Posts Tagged ‘ebooks’

Kansas EZ Library Update – June 2012

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Please find below an update on 3M Cloud Library and OneClickdigital.  It contains information from the Kansas EZ Library update webinar on June 1, as well as updates on anything that has happened since then.

Kansas EZ Library Help

Having a technical problem with one of the new services?  Contact Lianne Flax at the Online Services desk for help.  This email address may be given directly to patrons as well.  audiobooks@library.ks.gov

3M Cloud Library Update

Ongoing Holds Errors

Holds errors continue to be a problem.  More facets of this problem have become apparent since it began.  Types of errors:

  1. books available on the holds list fail to check out.
  2. hold status indicating “available for checkout in less than 1 day” for more than 24 hours; or book wait time suddenly increases.
  3. patron notices that book is still available to read on a device past the 14 day checkout period.

While the error #1 has been limited to patrons using the PC software, patrons using the mobile app are now beginning to report error #2.

Patrons are not experiencing issues checking out books available in the catalog.  It is only books on hold.  The 3M tech team believes that they have found the root of the problem, and are working on a solution.  Part of the solution will have to be an update to the PC software.   3M was unable to give us a general date for this update on Friday.

If you experience one of these holds errors, please send a report with this information to audiobooks@library.ks.gov.  This allows 3M to look at the activity logs on their server.

  • Kansas Library Card number
  • Date of error
  • Time of error—the more exact the better.

Overall Technical Progress

  • Coming Soon

◦      Android app upgrades
◦      Categories tab-ongoing work, more improvements
◦      Upgrades to admin panel: purchasing advanced search, ability to create multiple carts

  • Coming this Summer

◦      Shelves tab-more options for creating fresh shelves.

◦      MARC records-July

  • Mac computer app—no date released yet.

Transferred Materials Progress

733 total titles from Random House, Sourcebooks, HarperCollins.

More transferrable titles will be added to the library as 3M processes more publisher catalogs.  They have recently completed adding Harlequin, Baker, F+W Media, and IPG.

3M Statistics

As of June 1, the 3M Cloud Library collection contained 1747 total copies.  We cannot get more statistics (such as circulation stats) on 3M at this time.  Other reports are still being developed.  Once they are available these will be run and reported monthly to the library community.

Kindle Note

We have not had any updates on possible Kindle compatibility.  Amazon had asked to postpone discussion with 3M until June (back in March) so we are hoping to receive more information soon.  Lianne Flax will send out an update when she has it.

OneClickdigital Update

General News

OneClick released a required update to the Windows Media Manager on June 1.  We are now on version 2.0.3.57.  If you missed this update, please close your Media Manager, then go to this page on OneClick and run the installation.  As you already have the software installed, it will only force the update to apply.  http://statelibraryofks.oneclickdigital.com/extra/Download Player.aspx

The Apple mobile app received a small stability update.  Apple mobile app users should now be on version 1.1.

Overall Technical Progress

  • Upcoming:
    • Adding more fully compatible devices—this did not get finished in time for the June 1 scheduled update.
    • Android Mobile app-in development for summer.
  • Still working on:
    • Book indexing—applying BISAC subject headings (commonly used in bookstores) to all titles in order to properly sort the books.  You will notice that many books are misfiled by genre or target audience.
    • Missing book summaries—have found fewer of these over time!
    • MARC Records errors—the MARC team is still working on errors that came up in previous batches.  We will let you know when they are ready.
    • Admin report types-more in development, just added ability to run a report based on patron zip codes.

Transfer Progress

Figures sent from the transfer team on May 31.

  • Complete: 3077 titles (includes a large batch of titles where all file work is complete, but are in the process of activating).
  • Final steps: 151 titles (getting final data, encrypting, etc)
  • Securing files/Researching: 653 titles

OneClick is currently working on finalizing contracts to add Books in Motion, Time Warner, and Zondervan catalogs to their purchasing module.  Titles from these publishers are included in the “securing files/researching” figure.

OneClick Stats

  • Collection: 3351 total active titles (includes ~400 subscription books)
  • May Circulation Stats
    • Total: 8544 circs
    • Daily Average: 275
  • Patrons
    • Total Accounts: 9696
    • New in May: 732

Patrons by Zip Code—please see the Resources for Librarians page for uploaded charts of patron statistics.  This is our first attempt at sorting this data.  http://www.kslib.info/kansas-ez-library/resources-for-librarians.html

Purchasing Update

The State Library of Kansas is almost at the end of our fiscal year.  Funds were secured to work on high holds lists.

