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Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS)

Spring 2024 - End of Semester Bulletin

General Updates

  • 2022-2023 OLIS Annual Report: An electronic version of our 2022-2023 OLIS Annual Report is now available on our LibGuide. We will be mailing print copies of the report to each President and Provost across the SUNY system. 
  • OLIS Site Visits: Thank you for you interest in an OLIS site visit.The purpose of these visits is to see how things are going, discuss student success initiatives and challenges, take a tour of your library or facility (optional). Because this is a general site visit, we may not be able to address technical questions or workflow issues. We’ll be glad to note the issue and schedule a virtual follow-up meeting. We're in the process of scheduling meetings and look forward to seeing you soon. 
  • NOVELny: NOVELny statewide e-resource funding was included in the New York State Budget for 2024-2025. Pending required approvals the current collection of NOVELny statewide e-resources will continue through June 30, 2025 and additional resources will be added. We'll be sharing more information about activation of these new resources later this summer. 
  • Moving on: Yvonne Kester will be leaving her role as Institutional Repositories Program Manager at OLIS at the end of May for a new position as a public librarian. We wish her the absolute best in her new endeavors and thank Yvonne for all the great work she's done for our SUNY communities.   

Alma / Primo VE

  • May 2024 Quarterly Release notes: Ex Libris releases quarterly updates to its software (Release notes: Alma and Primo VE). The SLS team posted release note highlights in Basecamp HQ earlier this month.

Cataloging / Metadata

  • OCLC Cataloging Group: SUNY now has its own cataloging group in OCLC Record Manager, allowing SUNY campuses to see which SUNY campuses may also have holdings on a bibliographic record. This feature will appear on the search results page under WorldCat Holdings, and in the bibliographic record under WorldCat Holdings as the fourth tab called "Holdings in My Group."
  • Alma Resource Management Health Checklist: As part of SUNY's 5 year anniversary of the Alma/Primo implementation, OLIS has created a series of health checklists for institutional self-assessment and to help us identify areas for improved training and documentation. The Resource Management Health Checklist was distributed in March, and any institution that hasn't already filled it out is welcome to do so.
  • Metadata Interest Group: The next meeting is Wednesday, May 8 at 1, when we'll chat about what's new with the Alma quarterly release. Register here!

Collections

  • SUNYConnect Core PIAs: As part of efforts to strengthen internal controls at the System Administration Level, OLIS is expected to codify the SUNYConnect Core systems and resources billed through the SUNY System Administration direct charges to campuses. Kim Scalzo sent an email to the CAOs, CIOs and CFOs on April 23rd requested approvals by June 30. PIAs include Ex Libris (Alma/Primo VE), EBSCO, Gale and Proquest Avon. We appreciate your assistance with approvals. If you have any questions, please email info@sunyolis.libanswers.com.
  • SUNYConnect Core and Opt-in Electronic Resources SLA: Check out our new SUNYConnect Core and Opt-in Electronic Resources Service Level agreement for 24/25 which outlines OLIS' electronic resources offerings. 
  • SUNYConnect Core Task Group: We're planning a SUNYConnect Core Task Force for August 2024 to review the current EBSCO and Gale database offerings. In 24/25, we will be entering into the third year of a three-year purchase order with an optional two-year extension. This task force will determine whether we go forward with the two-year extension. We plan to call for task force volunteers in mid-May so we can be ready to go in August.
  • Collections Advisory Group: The collections advisory group has kicked off! We've been meeting regularly to talk about collections-related issues and strategies. We also now have a web page on the LibGuide.
  • LibKey: Please join ThirdIron's Maria Ziemer for an update on LibKey and other products on May 9th at 1:00 pm  

Discovery & E-Resources

Professional Development

  • Library Leaders Community of Practice - May 21 at University at Buffalo
  • Library Leadership and Management Certificate 2024-2025 - Registration coming soon!
    • Dates are almost set, courses offered this year include:
      • Library Assessment 
      • Universal Design for Libraries 
      • Leading High-Performance Teams 
      • Introduction to Project Management for Libraries 
      • Developing Library Partnerships 
      • Change Management in Libraries 
      • Library Strategic Planning
  • Ideas for programming you'd like to see in 2024-25?  Please send your ideas for a Spotlight, Roundtable, or other offering to Cori at cori.wilhelm@suny.edu and we'll do our best to make it happen!

