ocul cla04

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Introducing OCUL Ontario Council of University Libraries 20 universities: 17 English speaking, 3 Bilingual http://www.ocul.on.ca The Ontario Scholars Portal http://www.scholarsportal.info a unique set of shared information resources and services made available to all researchers and students 1. Scholarly Information Resources – full text content 2. RACER - access to collections

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What is RACER? Rapid Access to Collections by Electronic Requesting Fretwell- Downing’s VDX and ZPortal software Zportal - Z39.50 standard for virtual catalogue VDX - ISO ILL standard for ILL requesting / management http://racer.scholarsportal.info

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RACER - Why / When / How? Fall 1999 to 2 groups reviewing software Winter 2000 Tri-University Group of Libraries / University of Toronto March 2000 Consortial purchase of Fretwell-Downing's software recommended April 2000 OCUL ILL Task Group established May 2000 to FD contracts, equipment purchases, Project staff hired May 2002 OCUL System inefficiencies - combination of Aviso, home-grown, some libraries without an automated system to manage ILL, doc del & ILL

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Timelines in the RACER Project Summer 2002 Overall system configuration OCUL Virtual Web catalogue set up Fall 2002 First 8 institutions configured, staff trained. Testing begins Winter 2002 to Additional 9 institutions configured, Summer 2003 staff trained. Testing begins June 2003 First 8 institutions go into production Fall 2003 to Libraries from additional 8 institutions go into Spring 2004 production. French end user interface work Summer 2004 Software upgrade. Complete implementation for remaining libraries

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Key Features of RACER for End Users anytime, anywhere access to interlibrary loan Z39.50 searchable virtual Web Catalogue – OCUL plus more Auto-populates ILL request form Check the status of their requests online Receive email notification for receipt of materials English and French Language interfaces

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Key Features of RACER for Staff Simple interface in “real time” - Web accessible ILL Management system We’re in it together – common OCUL database/set up, central support Automating processes - patron records upload or Web self registration, catalogue checking (local blocking, list of potential lenders) Time savers – bulk processing options, PDF workflow reports (picklists, bookbands, labels)

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Trent University RACER CISTI ISO System University of Toronto Location in RACER University Of Ottawa Aviso GS system Searches OCUL Catalogues + Z39.50 Search by End User – Resource Discovery then submit ILL VDX auto-Z39.50 to identify a list of lending locations ILL Protocol ILL-REQUEST Message ILL Protocol ILL REQUEST translated to GS Request Message GS Non Supply Message translated to ILL Protocol ILL-ANSWER Non Supply Message reason unfilled = lacking issue ILL Protocol ILL-REQUEST Message ILL Protocol ILL-ANSWER Non Supply Message reason unfilled = not on shelf Current Standards within RACER ILL Protocol SHIPPED Message

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Who do we Message with and How? ISO Within OCUL, Other VDX sites (BLDSC, SOLS), CISTI, National Library, ILL Manager (completing testing), Relais (testing), more to test… Generic Script Translates incoming GS to ISO / outgoing ISO to GS AMICUS. All libraries using GS. Use with RSS GS translator. Also use for partial messaging with libraries without automated systems. External Web request form for incoming non system requests http://illforms.scholarsportal.info/vdx_illreq.htm Outside RACER OCLC can message with VDX (OCUL not set up yet. Still use Passport outside of RACER) Docline interoperability testing summer 2004?

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Is ISO to ISO Stress Free? Scenario 1 Learning curve cause errors -training - staff “tweaking” needed to ensure staff at each side action consistently Scenario 2 Interoperability issues cause errors -programming – major system “tweaking” needed when messages aren’t received/sent Scenario 3 Local system settings cause errors -settings – minor system “tweaking” needed when fields are not accepted in one system, or not in the current format

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Has RACER made a Difference? A quote from Trent's student newspaper, the Arthur For all the other books you need that weren't found on Topcat, you can use the Inter-Library Loan program, RACER, to get practically any book you want (I am still in awe of this program -- you should definitely check it out). One might say that, with the high-speed internet and programs like RACER, the world is at our fingertips.

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For More Information RACER TEAM RACER racer.support@utoronto.ca http://www.scholarsportal.info/vdx/support/index.html http://racer.scholarsportal.info/ OCUL Projects Faye Abrams, OCUL Projects Officer fabrams@library.uwaterloo.ca http://www.ocul.on.ca