A configuration setting which was preventing searches of the Library Catalogue from RefWorks from returning the most recently indexed records has now been corrected. Searches of the OPAC from RefWorks now return records as soon as they are indexed by ALEPH.
Category: Library OPAC
ejournal and eBook records to be added to ‘live’ ALEPH this week
During the course of this week, changes will be made to ‘live’ ALEPH to enable ejournal and eBooks to be made discoverable through the OPAC. There may be some very short interruptions in the OPAC service (lasting only a few seconds) while these changes are enacted. Initially, changes to the look of the OPAC record display (identical to those trialled in ‘test’ ALEPH) will be replicated in ‘live’ ALEPH, and eBook and ejournal records will then be loaded and indexed.
All SFX delivered ejournals and eBrary eBook records should be available through the ‘live’ OPAC by the end of the week, with records for Taylor & Francis, Knovel and other eBook providers available shortly after. Updates will be provided as the process progresses.
Ex Libris products and Windows Vista compliance
Ex Libris have confirmed that the versions of ALEPH, SFX and eSearch (MetaLib) in production at NTU are fully compliant with the new Windows Vista operating system.
Internet Explorer v.7.0 – OPAC, SFX and eSearch compliance
Ex Libris have confirmed that the versions of ALEPH OPAC, SFX and eSearch that LLR is running are fully compliant with the new version of the Internet Explorer web browser – Version 7. This is currently of relevance only to off-campus users, as no decision has yet been taken to upgrade the university’s existing Version 6 of Internet Explorer on the campus network. An announcement from Ex Libris regarding product compliance with the new Windows Vista operating system is expected in April (again, this will only be currently of relevance to off-campus users).
IE v.7.0 has been installed on an eServices PC, so it is possible for us to replicate any other browser-specific eservices issues that the team is alerted to.
ALEPH Web OPAC, further problems with enhanced content (Syndetics)
We’ve encountered response time problems with Web OPAC this morning which seem to be linked to the enhanced catalogue content (Syndetics), i.e. the additional information pop-ups. As a temporary measure we’ve turned off this functionality to enable OPAC to work.
We’re investigating the cause and will report again when we have more news.
Library Catalogue – ‘enhanced’ records re-enabled
Following diagnostic work involving LLR, IS and Syndetics, the ‘enhanced’ catalogue record service has been re-enabled in the library catalogue – meaning that book covers will display in the ‘Full View of Record page’ (where these are available from Syndetics), providing links to an ‘Additional information’ pop-up screen.
The performance of the catalogue will be monitored closely today, but if you experience any problems with the slow response times, or any other OPAC difficulties, please let the eServices team know so that we can investigate the issue further.
Library Catalogue – problem affecting ‘enhanced’ records returned
A different problem affecting the Syndetics service has arisen this morning, which has been leading to very slow response times in building the ‘Full View of Record’ page in ALEPH (which was having a knock-on effect in the performance of the library catalogue as a whole).
Until we are certain of service stability from Syndetics, we have temporarily disabled the Syndetics service (so no book covers will display in the OPAC). Switching off the Syndetics service has had an immediate beneficial effect on the catalogue’s response times.
We will update again when we have more.
Library Catalogue – problem affecting ‘enhanced’ records resolved
The problem affecting the Syndetics catalogue enhancement service within the Library OPAC was resolved later yesterday afternoon.
If you encounter any further instances of this issue, please send the eServices team some sample ISBNs for records for which problems are persisting and we’ll investigate further.
Library Catalogue – problem affecting ‘enhanced’ records
An intermittent problem is currenly affecting the Syndetics catalogue enhancement service within the Library OPAC.
This means that in the ‘Full View of Record’ screen, book covers (where these are available from Syndetics) are not displaying consistently, and links from a book cover to the ‘Additional Information’ pop-up window are not always connecting correctly.
eServices is investigating the problem and will update as soon as we have more information to report.
eResource updates 