Institutional Repositories 

  • SOAR and SDR Institutional Repository Developments
    • OLIS will maintain repositories during the staffing transition.  
    • The Scholarly Communication CoP will be on hiatus.
    • If you have any questions, please contact info@sunyolis.libanswers.com.

Research Data Management

  • ACRL Training: Building Your Research Data Management Toolkit: Integrating RDM into Your Liaison Work
    • Training for librarians who are seeking to engage with research data management for the first time, or who have a very basic knowledge of research data management. This workshop is an introductory level experience. 
  • Register for July 16-17, 9am-1pm, Cost: $100
    • Virtual training (co-produced with Empire State Library Network)
  • RDM Task Force meeting May 3 at 3pm
    • Working on one pager describing the critical nature of research data management planning and strategy.
  • RDaF tool updated: SUNY RDaF Explorer Prototype
    • Open source library foundation
    • Scores exportable
  • Digital Transformation Project (DTP)
    • Two Digital Transformation Project (DTP) ideas have been submitted on secure and public data sharing repositories.
    • Slides from the latest DTP Advisory Task Force meeting are available on SUNY Blue. 

Resource Sharing

  • Alma Resource Sharing Health Checklist
    • Checklist was sent to library directors via SCLD listserv on April 16
    • Contains questions about Alma resource sharing workflows, expanding participation in Alma digital resource sharing and Alma physical resource sharing with out of state libraries, attitudes towards OCLC resource sharing costs and interest in resource sharing alternatives to OCLC, potential changes to our Alma resource sharing loan period policy, and upcoming changes to the ProQuest Ebook ILL Pilot Project
    • Please respond by Monday, May 20
  • Alma Resource Sharing Training Sessions
  • Alma Resource Sharing with St. John Fisher University
    • St. John Fisher University will be added to the rotas of all SUNY libraries already borrowing and lending with CUNY and ConnectNY via Alma in early May
    • SLS will handle all necessary configuration work and post an update to Basecamp once work has been completed

Spring 2024 - Start of Semester OLIS Bulletin

General Updates

  • OLIS Site Visits: This coming June marks the fifth anniversary of SUNY’s going live on its shared Alma/Primo VE Library Services Platform. As part of this celebration, we would like to visit as many campuses as possible to learn more about the great work you all are doing to support student success. As part of the visit, we'd like to tour the library and chat with you and your staff about how things are going. Please fill out our site visit survey by Friday, March 22 to indicate your interest.
  • Document and Policy Sharing: There is interest in curating a collection of documents and policies from around the system. OLIS is collecting examples of documents and policies you would be willing to share, such as strategic plans, weeding policies, etc. We'll share this information in Basecamp: You can submit documents, links to documents or both. ​
  •  If you are interested in sharing your strategic plan(s), please contact Cori Wilhelm at Cori.Wilhelm@suny.edu. 
  • IPEDS: The Academic Library portion of the IPEDS survey is due in early April. Please follow your individual Institutional Research office deadlines for submission. If you have questions about gathering IPEDS statistics, please reach out to info@sunyolis.libanswers.com.

Alma / Primo VE

  • February 2024 Quarterly Release notes: Ex Libris releases quarterly updates to its software (Release notes: Alma and Primo VE). The SLS team posted release note highlights in Basecamp HQ earlier this month.
  • Benchmarking: On February 8th, Claudia Balby joined OLIS to talk about Ex Libris Benchmarking. Ex Libris has offered to create a series of benchmarking surveys to assist SUNY schools in making the most of Alma and Primo VE. There are also institutional comparison benchmarking features in Alma that institutions may choose to activate. If you are interested, please fill out this benchmarking survey.
  • PIA renewals: The initial 5-year Participating Institution Agreements schools signed in 2018 for ExLibris /Alma/Primo VE are set to expire on June 30, 2024. We’ll be sending an PIA renewal to Library Deans and Directors. 
  • 2024 Health Checklists: As part of the 5 year anniversary, we're sending out a series of health checklists for self assessment. These checklists are based on Ex Libris' implementation go-live readiness and designed to assist you with identifying possible gaps in workflows. Our first checklist in the series is now available and we will be publicizing it on Basecamp: Resource Management. 

