Alma Implementation

Alma progress report (September 2019)

The Alma implementation project is in full swing at the CUNY Libraries! We officially entered the “Onboarding” phase of the project with the vendor, Ex Libris, in June 2019. “Onboarding” is the portion of the project that deals with the configuration of Alma’s back-end, work that does not impact the day-to-day work of campus libraries. (This work is being handled by the Office of Library Services [“OLS”].) However, this greenlit the project and allowed the implementation committees and working groups to begin meeting and working toward the migration in earnest!

In late 2019, we anticipate entering the “Implementation” phase of the migration, which is when the Alma environment gets provisioned and we can do a test load of our Aleph and SFX data. We will be performing rigorous reviews of the data, working on workflow verification with the CUNY Libraries, and providing training to CUNY Libraries’ faculty and staff. In late June 2020, Ex Libris will perform a final cutover load using the latest Aleph and SFX data that we will need to review and approve.

In August 2020, we will enter the “Go-live” phase of the implementation project. At that time, we will begin using Alma for our day-to-day operations and permanently shut down our Aleph and SFX systems. Training will be ongoing as we get staff acclimated to the new system, onboard new staff members, and really put our workflows to the test.

As we work toward these major milestones, the implementation committees and working groups, as well as the standing OLS committees and all of the faculty and staff at the CUNY Libraries, are working hard to ensure a smooth transition. The following summarizes the work completed thus far.

May 2019

• The Alma Steering Committee met on Tuesday, May 7, 2019.
  • The committee met for the first time and was formally introduced to the Alma project at CUNY. OLS discussed the need for another Alma Demo Day, explained the significance of the 2-day kick-off event introducing everyone at CUNY to the project and the project team, and announced a tentative timeline vis-à-vis an Alma Sandbox environment and a test data load.
  • The bulk of the meeting was devoted to discussing the roles of the campus representatives on the Communications Committee. They came up with a list of 11 recommendations for the members of that committee.
  • The meeting ended with plans to meet again soon with the chairpersons of the working groups to review their roles and discuss their expectations during this critical time.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/SteeringCommittee
• The Communications Committee met on Thursday, May 24, 2019.
  • The committee met for the first time and reviewed its charge carefully but made no amendments.
  • The members of the committee reviewed the ongoing Aleph optimization/cleanup work. OLS explained their role in liaising with their local libraries to ensure that the work is getting completed in a timely manner.
  • The bulk of the meeting was spent on reviewing the recommendations made by the Alma Steering Committee.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/CommunicationsCommittee

June 2019

• The Data Migration Task Force met on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
  • The task force met to discuss the CUNY Libraries’ efforts to clean up their data prior to the migration to Alma. They made recommendations for the ongoing work in correcting the Aleph bibliographic records with suppressed items. They also discussed work needed for local fields in the new system.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/DataMigration
• The Alma Steering Committee & working group chairpersons met on Monday, June 10, 2019.
  • The committee met with the chairpersons of the working groups to review their roles and discuss their expectations during this critical time.
  • OLS announced that it will begin offering a monthly Q&A webinar series to answer questions from the CUNY Libraries about Alma and the implementation project.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/SteeringCommittee
• The inaugural session of OLS’s monthly Alma Q&A webinar series took place on Friday, June 14, 2019.
  • OLS provided a basic introduction to the Alma implementation project, focusing mostly on the Alma Implementation LibGuide and the tentative timeline outlined there.
  • The recording of this event can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Recordings

July 2019

• The Acquisitions Working Group met on Monday, July 15, 2019.
  • The working group met for the first time and, per the recommendations of the Alma Steering Committee, went over the Alma Implementation LibGuide and reviewed their charge.
  • Members of the working group spent time reviewing the Aleph optimization project LibGuide and discussing their roles in the ongoing cleanup work. The group also reviewed some training material available from the Ex Libris Knowledge Center and content available from colleagues outside of CUNY, such as Harvard.
  • The working group came to an agreement that they would send suggestions and tasks to the standing OLS Acquisitions Committee for follow up and implementation. They also concluded that they will be the ones to lead the training of the librarian members of the OLS Acquisitions Committee.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Acquisitions
• OLS held an Alma Q&A webinar session on Thursday, July 18, 2019.
  • The CUNY Libraries were introduced to Alma’s collaborative structure and its three “zones”: Institution Zone, Network Zone, and Community Zone.
  • The recording of this event can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Recordings

August 2019

• The Systems Working Group met on Thursday, August 8, 2019.
  • The working group met for the first time and, per the recommendations of the Alma Steering Committee, went over the Alma Implementation LibGuide and reviewed their charge.
  • The majority of the meeting was devoted to discussing provisioning staff accounts in Alma. Time was also spent on demonstrating how user roles and user profiles are created in the new system.
  • Other topics of discussion included the availability of analytics/reporting in Alma, the data load schedule, and the presence of training material on the Ex Libris Knowledge Center.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Systems
• The Access Services & Resource Sharing Working Group met on Wednesday, August 14, 2019.
  • The working group met for the first time and, per the recommendations of the Alma Steering Committee, went over the Alma Implementation LibGuide and reviewed their charge.
  • Members of the working group agreed to take more time to review their charge as they felt they needed more context in the form of training and exposure to the system.
  • The group raised concerns about patron privacy in the new system but OLS assured them that existing privacy policies will be honored.
  • There was a general discussion about users in Alma, how they’re created/updated/deleted, and the need to find a universally unique identifier for each patron.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/AccessServices
• Ex Libris provisioned Alma Sandboxes for CUNY on Wednesday, August 14, 2019.
• OLS held an Alma Q&A webinar session on Monday, August 19, 2019.
  • To help folks get acclimated with Alma, OLS provided an Alma glossary with crosswalks to systems or concepts with which they are already familiar.
  • The recording of this event can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Recordings

