NExpress Shared Catalog

Here is the latest news about our migration from KCLC to Koha:

August 1 - All cataloging in Sirsi stops at the end of the business day. Kathy will lock our tech accounts, so all circ transactions will need to go through the circ logins. If you aren’t sure of your circ login, please call us. If you have a new item that just “has” to get checked out to someone, use the add brief item in circ. Following the migration, we will run a report in Sirsi and then you will need to properly catalog all brief items once we are up on the new system.

August 17 - Last day patrons will be able to place holds on items. The last Posh list will run on the morning of the 18th. All OPAC’s will be disabled the night of the 17th - if patrons try to go to the KCLC catalog they will get an error message that directs them to contact their local library. We will have new URL’s for your websites so that patrons will be able to log in to the new catalog after the migration.

August 18 - Last full day on Sirsi. No more transactions after close of business on Monday, August 18. This is a change from earlier messages. KCLC wants to make sure the system has time to properly index before migration starts on the 19th. So you will not be able to use the Sirsi system on the 19th. The next time you will be using a catalog, it will be the Koha NExpress (e.t.a. August 21)!!!

August 19 - If your library is going to be open, you will need to manually record circulations. We are trying to find the easiest way to do this and will have instructions for you at the August 8 NExpress meeting.

August 20 - We will have training on the new system in three locations, from 9 - 1. The three locations are Hiawatha, Basehor, and the NEKLS office. Please register online, or by email to tnelson@nekls.org, so we know how many to plan for in each location. Your entire staff is welcome and encouraged to attend.

If you have questions or concerns, please get in touch with us. August will be a very exciting month for Phaseone libraries. Ready or not, here we come!! Thank you all for your support!

It’s getting close to launch day (August 19/20/21 for those who don’t know yet) and we are getting excited!

Bugs are getting fixed, workflows are being worked out, interfaces are being tweaked, data is being examined and poked and prodded and massaged into place, training is being developed and this website is going up. Kids, it’s all for YOU.

So this site is dedicated to the NExpress shared catalog, provided by the Northeast Kansas Library System and participating libraries, the State Library of Kansas, and the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences. It’s an adventure that we are embarking on with our libraries, and we’d love it if you followed along.

What’s the purpose of this site? Good question. Here we hope to keep training materials, get conversation going among our libraries, brainstorm new awesome features for our bus… I mean our automation system (wink wink) and generally try to keep our project both on track and moving in a lighthearted manner.

So here’s to breaking the champagne bottle against the virtual hull of www.nexpresslibrary.org. May our journey be exciting and our seas only as turbulent as we want them to be.