Cataloging / Metadata

Collections

  • Collections Advisory Group: OLIS would like to thank everyone who volunteered for the Collections Advisory Group. We'll be updating the OLIS website with more information in the coming weeks.  
  • PIA for Opt-in Contracts: Expiration dates for the Chronicle, JSTOR and Proquest opt-in contracts exceed the expiration date of the PIA. We'll be sending PIAs to those schools with current subscriptions.
  • New York Times: We're in the process of putting forth a new opt-in contract for the New York Times Digital. There will be an informational session on March 13th at 11:00 am to review both new and current product offerings. We'll send the invite as soo as we receive it.

Discovery & E-Resources

  • New Discovery Experience (NDE): Ex Libris has published a document on the New Discovery Interface. They will update it with ongoing information. They expect to start testing in late 2024.
  • Recent Ex Libris Webinars: What's New with Primo and Primo VE Roadmap Highlights.
  • EBSCO updates: EBSCO is updating both its user interface and the admin portal. Shana Ashwood-Viala, Senior EBSCO trainer, will join SUNY Library Services via zoom on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 10:00 AM-11:00 AM for a full preview of the new EBSCOhost. This session will be recorded for those unable to attend. If you recently received an email about automatic activation of the new platform, we've confirmed with EBSCO that the only content being automatically moved is "Low use profiles are those with 100 or less sessions over the past 12 months. They appear to be test profiles that we set up over the years. Most EBSCOhost database customers just use a single “main” profile."
  • Interest Groups: The next Discovery Interest Group meeting will be Friday, March 15 at 1 pm. The next eResources Interest Group meeting will be Thursday, March 21 at 10 am.

Professional Development

Institutional Repositories 

Research Data Management

ACRL Training: Building Your Research Data Management Toolkit: Integrating RDM into Your Liaison Work

  • Training for librarians who are seeking to engage with research data management for the first time, or who have a very basic knowledge of research data management. This workshop is an introductory level experience. 
  • Register for July 16-17, 9am-1pm, Cost: $100
  • Virtual training (co-produced with Empire State Library Network)

RDM Task Group: Developing a framework for graduate student competencies on research data (during 2024)​

  • Initial investigations of interest in service for SUNY-wide or campus data catalog​

Pilot sessions: NIST Research Data Framework (RDaF) pilot feedback sessions with campus stakeholders for SUNY tool during February and March​

Resource Sharing

Alma Resource Sharing Webinar:

  • Alma Resource Sharing General Update Session scheduled for Tuesday, March 12 at 2:00pm
  • Topics to be discussed include expanding digital resource sharing within SUNY, expanding physical resource sharing with non-SUNY libraries, possible changes to SUNY's shared resource sharing loan periods, plans for future resource sharing training sessions, and new resource sharing products being offered by Ex Libris
  • Registration link: https://sunyolis.libcal.com/event/12020063

Alma Resource Sharing With Non-SUNY Libraries:

  • We've gone live with a partnership with three libraries in the PASCAL (South Carolina) system
  • We plan to expand our partnerships with WRLC (Washington, DC), FLVC (Florica), CSU (Califronia), and Orbis Cascade (Oregon & Washington) later this year
  • We've started working on a partnership with 17 libraries in the OCUL (Ontario) system

Known Issues With Alma Resource Sharing:

  • Problems with mixed Rapido pods were fixed in February 2024 update.  Borrowing and lending with mixed Rapido pod partners has resumed.
  • Primo not auto-populating the author field of the resource sharing reqeust form will be fixed in April 2024 update
  • The new resource sharing hold shelf period feature requiring you to ignore the lender's due date will be fixed in April 2024 update

Fall 2023 - End of Semester Bulletin

Welcome to the new OLIS Update Bulletin!
In an effort to provide clarity and information without overloading our quarterly OLIS Update meetings, we're introducing the OLIS Update Bulletin. We'll post updates and information from each OLIS area here for the SUNY library community to review.

