Major system migration is complete

Updated Jan. 18, 2022:

The Library has completed the major system migration processes scheduled for Jan. 14-17. Thank you for your patience.

Some updates are currently being made to the Library Catalog, such as search refinements based on field type and location. We expect these to be completed this week.

Currently outstanding issues with the Library Catalog include the following:

Search Limits

  • Nearly all catalog records are being incorrectly assigned a Format of E-Resource.
  • Most records are not being indexed with a Location, so applying Location limit of Mansueto or Regenstein will return very few records. The actual locations are still displayed on results and full record pages.

Record display and Metadata

  • Donor bookplates are not displaying right now, and donor names are not searchable.
  • “Email this” and “Text this” functions on records work, but are sending the user title and record URL only. The messages are missing call number, location, and other information.
  • Some record information is not displaying correctly on Full Record pages. While major fields such as Title and Author are consistently displaying, records are sometimes missing fields such as Notes and Other Authors / Contributors.

MyAccount

  • Many sorting options and data fields are missing from My Library Account pages, but these pages should remain largely usable.

Layout and Presentation

  • We plan to make additional cosmetic improvements to the presentation of results and records in the catalog.
  • There is stray system text being displayed in numerous cases.
    • Series browse pages show “browse_series” as a column header.
    • Many electronic resource links are accompanied by the text “Available from coverage unknown” or "Deduped Eholdings"
    • The phrase “Intellectual item” is shown in the holdings information for analyzed series.
    • Holdings in the Shared Print Repository are erroneously displaying a link saying “To check availability consult the series record.”

If you have any questions, please contact Ask a Librarian.

Updated Jan. 14, 2022, to reflect the start of migration:

From Jan. 14-16, checking out materials from all campus libraries and retrieval of books from Mansueto Library will take more time than usual due to a major system migration. Additionally, Paging & Pickup requests will be suspended Jan. 13-17.  We request your patience as staff check out items manually during this period.

Throughout the migration, e-resources such as the Library Catalog, ejournals, ebooks, and course reserves continue to be available.

Coming back online

The migration has been scheduled for a holiday weekend in order to inconvenience patrons as little as possible.  While the Library currently anticipates that Paging & Pickup and normal checkout and retrieval processes will resume on Jan. 18, extensions of migration time may be necessary, and Library patrons may initially experience slower response times when using the Catalog or other Library services as further improvements are made to the systems.

Library Catalog updates

After the system migration, the search interface for the Library Catalog will remain largely the same.  Some improvements such as combining the basic and advanced search features will be made.

Questions?

For more information, see our FAQ below and our interview with Elisabeth Long about UChicago’s participation in the library management system development process or contact Ask a Librarian.

A student selects books from the stacks in Regenstein

FAQ

Q: How will use of the Library Catalog and My Library Account be affected?

A: The Catalog will be available throughout the migration, as will My Library Account.

Q: Will My Lists in the Library Catalog be migrated to the new system?

My Lists will be unavailable until the new system comes online.

Q: What is a library management system?

A: A library management system is the software that allows us to keep track of what we have, where we store it, and whether it is checked out. We use it to acquire new materials, to create catalog records so that they can be found, to lend, borrow, and circulate materials, to make items available through course reserves, and to manage Library accounts.

Q: Why are we moving to a new system?

A: Our existing system is no longer under development or supported.  The new system will allow staff to conduct library work far more efficiently.

Q: How new is this new system?  Have other libraries already implemented it?

A: The new system, FOLIO, was first implemented at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden in October 2019 and has been implemented by other libraries including Cornell University and Lehigh University.

Hands using a laptop computer and phone