New Website Launch Affects MelCat Service

These seem like great new features! Thanks!

MeLCat has been an amazing resource, so I will miss it while it's down but I'm definitely excited for the new features!

Excellent news about the catalog upgrade.

Can we keep currently checked out/new MelCat checkouts out past October 2? Can we renew them?

Thank you all for the positive feedback. It will be a process! Yes, renewals will be allowed on items requested before the deadline of October 2.

Josie

Looking forward to the ability to freeze requests without losing our place in line! Have been waiting for this option for awhile and am pleased it will happen soon.

The freeze requests feature sounds great! Will there be any way to have it where it automatically freezes after a certain number of books have been pulled for me?

For example, say I'm only comfortable having three books out at a time. I could set that number in the system, but then I could immediately put 100 books on my request list that I want to read. Out of that 100, maybe 12 of them are available right now, but because I set my checkout limit to 3, rather than pulling all 12 for me, AADL would only pull the first 3 books on my list, and then automatically freeze my request list, automatically unfreezing the list once I return a book (or multiple books). This is similar to how Netflix does their DVD by mail program. I don't know if this feature will be included, or is even possible under the new system, but I've always wanted the ability to do this. I tend to add a lot of books to my request list at one time, but I can't handle having a large quantity of books all ready for me to check out at the same time!

Love Love Love the 'freeze/thaw' option to be added!! The Ann Arbor District Library (and IT team) Rocks!!!

Hate to loose the MeLCat service. Are all of technical solutions being explored?

The freeze feature sounds awesome!

smurphy6

We plan to offer this feature, and we call it "throttling", but we can't guarantee that it will be ready for launch. It will require real-world testing after we have the new system up and running. We do want it to work as you describe it.

Josie

evertor

Yes. MelCat items don't actually exist in our system, so they can't be migrated into our new system. The only option is to essentially leave MelCat and then to rejoin MelCat after our migration. This is how the folks who own MelCat services handle migrations. Other Michigan libraries have gone through this same six months process when they changed systems.

Josie

Any chance on Audio/Visual being available through MelCat when the new system is up?

My husband and I are "heavy" MelCat users. We borrow books through it all the time: foreign language books that AADL doesn't have in its collection for me and for the children, English language kids' books not in the AADL catalog and other books of all kinds for ourselves. At any point in time, I have at least one Mel book checked out on my account. Hence, the six month timeline to get it back is extremely long by any website overhaul standard.There needs to be an alternative available during that time for us tax-paying funders of the system.

glook,

It is doubtful. The decision about AV materials and MelCat is an AADL decision based on high loss rates and damage rates when we did loan AV. Because we don't loan our AV, we are not able to borrow AV through MelCat. Fair enough.

Josie

magdales,

We are very sorry for the inconvenience, and interlibrary loan is available now and will be during the time when MeLCAt is unavailable. It is slower, but a good option for you and your family. Please consider beginning to use it now before MelCat is suspended so that you can avoid a lag in material availability. [http://www.aadl.org/catalog/ill/ill_faq]

Josie

I love the melCat system as it is a great way to get the few books the AADL doesn't own. Am sorry it's going on hiatus, but am looking forward to it coming back in Spring! In the past, it was possible to do ILL by asking a librarian and filling out an old-school form. Is that still an option?

gardenfairie,

Yes, it is still an option.

Josie

I am interested in the freeze feature and some of the new offerings, I am not looking forward to the MelCat shutdown. I do a lot of research and Mel Loans play a big part in my work. There was already a shutdown of Mel not too long ago, so I'm not happy about this shutdown which is LONGER than the last!

One thing I would like to see is the ability to "check out" electronic books (not physical DVDs or CDs) from Mel. I never understood why a book that is really just a file cannot be checked out on Mel.

I appreciate all the work the staff does to make the libraries run smoothly, but I would rather forego the changes just to avoid the long Mel shutdown.

