OCLS is continuing to develop and improve services in support of Page 1+ to meet the needs of the college libraries and help leverage the shared implementation of Alma and Primo VE. These services OCLS Page 1+ services fall into three key areas;
Metadata Management
eResource Management
Systems and Contract Support
Services within these areas are under development with the guidance of the CLO Executive, standing committees, and working groups.
OCLS is excited to announce four new services that are currently underway:
Shared Alma Analytics Report Management
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OCLS will keep the colleges informed of new developments as these services evolve and grow.
Metadata Management
There are three exciting new developments within the service are of Metadata Management.
OCLS Managed Collections
In some situations, metadata for electronic collections is not available in the Ex Libris Central Discovery Index (CDI) or in the Community Zone (CZ), making certain resources undiscoverable in Alma and Primo VE. In other cases, there may be metadata in the CDI or the CZ that do not meet college needs. To solve this problem, libraries must load vendor metadata metadata must be loaded to the Network Zone or the Institution Zone. This is done by creating a Local Electronic Collection in Alma to house inventory, known as portfolios. Once the local electronic collection is created, an import profile is then used to create inventory by loading MARC records obtained from vendors.Zones.
The eResources and Acquisitions Subcommittee has identified a list of collections that are not available in the CDI or in the CZ. The Subcommittee has also identified a short list of priority collections. OCLS will maintain the metadata for this select list of collections in the Network Zone. You can learn more about this service on OCLS Managed Collections page of the OCLS Services for Page 1+ Guide.
CLO Metadata Standards
The CLO Metadata Standards can be used for cataloguing to ensure Marc records in local Institution Zones and the Network Zone . If you have any questions about these collections, please contact helpdesk@ocls.ca.
New Release Testing
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provide for the best access and discoverability of learning materials. OCLS and the Metadata and Cataloguing Subcommittee have worked to update the CLO Metadata Standards with the goal of ensuring consistency and quality of Marc records that work in the Alma and Primo VE environment. These standards have been formatted into an easy-to-follow guide for library library professionals of any cataloguing capability.
Shared Resource Management Workflows
In addition to CLO Metadata Standards, documentation has been created to support cataloguing in Page 1+, including workflows, guidelines and other documents. Used for encourage library staff to find the workflow that is fastest and will save the most time.
Cataloguing Templates
Three cataloguing templates in the metadata editor in Alma are ready for colleges to use. They are:
OCLS – Template Audio Books
OCLS – Template Print Books
OCLS – Template Streaming Video
Systems and Contract Management
Three new services are being offered in the area of Systems and Contract Management.
New Release Testing
New releases include new features/additional enhancements (released quarterly) and resolved issues/bugs (released monthly). They will be released in the sandbox environment two weeks before they are released to the production environment.
OCLS is responsible for testing and reporting new features/additional enhancements and will provide support for the colleges as needed. OCLS also keeps track of known issues/bugs that affect the colleges and notify the colleges as issues/bugs are resolved. See the New Features Releases page and the Known Issues/Bugs Tracking page of the OCLS Services for Page 1+ Guide for details.
Sandbox Management
Sandboxes are the Alma/Primo VE test environments. Library staff and OCLS may use these sandboxes for training and experimenting with different configurations or integrations. The Page 1+ consortium has four pairs of standard sandboxes. Each pair consists of 1 Alma sandbox & 1 Primo VE sandbox. These sandboxes will require regular maintenance and management to remain useful.
CLS provide central management services of the sandboxes with oversight and direction from college libraries. OCLS will comply with the Alma & Primo VE Sandbox Management Guidelines proposed by the SAD Subcommittee. In addition, the Subcommittee recommends that all Page 1+ libraries adopt and follow these same guidelines.
Shared Alma Analytics Report Management
OCLS will keep the colleges informed of new service developments in regular Page 1+ service announcementsReports (or analyses) and dashboards in Alma Analytics can be shared across Page 1+ colleges, or between Page 1+ colleges and OCLS via different shared folders. The Page 1+ Consortium has two Alma Analytics shared folders. Shared folder 1 (Page 1+) contains college reports ready to use and college reports that are works in progress. Shared folder 2 (OCLS) contains CLO reports and OCLS reports. The Alma Analytics Report Sharing Guidelines define usage of these shared folders and provide best practices for sharing reports.