[iBorrow] iBorrow Project Update 7/10

[Beth Farmer]

Apologies for cross posting.
TBLC staff have been working with staff at SirsiDynix and in
participating libraries to continue setup of iBorrow.  Many thanks to
everyone who has participated in this process.  We appreciate all of
your efforts and ask that you continue to bear with us as we work
through this process.  
As we look at our progress to date, we find that a combination of
software problems and software opportunities suggest that it would be
best to push our launch date back a week. 
Here is a brief summary.
We've been given the opportunity to move from the shared URSA server in
Provo, Utah, to a server dedicated to TBLC. This is a very big change,
because many of the improvements to the iBorrow portal we've suggested
so far (Often these are your suggestions that we are passing along) have
been denied, because they would affect SirsiDynix's other URSA clients.
If we have our own server, those objections go away and we will be able
to customize the interface more.  So, we have agreed to move to the new
server. 
However, that means the URSA client and the iBorrow portals will have a
new address. And that raises some problems. First, that address needs to
be "propagated through the DNS space" by SirsiDynix. That process can
take up to 48 hours, which takes us right up to July 12. Once the
address is propagated to all the DNS servers, each of you will have to
download the URSA client again and bookmark the new iBorrow portal
addresses. We know that some of you must work with your local IT staff
to install or update the URSA client. And if it is not available until
Wednesday, there is no realistic way you can get your IT staff to enable
it on your local PC's that same day.
We also need to give your Webmasters time to replace the current
AlleyCat link on your catalog with the new iBorrow link with the new
URL.
Finally, and this is not a software issue, some of you have experienced
staffing problems that have kept you from getting your setup data to us,
so some of you are still not completely set up in URSA's master tables.
With all of these issues in mind, we feel that we can best serve you and
your patrons by pushing the initial launch date back to Wednesday, July
19. We will be working with all of you between now and then to iron out
the problems-and opportunities-we've run into. And we may be able to
launch on July 19 with a larger group than we could have achieved on
July 12.
Thank you for your patience with what we know is a lengthy and often
frustrating process. 
We will continue to keep you updated as we proceed.  Expect to hear from
us often throughout the coming week.
Please contact us if you have questions:
iBorrow Project and Training Coordination - Beth Farmer, Assistant
Director, 813.622.8252 ex 228 / farmerb at tblc.org
iBorrow Technical Issues - Al Carlson, System Administrator,
813.622.8252 ex 223 / carlsoa at tblc.org ; and Matt Smith, Technical
Assistant, 813.622.8252 ex 229
Administration - Charlie Parker, Executive Director, 813.622.8252 ex 222
/ cparker at tblc.org




Beth

Beth Farmer
Assistant Director
Tampa Bay Library Consortium
1202 Tech Blvd., Suite 202
Tampa, FL 33619
(813) 622-8252 x228
farmerb at tblc.org 

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