Kinetica Advisory Committee Meeting

18 & 20 July 1999 Draft Agenda Papers

University of New South Wales, Sydney


1. Director-General’s Remarks KAC/1999/2/1
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting KAC/1999/1/9
3. Kinetica Implementation Progress Report KAC/1999/2/2
4. Kinetica Charging and Budget (embargoed) KAC/1999/2/3
5. Batch*Link KAC/1999/2/4
6. Future Directions for Kinetica Training (embargoed) KAC/1999/2/5

KAC/1999/1/9

Kinetica Advisory Committee Meeting

6 February 1999
Draft Minutes

Draft minutes of the third meeting of the Kinetica Advisory Committee held at the Hotel Kurrajong, Canberra on 26 February 1999.

Present

Chairperson

Ms Helen Livingston
Deputy University Librarian, Deakin University

Members

Ms Sally Anderson
NSW Agriculture Library, Trangie

 

Ms Marian Bate
Principal Librarian, University of New South Wales

 

Ms Kaye Hill
Library and Information Service of Western Australia

 

Mr Philip Keane
Head, Library and Educational Information Services, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide

 

Ms Jan Maslen
Associate Librarian (Technical Services), La Trobe University

 

Ms Sherrey Quinn
Libraries Alive!, Canberra

 

Ms Meredith Wallace
Manager, Information and Library Service, Parramatta City Library

 

Ms Jan Fullerton
Deputy Director-General (Acting), National Library of Australia

 

Mr David Toll
Assistant Director-General, Corporate Services, NLA

Officers in Attendance

Mr Andrew Wells
Assistant Director-General (Acting), Kinetica, NLA

 

Ms Bryony De La Motte
Manager, Kinetica Customer Service, NLA

 

Ms Julia Trainor
Manager, Kinetica Implementation, NLA

 

Mr Tom Ruthven (For item 4.c)
Kinetica, NLA

Minutes

Ms Rachel Symons
Kinetica Customer Service

The meeting opened at 9.00 am.

Apologies were received from the Director-General and Warwick Cathro.

The chair advised that Ms Sherrey Quinn had changed her place of employment and that the Director-General had agreed that she could remain on the Kinetica Advisory Committee.

Andrew Wells asked that Bryony De La Motte and Julia Trainor be granted permission to be participants rather than observers at this meeting. The Committee agreed.

Agenda item 1 Deputy Director-General’s Remarks

The Deputy Director-General commented on the following matters:

The Director-General was at a meeting of the heads of federal cultural agencies in Sydney. This was only the second meeting of the KAC he had missed. Warwick Cathro was attending a meeting of the Australian Digital Alliance on behalf of the Director-General.

The search for the new Director-General was well underway with applications closing on Friday 26 February. Appointments to the new senior executive positions within the National Library were imminent.

Agenda item 2 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting with the following amendments:

Tom Ruthven, Kinetica Customer Service and Rob Walls, Kinetica Marketing and Training to be added in the list of attendees.

The dates of the July meeting of the Kinetica Advisory Committee and the Kinetica Annual Users Meeting to be altered to read:

Agenda item 3 Kinetica Implementation Report

Andrew Wells presented an oral report on Kinetica Implementation, covering the following items

Bibliographic/cataloguing system.
The Library is busy updating the NBD on AMICUS with gap loads from ABN. The first load from May, which was 3 million separate transactions, went smoothly. The last gap load will take place just before the switchover on 29 March. ABN will close for cataloguing purposes on 25 March. The cataloguing client will be frozen on Wednesday 3 March with distribution during the following week. Significant issues over the last year have included the removal of Canadian data, including CANMARC. There are still a few places where the codes are not as the Library would like. These will be corrected later.

Training.
Training Agents (KTAs) were trained in February
DownLine Loading. Testing is working well. Tom Ruthven is travelling to Melbourne and Adelaide to visit pilot sites at Deakin University, University of Adelaide and CAVAL where he will test loading the cataloguing client and downline loading to local systems. He will make note of any difficulties for correction or to advise customers.

Products.
Are a bit behind schedule. The products button on LibriVision will not be enabled until development has finished. The service side is progressing well, but the delivery side needs more work.

Source loading.
Development of loading routines for Library of Congress and British Library records is going smoothly due to the matching and merging algorithm being superior to ABN. The Library is working on enhancements.

Batch loading from libraries is complex and will require extensive communications with systems vendors and libraries regarding specifications and requirements. It will be interesting to see how many libraries take up the option for batch upline loading.

RLIN.
Copy cataloguing from RLIN has been tested and is working. The only restriction is that LibriVision cannot handle all diacritics. Provision of the full range of diacritics will involve more work. LC Name Authorities will be able to be cut and pasted into the client. More work is needed to provide access to LCSH.

Kinetica Web.
The Scan service has been enabled and tested but it is doubtful that it will be in the service when it goes live. The product is still being developed.

CJK.
Winmass software allows the viewing of characters through the Web interface. At the moment locations and holdings cannot be displayed. Innovative have been contacted regarding this problem but have not yet replied.

