Keynotes & Sessions

2018 Virtual Conference | November 15, 2018 | hosted by Rice University

KEYNOTE | Caroline Muglia | Head, Resource Sharing & Collection Assessment, Co-Associate Dean for Collections | University of Southern California Libraries

Presentation: Managing Change (and an ILS migration) like a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Campaign

Description: All libraries experience change. The distinguishing aspects of that inevitable change is in its management. An ILS migration, which impacts every single person in a library including patrons, serves as the case study to illustrate change management through a new lens of political and community organizing methods. In 2017, the University of Southern California (USC) underwent an ILS migration to Ex Libris. As part of the Implementation Team, my goal was to train all the staff in these areas in the new system, and interrogate current and develop new workflows that leveraged the new technology. I relied heavily on the skills I refined as a political organizer working on Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaigns and as my role as a National Field Director on a political fundraising operation. Since the ILS migration schedule resembled a GOTV, I used similar methodologies, principles, and tactics to successfully identify leaders, and train and empower the staff in my area. At their cores, an ILS migration and GOTV campaign are about change. They are also about taking leadership opportunities from wherever you are situated in an organizational structure (those at the top are not the only leaders!) Some people embrace change, while others are change averse. Employing political organizing methods during a major change in our library is replicable and scalable to any library system or type of change that is underway. This program will provide specific examples of the approaches I used to identify leaders, develop a detailed 9-month timeline, and utilize a hybrid of high and low-tech methods of communication and interaction. Each phase of the ILS migration will be discussed in the context of the broader management approaches that succeeded or failed, and attendees will leave with several methods of addressing change taken directly a field that must embrace change in order to endure.

  • Speaker: Kendall Bartsch, CEO, Third Iron (producer of BrowZine Journal Engagement Service)
  • Presentation: Using Third Iron's BrowZine APIs in Primo, Primo Studio and Summon
  • Description: BrowZine includes LibKey.io technology to enrich your discovery environment. Using our easy to implement APIs, add journal cover images, direct links to PDFs, and links from the article to the original journal issue from, popular commercial and open source discovery services, bento systems, and more.
  • Speaker: Angela Black, Technical Services Assistant Librarian, Arkansas Tech University
  • Presentation: From Amazon to Alma : Navigating a Turbulent Workflow
  • Description: Amazon.com offers deep discounts and fast delivery, but it doesn't provide order data in a library-friendly way. At Arkansas Tech University, we steered our Acquisitions workflow into using Amazon Business, which provided the means to export our orders into MARC and PO Lines. Learn about our struggles, our misfortunes, and our successes with Marcedit to create embedded order data out of Amazon orders to successfully navigate the muddy, turbulent waters of this difficult vendor.
  • Speaker: Kelsey Brett, Electronic Resources Librarian, Texas A&M University; Richard Guajardo & Frederick Young, University of Houston
  • Presentation: How New Technologies Impact Organizational Structure and Staffing
  • Description: In 2016 a survey of academic libraries was conducted in an attempt to explain how academic libraries incorporated discovery systems into their existing organizational structures as well as how and if these structures changed as a result of adopting the new technology. The results provide insights into various approaches of incorporating the management of a new technology into an existing organizational structure. This presentation will discuss the results of this survey, trends identified within the data, and the broader impact of these results and how they apply to the adoption of new technology in general.
  • Speaker: Abby Dover, Monograph Catalog & Authority Control Librarian, Southern Methodist University
  • Presentation: Authority Work and Alma: Adapting Workflows and Meeting Challenges
  • Description: This presentation will discuss how the Authority Control Working Group at Southern Methodist University adapted its workflows after migrating to Alma from Ex Libris’ Voyager in the summer of 2017. In particular, it will go through our process in handling the Preferred Term Correction report, for which one of our members created an Excel macro in order to quickly strip out all headings except those that actually needed to be examined.
  • Speaker: Rachel Fager, Technical Services Technician, Kutztown University
  • Presentation: Physical Item Editor - Open, Scan, Done
  • Description: I will demonstrate using browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox to auto-fill the Physical Item Editor fields. This can be used for the copy and pieces fields or for the item policy field so that the manual data entry is reduced.

Speaker: Audrey Marcus, Books, VP Product Management, ProQuest

Presentation: OASIS and Alma: integrations for today and roadmap for the future

Description: One of the hallmarks of Alma is its ability to easily integrate with other systems. As a result of cooperative efforts between both Alma and ProQuest product management teams, it is now possible to create orders in Alma via the ProQuest OASIS interface. OASIS is ProQuest’s free web-based system for searching, selecting, and ordering print and electronic books for academic libraries. After setting up a profile in OASIS, any Alma institution can search the OASIS interface. The order is then processed in OASIS and afterwards created in Alma, with full bibliographic and order information originating in OASIS.

  • Speaker: Jennifer Pierce, Customer Onboarding Manager, Ex Libris
  • Presentation: Preparing for Your Alma Implementation: Introducing Ex Libris Customer Onboarding
  • Description: Are you planning to migrate to Alma soon and wondering how the project will begin? The Ex Libris Customer Onboarding Team will be your first point of contact after your contract is signed and will guide you through your preparations for your project. We will share details of the process and tips for what you can be doing now to ensure a smooth transition into your project.
  • Speakers: Michelle Turvey-Welch, Marjorie Devlin, Margaret Corby, Renee Gates, Kansas State University
  • Presentation: Pull in case of emergency: Things to know when you need to adjust Alma and Primo settings in a hurry
  • Description: On May 22, 2018, Kansas State University Libraries experienced a major fire and water event. In the days following it quickly became apparent that the materials in the main library would be temporarily unavailable. As the summer moved forward, the disaster scope grew. This presentation will look at how the Libraries quickly modified their services to reflect the new reality. Topics covered will include:

• Changes made to location and library displays

• Creation of a satellite library for service continuity

• Modifications made on the handling of requests

• Handling of renewals

• Modifications of links to emphasize Interlibrary Loan

• Other useful tips should you need to modify Alma and Primo in a hurry