MnLINK VDX Blog

When reporting problems it is important to be as specific as possible about the situation. There are certain bits of information which may not seem important to report, but may help us pinpoint the problem.

When you have a request that creates an error or seems to cause some other problem, take note of the request number and send that to us. Providing us with the approximate time will also be helpful. There are seven web servers that provide access to our network. On VDX it appears right above the Fretwell-Downing logo in the left hand column. It looks like usweb03. In ZPortal it appears at the bottom center of the screen. Knowing which server is having a problem can be very useful. If you see something on your screen that looks unusual, see if you can get a screenshot. Visual evidence can be extremely helpful. Listing the steps that caused a problem will help us recreate the situation on our end. What Action were you performing to create the issue? What buttons did you select to create the issue and in what order?

1. Request number
2. Time problem occured
3. Web server
4. Screenshot
5. Steps involved
6. Action involved
7. Buttons selected

Posted by Nick at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are so many avenues, how do I know where I should look for answers? There's the Contact MnLINK button, and there's also Help files. On the ZPortal side there's more Help files, another Contact MnLINK button, and a FAQ. Why not use email since we've got the listserv, and you can always email Michael or me (Nick) directly. Then there's the wonderful MINITEX ILL Policy Database which has the most current information about all of your libraries. With all of these choices, where do you start?

If you have not used the Contact MnLINK button on VDX or ZPortal before, you should check it out. Clicking on it takes you to a form which helps us evaluate your problem. When you Submit the form, it is sent to Michael Berkowski and me. Michael responds to most of the technical issues and I respond to the others. Sometimes we field each other's issues. He's probably better at mine than I am with the tech issues. This is a good place to contact us quickly. If you have questions about a specific request or patron information, this might be a good avenue to use. This option is also good for your public service staff who have questions about how to use the system, or if they believe there is a problem.

The listserv is a nice general way to ask questions. There might be questions about whether the system is working properly or about what the proper procedures are for a certain situation. It could maybe even be used to find out who would like to get together for sandwiches after work. This is a good way to get information out to everyone. I would suggest you Not use the listserv for sending questions about a specific user account/barcode/name.

You also have the option to email Michael and me directly. You can email Michael at berk0081@umn.edu and Nick at banit006@umn.edu. Just remember though, if you email one of us when we're not around (or on vacation) you may not get a response very quickly.

How many of you have even used the Help files or the FAQ? When I look at our web stats, it doesn't look like there's very many who do. There is some very good basic explanatory language there. There are good definitions of terminology. The VDX Help files also have a good explanation for all of the Report options.

Finally, when was the last time you verified the information on your library's policy page at the MINITEX ILL Policy Directory. You can get there through the link on the bottom of the MINITEX homepage, otherwise the address is http://www.minitex.umn.edu/illpolicy/. There is some very good information there about who you should contact at a library and how, whether they take replacement copies or what the loan period is.

Posted by Nick at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have you ever taken the time to go to the Reports page other than to do a Batch Rerun? There are some very interesting reports you can run.

The Average and Maximum supply times as a Borrower and Lender allow you to compare the length of time for you to fill requests vs. the length of time for libraries to fill your requests.

How about the Loan requested per title report. This will give you a list of all of the titles your users have requested.

The Requests by days of the week report will give you an idea of when to take a day off. Sunday is probably going to be the slowest day for most of you.

I like to look at the Incoming requests by Borrower and Outgoing requests by Supplier. These 2 reports will show you who you are sending material to most often and who is filling your users' requests. Now that we have adjusted the rotas and with the load leveling program no one library should stand out in these reports (excluding MINITEX of course because of all the requests which default to them).

Don't forget that you can limit the date range of any of your report queries. Some of these reports cast a very wide net, so for best (quickest) results you may want to run them later in the day or later in the week.

Many of the reports that return information can be put in an Excel file. "How do you do this", you may ask. Well let me tell you. FIrst put the cursor over the middle of the reports page. Then right-click with your mouse and choose the option Select All. Right-click again and choose Copy. Now if you have not already opened a new Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, do so. Choose the drop-down menu of Edit and select the option Paste Special. A new window should open up and you want to Paste as HTML Then click OK. Now you can format your Report results as you would like.

Posted by Nick at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Has anyone else notice the rise in Cancelled requests since the introduction of the Cancel option on the ZPortal? These requests need to be manually completed out of the Borrower Work Queue. Unless you are planning on sending a notification about these Cancelled requests, the process is very easy. The vast majority of these Cancelled requests had the process initiated by the requester.

To start, click on the corresponding number for Cancelled in the Borrower Work Queue. The patron initiated cancellations are usually the ones which have the red note "Request No Longer Required". Select the Bulk Action option of Select all at the top of the page. On the right hand side of the screen you can uncheck any Bulk box that you do not want to Bulk Action. If you have more than one page of results, go to the next page and repeat these steps. You can easily Complete more than a hundred requests at once. When you have selected all of the requests you want to Complete, click Submit. When the Bulk Action screen appears, select the Complete button on the lower left side of the screen. Completing requests does not take as long to process as performing an Action on more that 100 requests. If you do this every couple of days, it should only take you a couple of minutes.

Posted by Nick at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)