General Updates

  • OLIS/SLS Springshare links: Please update any saved links for documentation, etc., that use slcny.libguides or slcny.libanswers, as those will stop redirecting to our new domain of sunyolis on January 16, 2024.
  • OLIS Site Visits: OLIS is embarking on a project to conduct in-person site visits. We'll send out a survey early in 2024 to gauge interest and preferred timeframes. We plan to split up the visits based on OLIS team member proximity to each school. Visits will begin in the late spring and continue into the fall.
  • NOVELny: The Board of Regents 2024-2025 Budget and Legislative Priorities include $3 million to fund NOVELny. OLIS created impact documentation to share with SUNY's Governmental Relations team about the reliance of NOVELny resources by our SUNY schools. We will share when finalized. Gale provided opt-in pricing at a reduced rate should this funding not be realized. The NOVELny Task Group will review the offer and continue to meet as needed throughout spring 2024 to address outcomes and recommend next steps. 

Acquisitions

  • POL changes: As of the November 2023 alma release, changes to the POL interface are in production. Full details are available at New Unified PO Line Task List - Ex Libris Knowledge Center
  • Real-time ordering: Please reach out to SLS if you’re considering implementation of Rialto or the GOBI or OASIS API. We can assist with forms and help guide you through the process. In addition, we can alert you to special considerations needed for the consortial NZ environment.

Alma / Primo VE

2024 marks the 5th anniversary of SUNY’s implementation go-live of Alma/Primo VE. This year we’ll be doing a deeper dive with an eye towards the next five years.

  • ELUNA: OLIS purchased an ELUNA (ExLibris Users of North America) consortial membership for 2024. For more information, check out our new ELUNA LibGuide page. We're also planning a session to talk more about SUNY's involvement in ELUNA on Thursday, January 25 at 2:00 pm. Registration is open. 
  • Benchmarking: ExLibris is working on internal benchmarking statistics to help schools assess how they use Alma. Join us for a session with Claudia Balby from ExLibris on February 8 at 10:00 am to learn more about the benchmarking process. Registration is open.
  • PIA renewals: The initial 5-year Participating Institution Agreements schools signed in 2018 for ExLibris /Alma/Primo VE are set to expire on June 30, 2024. We’ll be sending an PIA renewal to Library Deans and Directors early in the spring semester. 

Cataloging/Metadata

  • SUNY Cataloging Town Hall: SLS is planning to host a Cataloging Town Hall on Wednesday, January 31 from 2-3:30. This will be an opportunity to hear the results from the two SUNY cataloging surveys, updates about the SUNY Metadata and Standards Committee (SMSP), future cataloging and metadata plans from SLS, and news from OCLC. All SUNY library staff are welcome to attend, raise issues, and ask questions. Registration is open!
  • OCLC Record Manager training: Valerie Chase, Library Services Consultant at OCLC, will present an overview to all interested SUNY library staff on using Record Manager to search, export, and create bibliographic records in OCLC WorldCat. This will be especially useful for staff who rely on OCLC Connexion browser, which will reach end of life on April 30, 2024. This event will take place on Wednesday, February 14 from 10-11 and all staff are welcome. Registration is open!
  • OCLC Small Library Edition session: Valerie Chase, Library Services Consultant at OCLC, will present a session on the Small Library Edition cataloging subscription model. This model is an option for community colleges with an FTE of 3,000 or fewer and is open to attendees by invitation.

