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Pharos Task Force for Systems Design and Implementation WestEd Conference Room B
Present: Amir Dabirian (Fullerton), Shaun Geer (San Bernardino), Jill Horn (Long Beach), Phil Huang (Sonoma), Jeff Paul (San Jose), Marvin Pollard (WestEd), Albert Tran (Los Angeles), and Eric Willis (Northridge). Marvin Pollard called the meeting to order at 9:45 a.m. Marvin Pollard announced that Phil Huang (Sonoma) and John Ross (San Diego) would be the Pharos Management Team liaisons to the Task Force for Systems Design and Implementation. He also announced that Jeff Paul (San Jose) would replace Donna Elsdon (Bakersfield). Marvin Pollard gave an overview of the Pharos project. In late June 1997, the UIAS Management Team met in San Francisco, prior to signing the contract with Ameritech, and initiated a plan for UIAS pilot sites that would evaluate the software expected to be delivered by Ameritech in August 1997. The Pilot Sites were expected to compare programs supplied by Ameritech to the functional specifications in the UIAS contract with Ameritech Library Services. At a meeting, also in San Francisco prior to the annual meeting of the American Library Association, the UIAS Management Team presented to COLD a proposal for an organization structure for the UIAS that would create five task forces. The UIAS Task Forces would make recommendations for policies, procedures and standards for the implementation of the UIAS. Recommendations from the Task Forces would be referred to COLD after first being reviewed by the UIAS Management Team. As a result of delays in the delivery of the software being used for the Pharos System, the Pharos Management Team, at it's November meeting, has now endorsed a recommendation to shift the responsibility of evaluating the software from the Pilot Sites to the four activated Pharos Task Forces. The rationale for this recommendation is that the Pilot Sites have actually served as beta test sites, while the Task Forces have assumed a role of reviewing functionality and quality of the software. Also, the Task Forces are better organized to produce an evaluation document which the Pharos Management Team desires to use to make decisions about the features that will be available in Pharos Version 1.0. Pharos Ver. 1.0 is the name of the functionality, which will be, endorsed by the Management Team for use by the CSU libraries beginning in July 1999. Each Task Force, in the course of their work, has had an opportunity to use and evaluate the software being used to create the Pharos system. In addition, the Task Forces have members who have also been involved in the Pilot Site process. A systematic review, using the functional specifications in the contract that CSU has with Ameritech Library Services, will structure the evaluation process. The Project Manager will oversee this process which needs to be completed in early 1999. Marvin reviewed the activities of the four active Task Forces. The Task Force for User Services last met in July 1998 (2 days) at SLO to discuss and come up with flowcharts of what Pharos is doing today. The Task Force will meet next on Tuesday, November 17, 1998, at San Francisco State. This Task Force is responsible for changes in the look and feel of the Pharos user interface. The changes will be incorporated in the system before it is shipped to each campus. Pharos Web pages are being developed and updated by Paul Adalian (SLO). These pages are sent to Marvin for integration with the Ameritech software. This Task Force will decide what broadcast searches are available to the users. The User Services documents can be found on the Pharos Web site at http://uias.calstate.edu/UserDocs.shtml. The userid and password for accessing any document on the Pharos Web site are csulib and uias97, respectively. The Task Force for Database Standards and Management was very active after it was formed. Its documents can be found at http://uias.calstate.edu/DBSreports.shtml. A few months back, Marvin asked each campus to provide catalog information in MARC form. This information was used to validate the MARC Record algorithm. With the cooperation of the campus liaisons sample MARC records were provided in a timely manner. The records were received and validated successfully. Directions for extracting bibliographic records can be found on the Pharos site as well. Everyone is encouraged to join various task force Listserv mailing lists. This Task Force is in the process of forming a Union Catalog Maintenance Subcommittee. It proposes to have a liaison(s) from the Task Force for Design and Implementation. We decided to have Eric Willis (Northridge) and Shaun Geer (San Bernardino) be the liaisons from the System