P.S. I hope you aren't adding a new feature called "throttling." Google Verizon Throttling or Netflix Throttling to understand why this might not be a good thing.

tsarist,

The recent MelCat down time was due to upgrades being made on their end and completely out of our control. The suspension of MelCat on October 2 is a consequence of our decision to migrate to a new catalog system, but the length of the down time is imposed on us. We are sorry for the inconvenience and recommend that you switch over now to the traditional ILL system to minimize disruption to your work.

It would be absolutely lovely if interlibrary loan of ebooks was a thing, but MeLCat is a network for moving physical objects. We wish ebooks were just a file, but license agreements allowed by publishers prevent them from being treated as such.

We appreciate your analogy, but in the context of the library's catalog YOU are the throttle, so it doesn't quite work.

Thanks for the feedback, and let us know if we can help you navigate our ILL system.

Josie

As much as Melcat is heralded by people able to use it for books, I wish I had it for CDs. As someone who lives and works in Ann Arbor, what options do I have to participate other than AADL?

glook

You can purchase a non-resident card from a public library participating in MelCat and is also loaning/borrowing audio-visual material through MelCat.

Josie

Thank you!

just want to be sure I understand all this "new aadl.org / MelCat" talk:

• no on-line requesting of books to be held for us, Oct 2 until this spring
• we have to go to the library to find and check out our books during those 6 months

Josie

Thanks for taking the time to reply and to clarify the situation.

Does the AADL offer access to any electronic services like newspapers.com, which offers an archive of thousands of historical newspapers from all over the world dating from the 1700s?

I will learn more about ILL and hope that will be a good workaround while you do your refit.

Re: Throttling.
Well, if it is Self Throttulation vs being throttled, then I see your point.

AADL is still the best library I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

Just wish you guys would leave well enough alone.
Your site already does everything but come to my house to cook and clean!

If your upgrade did THAT then I wouldn't mind a shutdown.

Pattio,

If you do not use the MelCat service then your use of the Library won't change. This does not mean that all online requests stop, only MelCat requests!

Josie

tsarist

Thanks for the compliment. We'll take it.

Please check at [http://www.aadl.org/research/browse/newspapers] for the options available through AADL. It may not be exactly what you need, but there is good historical newspaper coverage available through AADL.

Josie

Thanks for the heads-up re MelCat, a very valuable and appreciated service.

Do you anticipate any problems with the launch of the new website? I seem to recall people losing some of the lists of titles they had created in their own accounts during a previous upgrade. Is there any danger of that? Is there an easy way we can download or otherwise make a copy of our lists just in case?

Can you reveal the name of the company providing the new software for the new website? I hope it will have a keyword search that provides a more apparently logical results list ;-)

Marylee,

Well, we do expect some problems with the launch of a new website, but we don't know what they'll be! We do know that lost data is not likely to happen since we will be keeping the old site archived.

We are moving from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8.

Josie

It is shocking that Library leadership agreed with the decision to remove MELCAT -- a core library function for tax paying customers -- for nearly 6 months. This decision should be revisited.

Systems upgrades across the world work in simple 2-steps -- (1) keep the current system alive and working, serving all functions of the library, while IT develops a new system in their offices. (2) After the new system is fully tested, it replaces the old system at night, or takes few days to sort out technical bugs. To make an entire core function of the system unavailable for several months is NOT normal.

Ask yourself -- how would you feel if your bank says -- sorry, we are upgrading our systems so you will not be able to transfer money from another source for many months? You will leave that bank. Or, how would you feel if a hospital says, we will not be able to see your clinical results from other systems for 6 months because we are building a new system? You will leave that hospital. But, we cannot leave AADL - not just because its a one library monopoly - because we love it, and hope it works for us.

kozel,

The six month hiatus is imposed on AADL. It is not our choice as is explained in the original post. We join you in your consternation, but we are moving forward with our migration and upgrade.

We do apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Josie Parker
Director

I'm very disappointed that the MelCat suspension wasn't announced earlier this year (unless I missed it?). I planned my year's curriculum with including MelCat as a valuable and important resource :(.

