[LIBRARYDIR] ALMA and staffing

Fri Mar 24 08:07:39 PDT 2017

These are the comments from our lead on the Alma Migration, Laura Staley. She is a rockstar and we couldn't have done this without her.

There is a great deal of extra time involved in this migration.

*         ExLibris requires a great deal of feedback - several spreadsheets worth of data - on how our current system is used, and how we want the new system configured. This takes research, and many meetings between Library staff and ExLibris, between library staff, between library staff and IT.

*         The data - bibliographic records, patron records, and other records - have to be loaded into the new system and then tested exhaustively.  Since library staff will be learning the new system at the same time, this will take more time than anticipated.

*         Each job has to be reviewed to see what parts of the system it will use.  This "workflow analysis" will take staff meeting time for discovery, reflection, and proceduring.

*         Each staff member has to learn what Alma can and can't do. Each staff member has to figure out how to do their jobs using Alma.

*         Two staff members must take intensive training on configuring and managing Alma.  This seems to take about a week - 40 hours of work, including 20 hours of videos, study and testing time.

*         The system usually requires different inputs for staff and student loads.  This requires IT and Library time.  This will also need to be tested, which will require coordination between the Library, IT, and Registration.

*         The system will require changes in how the staff interact with students at the Circulation desk. (For example, patrons may no longer get printed receipts. They may need to learn to check their email for loan information. If patrons have not been using Primo, then they will have to be trained, which means redoing Information Literacy classes, handouts, research guides, and websites. During change-over, the library will not have access to patron records, etc, as usual, and patrons will have to be warned about this.)  These changes will need to be communicated to patrons, which requires designing and carrying out an educational program.

*         Turning the system on requires changing URLs on school web-pages, with vendors, in research guides, etc.

*         The system is very complex, which means that many things will not work exactly as expected. Someone will need to troubleshoot this.  This will take months.

*         Finally someone has to coordinate all of the above.  And, since not everyone is able or comfortable with learning new software - or has time with the other demands of their work -  the person who coordinates this will often have to learn and then train staff in multiple roles.

That's not all of it by a long shot, but I think it might give something of an idea of the demands Alma makes on staff.  Frankly, we could have used two extra people during this process.

Thanks,

Laura

Cheyenne M. Roduin
Library Director
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From: LIBRARYDIR [mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Coe, Erica
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2017 10:50 AM
To: WACTC Library Directors <librarydir at lists.ctc.edu>
Subject: [LIBRARYDIR] ALMA and staffing

Hello all,

I will be meeting with President's Cabinet next week to explain the need for additional staffing support during the ALMA migration.   If you have shared information with administration about staff time involved in the migration, or other staffing needs for the project, I would love to see what you shared and piggyback on this.

Or for those of you who have been through the migration, what do you wish you would have had in terms of staff support?

Thanks,
Erica

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