The next NExpress Users Group meeting will be Thursday, August 25, at 10:00 am at NEKLS HQ in Lawrence. Please email Mickey any agenda items or issues you want to discuss.

We underwent a substantial upgrade to our Koha system over the July 4 holiday weekend, with, quite literally, zero problems reported. We are currently running Koha version 3.05.00.002.

Our new support partner, ByWater Solutions, has worked very hard to earn our trust, and you, our member libraries, have been resilient and flexible in the face of some tremendous challenges over the past several months. Thank you.

We are the best we’ve ever been in terms of our shared catalog’s functionality, and we are doing more resource sharing than ever. Several Koha development projects have recently been approved, and are being worked on right now. We’re finally on the continuous improvement path we envisioned with Koha when we chose it as our shared catalog platform.

As always, we look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

We met on May 18, 2011 for our NExpress Users Group meeting and discussed a slew of topics (notes will be emailed to the nexpress list):

• Overview of Koha 3.4 and our impending upgrade after May 22
• Sound Cues will be turned on in Koha – you can mute your computer’s internal or external speakers, if you do not want the sound cues
• Managing lost items and how the lost function works in Koha
• The Collection Development committee will be re-convened to discuss collaborative collection development
• Jim will convene a committee to discuss and make recommendations about the restricted item types
• Sharon reviewed how Purchase Suggestions work in Koha, as opposed to Harley
• Mickey would like ideas for new customer-centered monthly statistics
• Sharon reviewed the new ‘enhanced’ reports – just click run!
• Heather will re-convene the Cataloging Committee – let her know if you are interested
• Email nexpresshelp@nekls.org
• Be careful when pulling courier labels – H, O and L libraries are getting mis-routed holds
• We discussed possible enhancement ideas that we could sponsor

11. New Business:

• Send out reminder that you must SET the ‘default’ patron messaging for Holds notification when creating a new patron
• Hold priority list numbering issues/confusion
• Searching
• Agent and Koha link? Still a problem getting useful status information – there is no strong ‘available’ status that Agent can pull from Koha

• Patron types limited to Your set library
• Can’t edit Guarantee’s phone?  Longstanding bug, says Mickey.
• Need to delete old patron notes
• Orphaned transfers – re-place the hold?  Regenerate the request – should be report these out?

NExpress Users Group Meeting

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

NEKLS HQ, Lawrence

10:00 a.m. – ?

Agenda

• Koha/PTFS upgrade, bugfix and development issues. Batch Edit feature now working. Libraries who want Batch Edit training can schedule it with Heather or Sharon.
• Discussion of new support vendor search process and timeline.
• Beck-Bookman Library (Holton) migration. (Go live January 25, 2011); Barnes Reading Room (Everest) cataloging beginning 2010. Other libraries joining in 2011.
• Third daily Holds Pick List generation added: 7:00 am, 1:00 pm and now 4:30 pm to relieve courier crunch.
• StaticHoldsQueueWeight preference — similar to Preferred Lenders List in AGent. Current list order explained.
• Changing item statuses in Koha for items owned by other libraries using LOST. Need for more communication among libraries about unreturned items.
• NExpress Policy Committee discussion of patron data collection — is there a need for general guidelines about what patron data to record/not record in the Koha borrower account?
• Circulation policies general discussion; KICNET lending agreement as basis for interlibrary loans; video game circulation policy; DVD circulation policy.
• Items lost by courier vs. items missing or unaccounted for in Koha: what steps to take to research, how long to wait, whom to contact.
• Managing the holds shelf at your library.
• New business.
• Adjourn.

NExpress Users Group
Thursday, May 6, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
NEKLS HQ

Agenda:

• PTFS/LibLime update (Jim & NExpress team)
• Policy Committee recommendations (Robin Flory et al)
• Koha/NExpress catalog news (Sharon)
  • Local Holds Test results
  • On Order item type and cataloging
  • Simultaneous holds bug
  • Holds ratio report
  • NEKLS Leased book program
• Communication survey (Sharon, Brenda)
• Open discussion

Seven NEKLS libraries will be migrating to NExpress at the end of the month. Although I’m still a newbie in the KOHA world, I’m working to learn more and to help coordinate the training.

Realizing that training isn’t just about where to click and what to type, we held a session yesterday, which focused on policies and frequently asked questions. We covered six topics:

• Fines/system preferences
• Holidays
• Overdues
• Email notifications
• Renewals
• Holds

The participants asked excellent questions and our resident experts, Mickey and Sharon, gave clear explanations. I know I learned a lot.   A recorded version of the session is available (it includes the sound and the text chat) and you’ll need NExpress FAQ PowerPoint Presentation, too.

More tales of training to come!
-Brenda

Use the Event Registration to sign up for a specific time and location.

Koha training – Tuesday, August 19, Atchison, 9-1
Koha cataloging training – Tuesday, August 19, Atchison 2-5