NHU-PAC keyword indexing currently running behind

Indexing of records newly added or edited in the NHU-PAC is currently running behind as we work with SirsiDynix to resolve an ongoing keyword indexing issue. This doesn't affect what's in the database but does make a difference in how quickly you can find new materials in the NHU-PAC.

A little background on indexes: if you need information from a book, of course, you could scan every page for the information you seek or you could save time by looking in the book's index to see which page(s) you should check. Similarly, when you search the NHU-PAC, your search isn't looking through every single bibliographic record in the database to see if matching information is present. It's checking indexes--the ISBN index, the author/performer index, the title index, or any of scores of other indexes singly or in combination--to find which records it will display for your search results.

Normally, new or changed records are indexed in real time but occasionally the program that handles the dynamic indexing gets out of sync with the database and we have to build a new keyword index from the ground up. Because of the size of the NHU-PAC, this rebuild takes at least 12 hours to complete. In the past week we've been rebuilding the keyword indexes nearly every day, installing the new indexes in the morning with a resulting brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching before 8 a.m. SirsiDynix has told us to expect this pattern to continue until software upgrades can be installed.

We're working with SirsiDynix to get those upgrades accomplished. In the meantime, we'll continue to add and upgrade records in the NHU-PAC but the new material probably won't be findable through keyword searches until the following day. Browse searches, where available, should continue to be updated in real time.