Weekly Update – August 7, 2012

Upgrading to Evergreen 2.2

As many of our consortium members already know, we have been discussing upgrading to Evergreen 2.2 for several months. In preparation for the upgrade, our helpdesk has provided Evergreen 2.2 on a test server and we have distributed the access information to each of our committees in order to identify and begin learning about new features. We’ve heard lots of positive feedback on the redesigned OPAC which boasts faster loading pages and an attractive new design.

We will be upgrading to Evergreen 2.2 beginning at (8PM) Friday, September 14 through Sunday, September 16 at (8PM).

Upgrade Timeline

Monday, August 6 – Friday, September 14: Inform local library staff and patrons
Use the Upgrade Notice patron flyer template found on the Member Resources website to begin informing your patrons of what they will NOT be able to do. Customize the flyer template to your liking.

Monday, August 6 – Friday, September 14: Train staff on using offline mode
Please review the Circulation Training Manual, Chapter 9 – Standalone Mode on the Staff Training Documents website with your staff members before the upgrade begins.

a. Also available is a tutorial on Uploading Offline Transactions.

b. Reach out to your regional coordinator or the Evergreen Indiana Coordinator with any questions.

c. Feel free to download the Training 2.2 staff client found at the following URL and use the login information below. The Training staff client is, of course, only to be used for training and should be deleted from the workstation before the upgrade weekend. http://dev.evergreen.lib.in.us/updates/manualupdate.html

Hostname: dev.evergreen.lib.in.us
Username: admin
Password: open-ils

Friday, September 14 (8PM) – Sunday, September 16 (8PM): Run in offline mode
During the upgrade window, please run in standalone mode or checkout on paper until you are notified that the upgrade is complete via all four evergreen listservs. Remember: Do not check-in or register new patrons in the standalone mode.

a. Please note that while the servers are down for the upgrade and libraries are operating in offline, the SIP connections (for non-eIndiana OverDrive libraries, PC Reservation, etc.) will also be down. We apologize for this inconvenience.

b. eIndiana Digital Consortium members will NOT have an interruption in service as OverDrive has offered to allow authentication through their temporary login mode. If any issues are experienced with OverDrive at eIndiana Digital OverDrive libraries, please click on the Support tab in Content Reserve and submit an issue to OverDrive directly.

Sunday, September 16 (Evening): Listserv message
An email will be sent to all Evergreen listservs notifying everyone that the upgrade has been complete.

Monday, September 17 (Before business day begins): Accessing the 2.2 auto-update staff client and completing offline mode transactions

a. Chapter 1 of the Evergreen Indiana Circulation Training manual (1-8) on the Staff Training Documents website contains instructions for accessing your auto-updating staff client. You should follow these instructions after the upgrade is complete but before your library opens for business.

b. Be sure to upload all offline transactions and process them before creating any live transactions on Monday morning. This is to ensure that there is no conflict between the offline transactions and any new database information. It is recommended that the offline transactions are completed before the library opens to the public for the day to avoid mistakenly checking items in or out on the live server before uploading the offline transactions is complete.

Monday, September 17 (Beginning of business day): Backdate checkins
As you begin checking in items that were turned in over the weekend, be sure to backdate to avoid inappropriate overdue fines.

Evergreen Indiana and Windows 8

Beginning in the next few weeks Microsoft intends to release the newest version of their Windows operating system, Windows 8 to purchasers of new PC’s or software upgrades. Basic functionality of the Evergreen Staff Client and the Patron OPAC have been tested, and generally confirmed to be compatible with the new Windows 8 software. Additionally, the Evergreen Indiana Helpdesk has begun additional testing of day to day functionality within the new Windows 8 environment.

We welcome any feedback from users who have experimented with the Windows 8 Release Preview release, and Evergreen. As with any upgrade, you may experience new bugs, should you choose to be an early adopter of Windows 8. Evergreen Indiana support policies for such issues will mirror that of the Evergreen International Community. While any issues relating to Evergreen’s compatibility with Windows 8 will be dealt with in a timely manner, no guarantees about the timeliness of new software development to repair bugs relating to Windows 8 can be given.

The Evergreen Indiana Helpdesk, along with the Evergreen International Community will make every effort to assist users experiencing problems with Evergreen, after upgrading to Windows 8, but cannot guarantee immediate fixes until a more global adoption of the OS has occurred.

Committee meeting announcements

OverDrive Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, August 14 @ 10:30 at ISL.

Executive Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, August 14 @ 1pm at ISL.