Old News and Events
Massachusetts Virtual Catalog homepage
3/25/2008, 12:55 pm. VC back up and running.
3/25/2008, 8:45 am. Sirsi/Dynix is working to modify the URSA configuration files. If all goes well, we should be up and running sometime today.
3/24/2008, 2:15 pm. Server is still down. Please refer back to this space for updates. Thank you for your patience.
3/24/2008, 10:30 am. The server is currently down. Please refer back to this space for updates. Thank you for your patience.
2/15/2008, 9AM The server is
currently back up and running.
1/15/2008 The network at UMass Boston continues to be down,
meaning that there is still no access to the VC server.
1/8/2008 Email issue seems to be resolved.
1/7/2008 The contacts for the MA VC have changed. Please visit the support page to update your information.
12/10/2007 Available. Emails seem to be going out to patrons, but other types of emails do not seem to be going out, i.e. emails to request cancellation of holds in local systems. Tech staff is still working on the problem and trying to diagnose it.
11/6/2007-11/24/2007 Server was not sending out emails to patrons or libraries due to an interruption of the server relay. Relay fixed 11/23, tested 11/24, emails going out now.
9/20/2007 MA VC Users' Group meeting 11AM-1PM Thursday, September 20 at MLN headquarters. The MA VC Governance Board met immediately beforehand.
5/11/2007 Virtual catalog server moved from location to location within Healey Library.
5/8/2007 New MA VC listserv in effect: to join, send email to vc.helpdesk@umb.edu Thanks!
8/30/2007 System was unavailable for several hours due to an internet cable being cut; system is back up as of noon
7/5/2007 No buttons appearing on staff menu again for some users. Problem has been sent in to vendor; no response yet. Will send out update on listserv as soon as there is one. To join listserv see below.
NOTE: Next users' group meeting start has been changed to 11 AM-1PM on Thursday, September 20, 200. Meeting to be held at MLN headquarters: directions here MA VC Governance Board will meet immediately beforehand and update users' group afterward. (7/5/2007)
5/26/2007 Problem with staff menu not showing buttons has apparently been solved. Problem solved by vendor reducing log time interval on server. Call or email helpdesk if this happens again; logs may need further reduction.
5/11/2007 The URSA server was moved from one location to another with the Healey Library building at UMASS Boston. Server came back up after a brief down time in the afternoon.
5/1/2007 Occasional System Errors on staff and patron logins apparently due to heavy usage. Helpdesk is investigating. Workaround: trying again usually results in a login
4/20/2007 Status of Virtual Catalog URSA 4.0 upgrade: originally intended to occur over the summer, the upgrade has been postponed until there is more progress on the product; see original announcement by Paul Kissman to Users' group listserv on February 7, 2007 here.
Problem fixed 5PM April 17, 2007. “
4/17/2007 Not available. The Virtual Catalog seems to be inaccessible in staff and patron mode as of Tuesday April 17 at 8:45. We are looking into it and will re-mail system adminstrators with an update.
New list of systemwide software problems at http://www.massvc.org/support/support.html under “MA Virtual Catalog outstanding problems.”
New reimbursement procedures and billing tracking form at http://www.massvc.org/policies/policies.html under point c.
1/10/2006 The software patch to allow 13 digit ISBN to be read, that was installed on December 29, 2006 went smoothly, with the exception that lists of requests in request inquiry are no longer in numerical order. SirsiDynix tech support has said that this is a problem that would take major software reworking to fix, so the status at present is that we must try to work around it by limiting our request inquiry lists to specific statuses to limit them.
12/29/2006From approximately 11-11:30 PM Friday December 29, 2006 the MA Virtual Catalog will be inaccessible due to an installation of a software patch to allow URSA to handle 13-digit ISBNs as implemented by OCLC (see more info here). On Saturday morning December 28 the catalog should be up and running as usual on both the staff and patron sides.
Please be aware that the software patch may cause lending strings to be shorter than usual. Please also be aware that if your catalog has a “only allow requests if local items are not available” setting the patch may cause the software not to recognize locally owned items as such due to differing ISBNs in the records. This is not really a flaw in the patch itself, but a side effect of having more types of ISBNs in cataloging records, which are now all recognizable by URSA. Let me know if you have any problems
10/30/06 Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) opens yellow navigation bar frame in new window each time an option is clicked resulting in a cascade of frames. Not sure if Microsoft knows about problem; vendor exploring; temporary solution: avoid upgrading to IE7 or use other browser. Patron search mode affected.
Users' Group meeting Thurs. Sept 21, 2006 minutes (http://www.massvc.org/usergroup/usergroup.html)
MVLC live Sept 7, 2006.
Minutes here for May 4, 2006 users group meeting (http://www.massvc.org/usergroup/usergroup.html)
Users’ Group meeting : May 4, 2006
(Thursday), 10am to 12 noon, MLN Central,
Users' group meeting minutes for Feb 2, 2006
Users' Group meeting reminder: Feb 2, 2005, 10am to 12 noon,
Minuteman Library Network Headquarters,
List of all sites available in Members and Support tabs; use Ctrl-F to find sites
NOBLE server upgrade Thursday January 12 will cause searches to timeout in results for NOBLE only.
12/9/2005 November statistics and
too-long reports sent out and updated here
and here
(http://www.massvc.org/statistics/statistics.html)
11/28/2005 Users' Group meeting set for Thursday,February 2, 2006 10am-12 noon,
11/28/2005 Minuteman Library Network has begun lending audiovisual materials. Announcement here (result of link: Word document with “The Minuteman Library Network has resumed lending of audio-visual materials with the exception of new feature film video materials.
To be more specific, Minuteman libraries are NOT lending any feature film video material (VHS, DVD or VCD) acquired by the library within the last 12 months.
The libraries ARE once again providing access to most of the rest of their collections, including older feature film videos.
For additional information as posted for Minuteman patrons, see:
http://www.mln.lib.ma.us/catalog/av_restored.htm” (end Word document).
List of all sites available in Members and Support tabs; use Ctrl-F to find sites (link
MA Virtual Catalog brought down for maintenance 11/14/205, new tape drive.
MA Virtual Catalog temporarily inaccessible 11/12/2005, up 11/13/2005
New: Links under Support tab to lists of "overdue" shippedand returneditems, and bookband. 10/16/2005.
10/6/2005 MAVC Users Group meeting at C/W MARS headquarters
in
8/15/2005 Bridgewater State College live
7/21/05 Westfield State College live
For list of sites that are currently lending and borrowing go Support tab.
5/19/05 Governance & User Group Meeting.
6/13/05 Governance Meeting.