Collections

  • December 2023 recharges have been finalized, and campuses will receive their invoices in January or February, Any changes to the recharge will be applied to a March 2024 recharge. You can see your OLIS recharges via the ATIS portal.
  • ARTstor: We are still waiting for this contract to be approved.
  • Shared Collections Advisory Group: This group has been formed and will have their first meeting in January. A list of members will be shared after the meeting.
  • New e-collections services: OLIS is offering consulting, analysis, and support related to e-resource collection development, as well as programmatic alignment. If you are interested in any of these services, pleas submit a ticket to learn more.
    • Collection Development: review usage statistics and or/conduct overlap analysis to review your e-resource subscriptions for cost-effectiveness. We will recommend cancelations based on these metrics, in the form of a written report.
    • Programmatic Alignment: review your campus e-resource holdings and your college’s programs, and determine where there might be gaps or excessive holdings in your collection, and recommend acquisitions or changes based on this information.

Discovery & E-Resources

  • New Primo version: Ex Libris is working on a new version of Primo VE, called the NDE (New Discovery Experience), tentatively planned for go-live in 2025. Michelle Eichelberger is participating in the monthly User Experience review meetings with Ex Libris and other Alma/Primo users. Ex Libris hopes to share more information publicly about the project soon.
  • EBSCO updates: EBSCO is also working on an updated version of both its user interface and the admin portal, and they hope to have all sites moved to the new platform by July 2024. OLIS is working with EBSCO reps to schedule an overview of the coming changes for sometime in the early spring.
  • JSTOR: the new All Access package officially goes live on January 1. If you have opted into this package, the only JSTOR subscription collection that needs to be activated from the CZ is "JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection."

Professional Development

  • SUNY Spotlight: Join librarians from SUNY Cortland on Friday, January 26 for the next Spotlight on SUNY Libraries: Creating a K-12 Fiction Cataloging Scheme That Works. Registration and details.
  • Library Leadership & Management Certificate:  The L&M Certificate program through SUNY CPD will be offering four courses for Spring 2024: Introduction to Project Management for Libraries, Developing Library Partnerships, Change Management in Libraries, and Library Strategic Planning. Certificate Details.

Repositories 

  • SDR Upgrade: to version 7.4: Some issues still being ironed out
  • SOAR news:
    • New file format added for WACZ web archiving files from Webrecorder, an open-source web archiving tool  
    • Import tool for CrossRef is more accurate than PubMed, allowing formatting (thank you Gregg Headrick, SUNY Downstate, for this tip!)
    • SOAR upgrade slated for January/February 2024
  • Scholarly Communications Community of Practice: January 25, 10am - 11am. SUNY Press Director Marlene Pratt and Manager, Training, Development, and Services Jenn Bennett-Genthner will join us to talk about their goals, guidelines for publishing, how SUNY librarians can access their services and support the Press, and Open Access/Open Educational Resources. Please register here.

Research Data Management

  • Training: 
    • Last RDM training series session for this fall: Writing a DMP and Platform Tools | December 19 at 1pm: Registration.
    • OLIS collaborated with SUNY Fredonia and Dryad for a November presentation on Year of Open Science: An Introduction to Dryad (this session can be repeated for other campuses)
  • LibGuide: Updates to the RDM LibGuide: (adding examples of funded Data Management and Sharing Plans)
  • Campus Connections: Working with the SUNY Sponsored Programs Management Council on connecting libraries with sponsored programs

Resource Sharing

  • Alma Resource Sharing with CUNY:
    • Plan to implement Alma resource sharing between SUNY and CUNY at start of Spring ’24 semester
    • SLS has already completed most necessary configuration work, and we will be managing any remaining configuration work that needs to be done
    • Partnership will utilize existing workflows, so no training will be necessary
    • Additional details about implementation of this partnership will be shared in coming weeks
  • Renewals with ConnectNY Partners:
    • One 16 week renewal now allowed for items borrowed from or loaned to Canisius University or West Point
    • Hope to implement renewals with remaining ConnectNY libraries in Spring ‘24
  • Issues with Mixed Rapido Pods:
    • Problems with mixed Rapido pods are preventing some SUNY participants from sending borrowing requests to some mixed Rapido pod partners
    • Ex Libris plans to fix this issue in March 2024
    • Mixed Rapido pod partnerships with Cal State, Orbis Cascade, Gettysburg College, and Susquehanna University have been suspended until this issue has been resolved