing
• Added 2 more studentsMainly assuring access
Temporary personnel solutionTwo staff from TechServ pitched in for 6 months (April - Oct.) to add customized collections to the OCLCKnowledge Base (KB)
E-Resources Migration1. Building collection in OCLC Knowledge Base (April – June, 2013)• E-journals (Pubget) / E-books / Streaming videos
Choose collections in OCLC KBCustomize Serials Solutions reports, orCustomize vendors records or reports
350 collections (45% customized collections & 55% selected from KB)
Free e-resources excluded for now
2. Exporting Local Holding Records (LHRs) (completed in August)• 300+ database-level titles
(EBSCOhost dbs, JSTOR, ProQuest dbs, etc) - Maintained manually one by oneConnexion Client - batch processesConnexion Browser - LHRs maintenance
Workflows Creating customized collection into KBART (Knowledge Base And Related Tools) formatCorrecting existing collectionContact data provider to update information in collections in OCLC KB
OCLC KBART Format – Cheat sheet
OCLC Algorithm/Indexing/FRBRizationMatching points:
1. OCLC# availability2. Identifier (ISSN/ISBN)3. Title (# of words in TI > 3)
Records # in KB Missing OCLC# Missing ISSN/ISBN # of words in title ≤ 3
eJournals 66,451 23,854 12,561 4,792
35.9% 18.9% 7.2%eBooks 438,444 88,919 80,651 11,346
20% 18.4%↑ 3%↑Streaming videos 10,985 1,586 Lack of ID 584
14.4% - 5.3%
Workaround – Streaming Video
Suggestions to OCLC to Improve• OCLC systems, Service Configuration, Connexion, Usage Statistics, and FirstSearch, etc. require different
usernames and passwords, logging in is very inconvenient. • Improve slow processing time in WMS.• Diacritics in online holdings don’t display correctly, so they don’t match a title from a master record.• Need a way to know when a collection is updated in the KB. The date in a properties page can be any date
processed by the system, a library, or OCLC. • Only one ISBN can be listed in KBART format currently.• Add query reporting tools to the KB.• Add a URL checker.• Shorten a process time for indexing. A 6-8 hour window is too long for fixing access problems for large
collections. Also, a 5-10 day window is too long to add holdings set on titles in a collection in WorldCat for both selecting and removing collections.
• Add back button function in WMS. It breaks a session and we have to start over.• Create a database to store OCLC’s documentation and manuals in one place. Many of them are scattered on
their site and some of them are outdated or lack detailed information.• OCLC’s idea to share resources in the KB is often not working well. All institutions have slightly different title
selections in a package. Selecting existing collections are not updated well and OCLC waits until data providers send updated records.
• Improve linkscheme process. Linkschme is not available for some collections that means no article-level linking available.
Existing Patron Account Management Workflow
• Patron Data Operations– Data Sources– Comparison– Scrubbing– Manipulation– Ingest– Reporting
Existing Patron Data Sources and Workflows
• Existing feed from Banner/Webfocus– Manual export/import process every weekday
• Ran five (5) days per week, not seven (7)– No weekend import operations
• Existing data fields– Patron_type, name, primary_address, secondary_address,
phone_1, phone_2, university_id, “barcode”, dept_major, email
Trust and Perception of Authoritative Data Source
Trust and Perception of Authoritative Patron Data Source
•Banner Data Stinks!
Why does Banner Data Stink?
• Data problems begin upstream– How does the University actually operate?– Sources of data? Departments? Who?– Eschewing the past and starting anew on working
relationships and partnerships– Working together effectively is the hard part, not technology– WMS is an enterprise-grade system, you must engage your
entire enterprise. There are experts within your organization waiting for your call.
UNC Charlotte AffiliatedPatron Data Sources
• Central IT Enterprise Information Group– Banner
• Human Resources (employees)• Admissions (students)
– WebFOCUS
• Central IT Security– Active Directory
• Authentication (LDAP)– University Firewall
• Auxiliary Services– Blackboard Transact
• University ID Card Office• “Barcode”
• Academic Affairs– Adjunct faculty*– Emeritus faculty
Discovery of Existing Circulation Data Workflows
• Interview employees who are part of the process
• OMG Moment– Discovered Circulation Supervisor conducting strenuous patron data comparisons using Microsoft Excel
• Multitude of Manual Maintenance Operations
• Identifying Arriving Patrons
• Departing Patrons (manually setting circulation expiration date, deleting graduates with reconciled accounts)
• Updating Patrons (updating within local ILS, not at authoritative source)
– Circulation Supervisor Retirement Announcement…….
Bonnie Stuart
Stuart.uncc.eduDaily Delta, XML Transformation, Secure Sync
Trust and Perception of Authoritative Patron Data Source
•Banner Data Stinks!•Best Available Data
Previous ILS Patron RecordImport
WMS Patron Persona RecordImport
Data
• Performance Issues– Metrics
• Circulation Desk Checkout Line• Fingernails Tapping on Circulation Desk• Employee Frustration
– Blood, sweat, tears
– Local or Remote Issue?• Local issues are our responsibility, not OCLC’s• Point the finger at yourself first
Real World Circulation Desk Performance
• Computer– Hardware
• CPU, Memory, Disk– Software
• OS• Browsers• Java
• Network• Devices– Printers– Scanners
Local Performance Issues
Pointing the finger at ourselves first
• After eliminating local issues, UNC Charlotte could identify remote performance issues with confidence
• OCLC received our deep research findings and have identified performance bottlenecks
• OCLC really is working on it• Fruits of our labor in next two releases
Remote Performance Issues
• WMS is better because we fully engaged OCLC, got in the game, not sitting on sidelines
• OCLC is not a vendor, we are not a customer• OCLC is a consortium, we are a member• WMS belongs to us, it’s our system now, we took
ownership• Result: UNC Charlotte has the most advanced
WMS implementation in the world
WMS Is Better Because of Us