Annual report update

I wanted to write a quick note to thank all of the libraries who have submitted their annual report. They have reported some glitches and I believe I have resolved them. I’m sure others may creep up, but just let me know if something looks funny and I’ll work with the vendor to get it resolved.

One thing that is not a glitch that I wanted to remind folks of is that your ‘State Downloadable Video’ may have gone from 1 to 17, causing you to get a message saying that your ‘Video – Downloadable Units’ went up by more than expected. These are the videos of people reading children’s books with a sign language interpreter that were added into NHDB. All you have to do is add a note to that effect and that will take care of it.

If you experience any other issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and I’ll work through it with you. Thank you for your patience. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Tim Rohe
Reference Librarian/State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
603-271-2060

Where'd that record go?

Every so often the NHAIS Help Desk hears from someone puzzled about not being able to find a record that they know they saw in the NHAIS ILL System mere minutes ago on another computer and/or when logged in with a different username. Sometimes this is explained by a temporary glitch in communications with one or more of the 130+ catalogs that the NHAIS ILL System checks. More often, though, it happens because different library catalogs are selected for the searches. To see which catalogs are being searched, click the "stack o' pancakes" icon (hover text says Select Resources).

You may have different sets of catalogs associated with different usernames (each library has 3 usernames assigned, ending with ILL, ALL, and CAT). Several catalogs have been added to the list since the system was launched in the fall of 2019 and it's possible some of the additions aren't reflected on some of your logins. The default resources for each username are set under Your Account > Your Favorite Resources. Follow directions on that screen to change the selections.

For interlibrary loan purposes, generally your best bet is to have all catalogs selected. Selecting individual catalogs to search will limit the choices you're given to create a request but doesn't govern which libraries your request will be routed to--the lender list is built by a process that functions separately from your searching.

For cataloging purposes, you may want to target just the NHU-PAC. It's near the middle of the list of catalogs and 95 percent of its more than 1.3 million bibliographic records come from OCLC. If you're using a Z39.50 client to download records from NHAIS, whether that client is built into your local ILS or a standalone program, it's configured to search only the NHU-PAC.

NC van running late Wed 2/17

Heather was delayed this morning but will be out on the road today, in case you are expecting a delivery and she does not show up at her usual time.

Charles Shipman
Supervisor, Reference Section
New Hampshire State Library
603-271-2144

Search slowdown update

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 12:20 p.m.: The NHAIS ILL System search situation has improved since the SQL service was restarted mid-morning. What you'll find now is the behavior observed since last Thursday night's SHAREit program update: union catalog (NHU-PAC) results display quickly after a search is launched and nothing is automatically added to those results. You can see the countdown of resources (Z-targets) and when it's done, which generally takes 20 to 30 seconds, you can click the Add to Results button to see more search results. Expect to see more changes down the road as Auto-Graphics continues to work on speeding up the display of search results.

Remember that you can launch a request from what you see even while the system continues "searching ## resources." The lender list is built after you submit the request when the system conducts a separate, behind-the-scenes search for library holdings that match the bibliographic details in the record you chose to create your request. However, if you're using the Multi Copy option, it's important that after you've clicked the Multi Copy button you wait for all targets to be searched because--for multi-copy requests only--the lender list is created before you submit the request.

No NC van Tue 2/16

The North Country route is cancelled for today due to inclement weather conditions. The affected libraries are:

Lancaster
Colebrook
White Mountain Comm. College/Berlin
Berlin
Jackson
North Conway
Conway
Madison
Bartlett
Twin Mountain

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Jill Witham
Circ/ILL
New Hampshire State Library

Search slowdown

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 8:20 a.m.: Delivery of initial search results in the NHAIS ILL System is slower than usual this morning. Auto-Graphics has been notified.

ILL search speed to be addressed

The NHAIS ILL System will be offline for up to 15 minutes starting at 10 o'clock tonight (Thursday, Feb. 11) for implementation of program updates. Included are changes to address the slow delivery of search results that we've seen in the NHAIS ILL System since early December. Auto-Graphics says the speed and performance when searching Z-targets has been improved so users should experience a faster return of results. Note that individual Z-target performance is also dependent on local configuration so results can vary.

Another issue addressed in tonight's update: some searches resulted in the error message “Something went wrong! Please try searching again” or an indication that there were results in the hit count but with no results displayed on the page. This has been corrected.

Also on the way tonight is a further tweak to keyboard shortcuts for Quick Links. When moving between staff pages, only unique pages will be added to the Recent Staff Menus section in the Quick Links menu, so that each page will display only one time, and CTRL+L will always return you to the most recently used staff page from another staff page or from the OPAC.

Elsewhere, the User Guides and Videos page in the Support menu has been reorganized so the Supplemental Information (chiefly training videos) is now listed with the related User Guide rather than in separate sections.

The videos are produced by Auto-Graphics and are not specifically tailored to the way the NHAIS ILL System is configured. You'll find links to videos specific to New Hampshire's implementation of SHAREit on the NHAIS Services training page.

No Van Delivery Monday 2/15

Hi everyone,
 

The state library is closed on President’s Day, February 15, so there will be no van deliveries this coming Monday.


Charles Shipman
Supervisor, Reference Section
New Hampshire State Library
603-271-2144
Charles.Shipman@dncr.nh.gov