September 2019

• The Training Working Group met on Tuesday, September 10, 2019.
  • The working group met for the first time and, per the recommendations of the Alma Steering Committee, went over the Alma Implementation LibGuide and reviewed their charge.
  • Members of the working group agreed to create and disseminate a survey of training needs at the CUNY Libraries to help determine an effective approach for the group to take going forward.
  • The group also spent time discussing alternative training sites, including locations outside of Manhattan (repeating training sessions as necessary) and holding certain training opportunities online.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Training
• The E-Resource Management Working Group met on Wednesday, September 11, 2019.
  • The working group met for the first time and, per the recommendations of the Alma Steering Committee, went over the Alma Implementation LibGuide and reviewed their charge.
  • Members of the working group agreed to revise their charge (which can already be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide).
  • The group was advised that, unlike the other working groups, the management of electronic resources will impact many of the other areas, from acquisitions to analytics. This means that this group will need to develop close ties with all of the implementation working groups as well as gain familiarity with most of Alma’s functional areas.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/ERM
• The Systems Working Group met on Thursday, September 12, 2019.
  • The bulk of the meeting revolved around users in Alma and the need to create tiered templates. The group agreed to reach out to other Alma customers who are consortia to see how they handled user provisioning.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Systems
• The Alma Steering Committee met on Monday, September 16, 2019.
  • The committee agreed to create a courtesy notice to send to the Council of Chief Librarians and disseminate to the libraries via the Communications Committee about the Aleph optimization projects, stressing the need for libraries to review their progress internally and come forward if they have questions or concerns.
  • In order to keep Aleph and Alma settings in sync, OLS announced that they will implement an Aleph back-office freeze on Monday, December 16, 2019. (Routine work done in the cataloging, circulation, and acquisitions modules will not be impacted.)
  • OLS shared that Alma Demo Day is officially scheduled for Tuesday, October 29, 2019, and that it will be streamed and recorded.
  • Members of the committee recommended that at least two people (in addition to the Communications Committee representative) attend the yet-to-be-scheduled project kickoff event.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/SteeringCommittee
• OLS held an Alma Q&A webinar session on Thursday, September 19, 2019.
  • OLS took this opportunity to delve more deeply into the Alma timeline, explaining the three phases of the project and reviewing the major milestones on our horizon.
  • The recording of this event can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Recordings
• The Resource Access Working Group met on Tuesday, September 24, 2019.
  • The working group met for the first time and, per the recommendations of the Alma Steering Committee, went over the Alma Implementation LibGuide and reviewed their charge.
  • Members of the group discussed changing workflows as Alma will blur the lines among the work done by acquisitions, electronic resources, and technical services. This will also affect the standing committees (e.g., SFX Committee and ERAC).
  • The group was informed about the Central Discovery Index (“CDI”), a centralized index combining the Primo Central Index, the Summon Index, and the SFX Knowledgebase. The CDI will expand coverage and improve performance, as well as provide more agency to the campuses over their own electronic resource activations. However, this group will consider creating standards for activations in the CDI.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/ResourceAccess
• The Analytics Working Group met on Wednesday, September 25, 2019.
  • The working group met for the first time and, per the recommendations of the Alma Steering Committee, went over the Alma Implementation LibGuide and reviewed their charge.
  • Deciding that the charge needs to be updated, members of the working group agreed to review the charge in more detail and make suggestions for a revision by October 4. One of the recommendations brought up at the meeting included reviewing the existing privacy policy and adding “ethics” language to the charge.
  • The group decided to take stock of current reporting needs of the CUNY Libraries. Members of the group volunteered to tackle this from various angles:
    • Consult the Statistics Committee.
    • Review existing reports in Aleph.
    • Work with the Alma Resource Access Working Group.
    • Work with the Alma Acquisitions Working Group.
    • Work with the Alma E-Resource Management Working Group and ERAC.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Analytics
• The Metadata Standards & Policies Working Group met on Thursday, September 26, 2019.
  • The working group met for the first time and, per the recommendations of the Alma Steering Committee, went over the Alma Implementation LibGuide and reviewed their charge.
  • Members of the group agreed to recommend actions to the standing OLS Cataloging Committee with regard to the Alma implementation, as well as consult the larger group as needed to form policies.
  • The group considered that, because of our use of Alma’s Network Zone, they may need to develop their own documentation and training for the new “single-bib” model going forward.
  • Complete minutes of the meeting can be found on the Alma Implementation LibGuide: https://guides.cuny.edu/LSPImplementation/Metadata
• OLS met with CIS on Monday, September 30, 2019, to discuss the roadmap for integrating CUNYfirst with Alma. The representative from CIS was eager to get started and we will begin testing patron loads in our Alma Sandbox environment as soon as possible.

—
Prepared by Alevtina Verbovetskaya (Chair, Communications Committee), on Thursday, October 3, 2019. Updated on Wednesday, October 9, 2019.