Questions About the Upcoming New Catalog & Check-Out System

This week's weather has been like a rollercoaster, which calls for a midweek update to help us get our bearings. As our communication with users about the Ex Libris migration ramps up, you may be getting more questions from users, or have questions yourself. A few notes to keep in mind:
Users may have specific questions that you're not prepared to answer. That's OK! Feel free to tell them we're in the process of implementation and you would be glad to refer their questions via our Ask Us email form. The Primo Operations Group is fielding these questions quickly, so you can rest assured that your users will be well taken care of.

Later this week, a Primo FAQ for staff will be posted on the Ex Libris portal. We'll remind you to check it out in Monday's WON too. You know the WON, it's your go-to spot for Ex Libris updates. Remember that you can also refer to the public webpage for basics about the migration.

You know how we're always encouraging users to come to us with their questions? That goes for you too! Not even sure what questions to ask? Start by watching the Introduction to Primo video (there's a link to it in the training section of the Ex Libris portal). As you watch, jot down your questions and shoot those off to us via the "contact us" form on the Ex Libris portal.

Thank you for keeping up and helping to make this a smooth transition for our users!

Emily Keller
Political Science and Public Affairs Librarian
206.685.2660

BookScan Station Freezing

Yesterday I had a flurry of Book Scanner freeze-ups and wanted to share a potential fix with you. It didn't work every time, but before you re-boot the computer, try just turning the scanner off and on. On a couple of occasions, it "released" it's error long enough to send the pages already scanned. Resulted in very happy students... I would continue to urge people not to scan lots of pages at a time. Sending 10 at a time seems to help prevent freezing and processing errors.

- Maureen

Recent Call Center Calls

We have been getting a lot of calls at the Allen Information Desk lately which seem to be from a call center.  The incoming phone number begins with 661, and the caller asks to speak to a particular person by name.  If asked if that person works for the UW Libraries the caller generally says yes, but it has never actually been the case.  However, sometimes we have been able to find the person in the campus student, faculty, staff directory.
If you get one of these calls, tell the caller it is best if they call the campus operator at 206-543-2100, and offer to transfer them.

- Adam

IE 10 Problems

There are issues with IE 10 and some databases. Users report various problems with loading. For example, Gina had a couple of people at the Reference Desk tell her that UW WorldCat would bring up the bibliographic record, but then not load the location information. Dottie created a script that we can use in QuestionPoint, basically recommending that the user try another browser and I thought all of you might appreciate knowing this information:
IE10 is still very new and the code is quite different from previous versions of IE. Many of our vendors are probably still evaluating and changing their code to work with the new browser. That process is time consuming and it will probably be quite a while before most (library) web sites are compatible with the new browser.
As most of these compatibility issues are out of our control, we recommend installing another browser to have and use when you run into problems like the one you recently experienced. Firefox is usually a good alternative, as are Chrome and Safari.  

- Nancy

11x17 Color Printing Solution

There is a class that is needing to print color 11x17 from a PowerPoint slide.  For some reason our color printer is not printing these documents except as 8.5x11.
The solution is to have the person send their pirnt job as an attachment to the Communications Copy Mail Center at B042CMU@UW.EDU.
This information is available on this page in the Info Index:

https://staffweb.lib.washington.edu/units/information-services/Info-Index/c/color-copying-printing

- Adam Hall

This problem was resolved.  It was discovered that the paper tray settings for the 8.5x11 tray were set for 11x17.

Quad Cherry Blossoms Update

UW Today article about the cherry blossoms.

- Adam

OUGL Plans for Spring Interim

Hold shelf:

• The hold shelf will be ‘frozen’. The time over the interim will not count toward the 7 days on the hold shelf. Items will continue to be added to the hold shelf as they are paged or arrive in the library mail.
• There will be a sign on door directing patrons who need an item on the hold shelf to contact 543-2991. When this happens, we will change pickup location to Suzzallo Circ, walk over to Suzzallo, and ask them to check it in and process at their Circ Desk. If someone contacts you at your desk for help, please feel free to call us for them.

Paging;

• It will be done once a day in the afternoon after we are cleared to enter the 3rd floor by construction crews.

Library mail:

• It will be processed as usual, construction permitting. Since there will be no morning paging, there will probably be very little outgoing afternoon mail.

Book drop:

• The book drop will be locked by 5pm on Friday March 22.  
• We will put up signs directing patrons to alternate book drops at Suzzallo.
• They will be unlocked at 8am on the morning of April 1.

Reserves:

• An FAQ much like the one we used over Winter Interim and Summer Quarter has been posted and linked to the main reserves page; FAQ can be found at:
• http://www.lib.washington.edu/types/course/ougl-reserves-faq/
• The 3rd Floor Suzzallo Media Center will accept in person reserve drop offs.
• We will page reserve holds to OUGL.

 - Steve Weber