  • OneClick: State Library is attempting to get most holds lists down to a hold ratio of 5 patrons per copy of book.  Jo Budler is pursuing a leasing idea with Recorded Books to take care of titles with the highest holds.  Owning enough copies to result in a ratio of 5 is not feasible on these titles.
  • 3M: purchasing extra copies to satisfy holds is difficult, as a reliable holds list cannot be run.  Extra copies have been purchased based on generally popular titles and individual reports of high holds from librarians and patrons.

Refresher on Consortium Contributions

If your library is interested in contributing towards the purchase of materials for OneClickdigital or 3M Cloud Library, please contact your system to contribute (except SCKLS libraries, see below).  If you are interested in spending $1000 or more you may help purchase directly on the platform.   Libraries without a system option should contact Lianne Flax lianne.flax@library.ks.gov to contribute.

SCKLS is offering matching/reimbursement grants during 2011 and 2012 for digital audiobook or ebook purchases made by member public, school district, academic or special libraries. Full information: http://sckls.info/index.aspx?nid=163 The State Library can provide the necessary documentation for orders placed on the consortium if you are interested in applying for this grant.

Kansas EZ Library Update

Friday, May 11th, 2012

Kansas EZ Library Help

Having a technical problem with one of the new services?  If it is after regular business hours, you may wish to look at Digital Help page, a part of the Kansas EZ Library: http://www.kslib.info/digitalbooks. Digital Help can be reached from the blue navigation bar on the left side of the page.  Fixes for common issues will be posted on this page, and receives updates continually.  As always, you can also contact Lianne Flax at the Online Services desk for help.  audiobooks@library.ks.gov

The Digital Help page also includes workarounds for 3M Cloud Library.  There is a manual transfer option that works for ereaders not compatible with the 3M computer software yet, and the instructions on transferring a book to a Kindle Fire or other Android tablets not compatible with the mobile 3M app.

Kansas EZ Library Training Webinars

Another round of Kansas EZ Library webinars will be held in June (exact times/dates TBD).  Here are the webinars of round #1, if you could not attend:

OneClickdigital:

https://sas.elluminate.com/mr.jnlp?suid=M.8DCF049F449E483D1AC315396B83CB&sid=2011591

3M Cloud Library:

https://sas.elluminate.com/mr.jnlp?suid=M.5A1CB9F956C557CEDB56108B393974&sid=2011591

3M Cloud Library News

Our account is currently experiencing a glitch in the checkout of holds.  Normally, when a book comes available on 3M Cloud Library the patron should have 72 hours to check out that book.  Some are receiving the error message of: “Could not check out the book.  Maybe because the book was already checked out by another patron.”

3M has been looking into this problem.  It is not happening to all patrons, and not all patrons are experiencing it on every hold that comes available.  The cause of the problem remains elusive.  If you experience this error, please send a report with this information to audiobooks@library.ks.gov:

  • Kansas Library Card number
  • Date of error
  • Time of error—the more exact the better.

This information allows 3M to look at the activity logs on their server.

OneClickdigital News

OneClick technical support reports that Media Manager is currently unable to transfer to Creative Zen MP3 players.  They are looking into this problem.

OneClick has also been releasing multiple versions of the Media Manager.  The recent changes have only been cosmetic, and auto-updating of the Media Manager has been turned off.  You will only have one of newest versions if you have recently reinstalled Media Manager from the OneClick website.  If you are looking at OneClick documentation and you have a newer version than the one shown, that is the reason.  **Again, all recent changes are cosmetic and you do not need to upgrade your Media Manager at this time.**

Purchasing Update

OneClick Sale

OneClickdigital has a 42% discount on all Recorded Books titles until the end of May.

Matching Grants for SCKLS Member Libraries

SCKLS is offering matching/reimbursement grants during 2011 and 2012 for digital audiobook or ebook purchases made by member public, school district, academic or special libraries. Full information: http://sckls.info/index.aspx?nid=163 The State Library can provide the necessary documentation for orders placed on the consortium if you are interested in applying for this grant.

Refresher on Consortium Contributions

If you are interested in contributing towards the purchase of materials for OneClickdigital or 3M Cloud Library, please contact your system to contribute (except SCKLS libraries).  If you are interested in spending $1000 or more you may help purchase directly on the platform.   Libraries without a system option should contact Lianne Flax lianne.flax@library.ks.gov to contribute.

MARC Records Update

Errors were found in the OneClickdigital MARC records during testing, so these will not be released to the full library community until they are fixed.  3M Cloud Library still does not have MARC records.