Design task Force. The Task Force for Inter-Campus Services has produced a policy for the Interlibrary Loan of books. The "ICS Report on Policies and Guidelines for Interlibrary Resource Sharing" can be found at http://uias.calstate.edu/Overview/ICSCOLDREPORT.shtml. The Task Force for Systems Design and Implementation recommended that the system be shipped Pharos software already installed and configured for each campus. A campus should not customize its Pharos system until March 1999. The Systems Design Task Force needs to develop guidelines for customizing the Pharos "Out-of-the-Box" configuration. For example, the customization files should be installed in one folder or location rather than spread across folders. This process would eliminate inefficient time for customization. Ameritech should resolve this issue. Marvin Pollard demonstrated the Remote Patron Authentication System by authenticating himself against the patron database at Cal Poly Pomona. By fall 1999, CSU students should be able to create an ILL request using their campus authentication system. Ameritech is still developing additional ways to provide user authentication. Information about the Resource Sharing System (RSS) can be found at http://uias.calstate.edu/Overview/RSS.shtml. The database engine that will be used for the operational Pharos implementation of the Resource Sharing System will be Microsoft SQL Server 6.5. Marvin Pollard mentioned that the machines being used for the Pharos Gateway Server were ordered in April 1998. The Pharos Gateway Server consists of the following: The IBM IntelliStation M Pro Server (300 MHz microprocessor and 512 MB of RAM), 6 GB of disk space, 8 GB tape backup storage, and Windows NT Server 4.0, IIS 3.0, Netscape Enterprise Server 3.0, WebPAC 1.3, RSS 3.0, Microsoft SQL Server 6.5, and Horizon Client Software. The Task Force recommended not installing Virus software or the PC Anywhere software. In terms of support, the questions were asked about the level of responsibility that each local campus would be expected to support the gateway/ILL server system. The Task Force agreed that Ameritech would provide hardware and software support. Hardware and software problems will be referred the support staff at Ameritech Library Services who will refer the call to the proper parties for problem troubleshooting and resolution. Pharos Support Contact personnel shall be Amir Dabirian, Shaun Geer, and Albert Tran. A "Support" Listserv shall be established to answer Pharos related questions. A quick survey of all campuses shall be done shortly by Marvin to find out the number of simultaneous sessions each library is licensed to use on their library management This is important for capacity planning needed to support the initial year of Pharos operation. Questions also need to be answered about how each library automation vendor's software counts a Z39.50 session. Is each Z39.50 session counted as a session by the software enforcing the license? How long does a Z39.50 session remain active when not in use? The vendors will be approached to provide answers to these questions. When this information has been collected the Systems Design Task Force will be in a position to make recommendations about increasing the number of simultaneous users for each campus library management system The Pharos Gateway Server is expected to handle 100 simultaneous users. CSU Fullerton was identified as the first campus to be receiving its Pharos Server with fully loaded software. In expectation of new Pharos Server, Amir Dabirian will provide a digital certificate and set up cookies for remote patron authentication. Amir will also provide for Marvin to test a batch job for cleaning up cookies on a regular basis. Dual processors were the discussion topic at the Pharos Management Team meeting last Tuesday, November 10, 1998 as well as at this Task Force meeting. Some felt that new Pharos Servers should not be upgraded to dual processors because they are slower than the later models will be a year from now. With the new Pharos Server, the Task Force members recommended that it is up to each campus to install print server and backup software in accord with its own wishes. The Pharos Server will come with generic Windows NT backup software. Marvin will develop a Web page containing the following information before the Pharos Servers are shipped to each campus.
Lastly, the Task Force recommended to the Management Team that a full-time person be hired as the Systems Administrator at WestEd to support Ameritech-Pharos liaison and support Marvin. The meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m. Reporter: Albert Tran - Edited by Marvin Pollard |
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