The announcement was made on September 4, 2017. I am sorry if that was not soon enough for your planning. Please consider using the traditional ILL services offered by AADL for materials that you cannot find locally. [http://www.aadl.org/catalog/ill/ill_faq]

Sincerely,

Josie Parker

I would like our melcat withdrawals to appear on our checkout history. Any way for that to happen?

Andrea Lams

The challenge is that checkout history is a list of items from our catalog that the user has checked out, and by definition, MeLCat checkouts do not exist in our catalog at all. So, this will not be a launch feature of the new website, but we will look for a way we might approach the problem down the road.

Josie

as long as you promise it is coming back.

thanks, looking forward to the new site.

Will this catalog upgrade finally get rid of that annoying freeze on renewals when an item is requested, even when multiple copies are available?

I second Andrea's request for the option to "turn on" MelCat checkout history!
Understanding that this won't be part of the new upgrade, I hope that AADL will indeed
"look for a way we might approach the problem down the road".

We've been using the AADL since 1971, and, when our 5 kids were young, the monthly visit downtown was a highlight.
Clearly the library has enriched all of our lives (first and foremost, from reading!).
Thank you for continuing to look for ways to keep our library vibrant and accessible.

In the meantime, it is possible to join another library that still offers mMelcat. It sounds like all the AA Melcat traffic is being re-routed to ILL. Is that a good idea?

Looking forward to its return! Hopefully soon?

Bring back MEL!! Every time I ask when it will be back, I'm told spring. It is spring. Please bring it back soon.

How long!?

Is this now deferred to Summer of 2018? Which is in June?

Is there a timeline to get this service back? It has been over 6 months!!

Hopefully, the Inter Library Loan service will resume soon. Without it one is made painfully aware of the limitations of the Ann Arbor Library collections. We are told that this is an award winning library (especially around millage time), and I would expect Ann Arbor to hold itself to a higher operating standard. Every time I walk into our local branch I am greeted by a sign that tells me this is an exceptional library system. Prove it!

Any word on when MEL will be back up?

Seriously missing MeL! AADL has allowed its collection of fiction in English to deteriorate significantly. This is annoying but could be dealt with through the use of MeL. Without MeL, our ability to read novels in English has been seriously negatively impacted.

Please give us an update on the status of our connection to MeL.

Is anyone on the library staff reading this? In scrolling back, I see no answers to any questions..... ?!?!?

I was wondering about the status of MeL as well. I moved to Ann Arbor from Canton two years ago and while I love living in Ann Arbor and I do appreciate AADL, I am finding that Canton has a much better children's collection. MeL was a way to help mitigate the lack of choices available here at AADL. As a school librarian with few resources, I look to the public library system to help supplement my own small school collection.

A few weeks ago I contacted MeL directly to ask them about the timing of the reconnection, but they could not answer - in fact, they referred me back to AADL, who had already given me the same answer as all of you have gotten, "soon." :(
We used ILL a few times this winter, but it was really slow (we received books from I believe Georgia & Wyoming, among other places)... I stopped using it a month or so ago, assuming MelCat would be back "any time," but maybe I should have put in some more orders after all...
While we do have a verrry long "backorder" list for MelCat in our family now, I do have to say I'm pleased that it seems the library adds new items virtually every day. :)

Can I get any updates on the status of MeL? I'm the native Russian speaker (reader) and I'm missing the chance to use MeL a lot! Recently I was trying to find some books for my teen-age daughters to read and I could not find them in AAPL collection (English). I'm sure that if I have the access to the MeL it will not be a problem. Can AAPL, please, return the readers the access to MeL? and when it will happen? Thanks!

It is troubling that the PUBLIC library will not provide regular updates on the slowness of the MEL return.

Spring is almost officially over. Wondering when MelCat will be back up. I agree with the previous comment that stated "MeL was a way to help mitigate the lack of choices available here at AADL." I also agree with this comment "Without it one is made painfully aware of the limitations of the Ann Arbor Library collections. We are told that this is an award winning library (especially around millage time), and I would expect Ann Arbor to hold itself to a higher operating standard. Every time I walk into our local branch I am greeted by a sign that tells me this is an exceptional library system. Prove it!" Please return MelCat to us ASAP!

