LTS Newsletter: October 2024

Library Technology Services, Harvard Library

Welcome to Library Technology Service’s occasional newsletter for anyone interested in Harvard Library IT.

Reusable Container Program Pilot

Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) and LTS have launched a new initiative to promote sustainable dining practices and reduce waste. Beginning October 7, Mather residents can use a new self-checkout station to borrow up to two reusable dining takeaway containers from an initial pool of 300, similar to checking out library materials. Since each container is an “item” in Alma, borrowed containers can be easily tracked in individual HOLLIS accounts. To ensure timely returns and availability for others, a replacement charge will be applied for unreturned containers. Following the pilot period, the program may expand to include additional containers and dining locations. For more details, visit the HUDS website: HUDS Reusable Container Program.

Alma User Experience Group & New Titles Search Interface

LTS Staff Corinna Baksik and Amanda Schmidt represent Harvard needs to Ex Libris as members of the Ex Libris Alma UX group. They provide feedback for Ex Libris initiatives like the new search result UI, perform pre-release testing, and are early adopters of new features so that Harvard can report feedback and bugs before wider rollout. Amanda and Corinna also participate in usability studies for specific functional areas. They solicit input from other Harvard Alma users via the Technical Services Working Group and the Fulfillment Working Group as needed. Recent initiatives included the new Titles Search UI and the upcoming new Circulation Desk UI.

LTS encourages all staff to try the new Titles Search UI. Alma’s search results are being upgraded with new UI concepts, resulting in faster, simpler searches and streamlined workflows. The new search UI is available for All Titles, Physical Titles, Electronic titles, and Digital titles while keeping user preferences and configurations separate. All Harvard Alma users can activate this new feature by going to their user icon and choosing Feature Rollout Preferences to try it out.

A few features among many:

Ability to customize what you see in results, and the order of sections in the side pane
See record data side-by-side with results, meaning there is fewer opening/closing of pages in general
Suppress and unsuppress titles without going into MDE
Use arrows to move through records and see bib data without closing/opening each record
Using a table view
Advanced Boolean search with groups

For more information, see the Ex Libris Knowledge Center page about this new search experience. And, as always, don't hesitate to submit any questions to lts-support@harvard-lts.libanswers.com.

Staff Record Sets in HOLLIS

A new feature has been added to HOLLIS called “Staff record sets.” This feature enables the creation of sets in Alma that are exposed to users in HOLLIS.

What is a HOLLIS Staff Record Set?

An itemized set of records from Alma that is exposed to users in HOLLIS
Each set has a static URL that can be shared via LibGuides, LibAnswers, etc.
A grid view of records, where 10 records are shown at a time, with a button to "Load more items."
Custom thumbnails can optionally be added to individual Alma records.
All aspects of Staff Record Sets are managed in Alma by library staff.

Links

Recording from the Open Meeting and demo
Staff sets home page
HOLLIS documentation
Alma documentation

iPres Conference

Robin Wendler, Miriam Leigh and Vitaly Zakuta from LTS along with Stephen Abrams from HL Digital Preservation Services attended the iPres 2024 conference in Ghent, Flanders. Stephen, Miriam and Vitaly presented a paper on the DRS Futures project that they coauthored together with Julianna Barrera-Gomez (DPS) and Michelle Gallinger (DRS Futures Consultant). The presentation, "The Future of Preservation: Reinventing the Repository at Harvard," discussed how the project, supported by the University ITCRB Fund grant, aims to create a flexible digital preservation repository capable of handling diverse genres, sizes, and formats. The Implementation Phase of the project involves configuration, customization, local integrations, and data migration, with a focus on minimal disruptions. The presentation also highlighted special emphasis on stakeholder engagement and radical transparency that was prioritized in all phases of the project. Engaging with stakeholders throughout the length of the project of this type helps ensure the high likelihood that the resulting solution will accurately reflect and satisfy the workflow needs of DRS users of all levels.

Staff News

LTS welcomes Shraddha Waphare as our new DRS Futures Data Engineer. She will be working on the DRS Futures project and comes to us from Dell where she worked as a data engineer. Shraddha earned her Masters in Data Science from SUNY Buffalo. We are delighted and excited to have her join the team!

Library Technology Services: Staff Documentation Center