Post Migration Issues

Holds suspension has been working, but you have to ensure that you click on today's date as the holds suspension date in order to start the suspension. Please let us know if this doesn't fix the problem for you.

1) We have logged this as an issue with our catalogue provider for future development.

2) You can change the view to list view which strips out the cover art and extraneous information, you can do this by clicking on the button beside the sort options drop down.

3) This is something that BiblioCommons is working on. The back end database system that we have switched to works very differently than the previous one and other libraries with our new back end system and the BC front end do not have access to In transit status, since they aren't used to seeing it. Since we made a back end migration, our patrons are used to seeing it. We have asked them to investigate making it available.

4) This has been resolved.

5) Wondering if you could send me an email with the specific use case on why you want to search by barcode at feedback@biblioottawalibrary.ca. We will try and find another search option for you. We have placed this as an enhancement request with BiblioCommons.

6) RSS Feeds: We are working with our web team to see if we can do this from our website and not within the catalogue.

7) Will log this and get back to you.

We will send a reminder to staff how to look up hold queue position. You can also email us at feedback@biblioottawalibrary.ca.

In the other back end database system it had a discrete number assigned for each title. For Little Women you could see a distinct 1, 2, 3 with names attached. To pull the hold queue position, they just had to pull this number and display this. The new back end system organizes the hold queue by date/time that the hold was requested. It does not include a number so for every hold this has to be calculated every time this record is pulled up. So, for each title on your holds list, the system has to calculate where you would be ordinally in the list by calculating when you placed the request versus when others placed their hold request and assigning a numerical value to it. OPL has unlimited holds and therefore when patrons with very large hold queues try and pull up their hold lists, it caused a lot of system slow down. We were already running this program before the migration and Edmonton Public Library runs it against our current system so we were a little surprised that we were the first ones to run into this problem. We, unlike other libraries, have unlimited requests so it is a larger problem for us. They are working on optimizing the query and have made some great strides. We just need to make sure that this code works effectively before bringing it in as we don't want to impact the system as a whole. We are library users too and we really miss this feature. We still keep the offer open to help you look up your queue position on specific items by emailing us at feedback@biblioottawalibrary.ca in the mean time so you can manage your account better.  I hope this provides you with a more fullsome description of the problem. Please note that the fixing of this issue is a full time occupation for some really smart developers. We thank you for your patience.

We cannot move back to the old system as it is not compatible with the new back end system we have installed. We thank you for your patience and we had an update from the vendor last Friday that the main outstanding issue should be resolved in the next few weeks. We would be happy to help orient you to the new system. Please email us any specific questions to feedback@biblioottawalibrary.ca and we would be happy to help orient you to the new system. This system does provide a good basic search and account management system and a enhanced social networking features for those who are interested in taking part in them. It provides a scalable system for those to interact in whatever features they are interested in.

We have been working with the vendor on improving catalogue speed and one of the issues is our unlimited holds policy. The sorting of suspended holds will be restricted to hold position for those with over 100 holds as a temporary measure. We hope to be able to return this sorting mechanism in the future.

This means that your card has expired and you will need to renew it at your local branch. We are updating the messaging to say "Card has Expired" to ensure it is clearer.

The new catalogue provides you with the opportunity to interact with your account in the same way as the other catalogue to do the things you want to do (at this point with the exception of queue position). It provides users with the ability to choose what types of activities that they would like to participate in, and provides enhanced features for those who would like to have the enhanced catalogue access.

The performance will be improved by enhancements being made by the vendor. We will return this catalogue to its quick response times we had before the back end migration. There is a wide divergence in requirements for the catalogue and this one will provide the choice for extended social networking features for those who are interested and basic catalogue functionality for those that do not. We thanks for your patience.

To unsuspend you click the edit button beside the Suspension Ends field which will bring up a calendar. You enter tomorrow's date and it will unsuspend the item overnight. If there is not a date showing up in the field, please email your specific information including your card number to feedback@biblioottawalibrary.ca so that we can thoroughly investigate your case.

You will receive notification when you reach the top of the queue. If there are specific items you would like to know your queue position number you can email as a feedback@biblioottawalibrary.ca with the title and your barcode and we can have a look on the back end system for you.