Is ILL back up yet?

[a few spam comments deleted]

We are very sorry for this ongoing disruption to MeLCat service, and I apologize that we did not see the comments being left on this post until a user sent in a contactus about it. We've wanted to wait until we had a firm date to announce it, and we're not quite there yet. MeLCat is our top systems priority right now and we are working on reloading all our items into the MeLCat system, which is a required step before requests can be turned back on. We've gotten the necessary communications software installed and testing will be happening this month to make sure the MeLCat system can have up-to-date availability of each item in the AADL system, and that requests placed through MeLCat get duplicated to our system properly so they show up on your my account page. We will announce a date when requests can resume on MeLCat as soon as we've successfully uploaded all our data and have tested loaning and borrowing transactions round-trip. We hope to complete this testing in June and have the service back up fully by the end of July at the latest. If all goes well, it should be sooner.

Again, our apologies for this extended service interruption. This part of the project could not be started until after the new system came up in January, and then we had some issues with our own request fulfillment that had to be smoothed out first. You'll see a post on the front page of aadl.org as soon as we have a firm service restoration date to annnounce. Thanks to all of you for your patience through this drawn-out transition!

-eli

"rejoin the MeLCat network in Spring 2018 after the migration is complete."

Is there an update to the rejoining of MeLCat ?

Can you please update this page? Obviously you will not have interlibrary loan back by "Spring 2018." If it's now going to be late Summer, 2018, or even Fall, 2018, or Winter, 2018, please just let us know. Thank you.

Samilton, there is an extensive update from Eli in the comments on June 6.

Is the interlibrary loan service up and running yet?

Karen Furuhjelm

When is MEL coming back? It has been forever.

Read the extensive update from Eli on June 6 above

Hello! Any updates on the resumption of MelCAT online ordering, now that we're in the middle of Summer 2018?

gopalkamat - read the extensive update from Eli on June 6 in the above comments

Why hide this information in the blog?

Put it up-front on the main ILL page where everyone can easily see it.

The June 6 update from Eli is very helpful.

Three new spam comments between his comment and this one await deletion....

Whoever is charge of this should be fired!!! There is no updates, no plan, and no commitment.

We're getting close, all! As we've said, we won't announce a date until it's certain. We continue to work with MCLS, the operators of MeLCat, and there will be a front page post announcing the resumption of service as soon as we know when that will be. Thank you all for your patience; we're sorry this has been such an extended outage, but we're nearing its end.

Missing Melcat! It's been a long wait.

If other libraries are doing this conversion in 6 months, why is it taking 10 months+ to get this up and running? Thank you for the last post, but it really doesn't provide the information you should be able to give us this far into the project. Is there a big problem?

There's not a big problem. It's a complex process, and every step has taken longer than we had hoped. We've got our data loaded into the MeLCat system, and we're working on getting the two systems to talk to each other. We have staff training scheduled for August, and as soon as we have confirmed a go-live date with the MeLCat crew, we'll announce it. Thanks again for your patience, we apologize for this extended service outage.

Wow! It seems that the information technology company that handled the whole system upgrade has been seriously deficient. The issues with Mel are just the longest lasting and most egregious. I sincerely hope that AADL will receive a financial discount from the company -- some kind of remuneration is in order.

Make MELCAT great again

thanks a lot.

I agree with a previous commentor: PLEASE replace your outdated information at the top of this page with the latest information. Why frustrate us more by having us scroll through almost a year's worth of comments to get to the most up-to-date news on this? "Waiting until we have a firm date" in a comments section is not enough communication for people who've been waiting a long time for this service to return. I love our library but the lack of direct communication about this is not acceptable.

I wish I had found this page earlier. Hope it comes back soon.

Any updates on this? It is September now...

Yep, we are planning an announcement for later this week. Just confirming some details; stay tuned!