Document Delivery Service.
We are still doing catch up work with this system. It has not been easy to solve problems with the software developers in the UK One problem is that call numbers are not being promulgated with the request. A Fretwell Downing programmer has been visiting the Library this week. LIDDA see Kinetica as vital to their service model and an efficient way of retrieving locations. It is hoped that the final software release will be next week and that recall training will then take place. It is simpler than ABNILL which is still increasing in use. There will be an overlap in the cut over from ABN to Kinetica Document Delivery Service. Libraries will have to use both systems for a while.

NBD Performance.
Testing of the technical architecture and search engines has taken place with response times of under 1 second for searches and presents of 10 records in under 4 seconds.

Administration.
The Kinetica Customer Service team have been busy with user registration enquiries. Search Only customers were only sent Option One forms to simplify their registration. Linking with ALG has been useful since address information is already input in the online registration form and libraries only have to ensure its accuracy. Temporary staff will be employed to input registration data for each client. Libraries will be able to use guest passwords from 17 March. After 29 March they will use their own.

Demonstrations.
Since the last meeting there have been two rounds of presentations for Searching and Document Delivery. All have been well attended.

Questions and Answers.
The Kinetica Customer Service team is busy gathering information, questions and answers from the Kinetica-l list.

Agenda item 4 Business Issues KAC/1999/1/2
a) Kinetica Charging and Budget
1. Budget report

The budget report was tabled at the meeting. Andrew Wells reported that because of the effect of the subscriptions there was a slight tapering of revenue but the Library was not concerned.

Credits were running over budget. Credits for April – June will be provided at a percentage of those accrued last year. The announcement about this has gone out.

2 Charges for batch loading

Andrew Wells spoke to this report. After a long discussion on this item, it was decided to let the $1000 charge stand and to explain to libraries that this was a one off charge to cover setting up the initial profile. It was decided that to correct any negative perceptions regarding the charge in the library community that the National Library should issue a ‘benefits statement’. Further reaction to the charge could be gauged at the Annual Users Meeting when libraries would have been using the system for three months.

3. Incentives

Andrew Wells spoke to this report. After discussion on this item, it was decided that the incentive scheme would remain as it stood and no concessions should be given to libraries and suppliers who have been able to gain net credits under ABN. This decision would be conveyed to the parties involved.

b) Kinetica Business Relationship KAC/1999/1/3

Andrew Wells spoke to his report on the progress which has been made in business relationships with OCLC, RLG, ILANET and Te Puna, the new National Library of New Zealand service.

c) Kinetica Customer Agreement

Tom Ruthven joined the meeting for this item.
The Committee discussed the Agreement and Attachment A:Description of Kinetica Services and suggested amendments.

It was recommended: KAC/1999/REC/1

The Kinetica Advisory Committee recommended that a revised copy of the agreement be sent by email to members within five days with a view to adoption by the National Library of Australia.

Agenda item 5 A National Bibliographic Database Report, February 1999 KAC/1999/1/4

Julia Trainor spoke to this report. After the trial of the cataloguing client in March information on workflow will be promulgated.

Agenda item 6 National Resource Sharing Workshop KAC/1999/1/5

The report from the National Resource Sharing Group was noted. Comments on the report should be sent to Cliff Law, Director, Coordination Support, National Library of Australia.

Agenda item 7 Kinetica Customer Services Report KAC/1999/1/5

Bryony De La Motte spoke to this report.
Customer registration has been reported on in Agenda Item 3.

Documentation.
Handy Hints brochures have been prepared and were shown to the Committee. They will be mounted on the Web along with other documentation. There will be online help for the Cataloguing Client. The online help will accurately reflect how the system will work.

Training.
Trainers from outside Brisbane will be offering Client training in Brisbane. There was no requirement for trainees to offer training outside their organisation. Pushing out the commencement of ILL has relieved the pressure on the trainers.

Cataloguing Client will go to the customers with both NT and Windows instructions.

Agenda item 8 Kinetica-L: Issues Raised on the Online Discussion List KAC/1999/1/7

Andrew Wells is speaking to members of Federal Libraries Information Network next week. Members will bring their IT staff to the meeting.

The list has been set to send replies to the originator of the message rather than the whole list.
The list has not been archived. Most of the informational items are on the Website.

Agenda item 9 Digital Services Project: Progress Report KAC/1999/1/8

Jan Fullerton reported that the RFI closed last week and that the Library was in the process of looking at the comments received and reconsidering scope requirements.

Agenda item 10 Any Other Business

a) Metropolitan Public Libraries Association

Meredith Wallace reported that the MPLA had made an informal approach to Andrew Wells regarding the formation of a consortium which would be beneficial to both parties. There would be administrative advantages in dealing with one organisation rather than 43 separate ones.

b) Kinetica Annual Users Meeting

The format of the meeting was discussed and it was decided that it would be mainly an extended user forum. Questions on notice will be called for and these would form the content. It was also decided that members of the Committee would actively seek people to make a presentation at the meeting on how they are using Kinetica. These will be selected on the basis of category. There will be no parallel sessions.

c) Future meetings of the KAC

July 1999 The meeting on 18 July will be held at the University of New South Wales. The Business Plan will be discussed at the meeting. Jillian Beswick, Chair, Kinetica Users Meeting will attend this meeting.

November 1999 The Strategic Plan will be discussed at this meeting.

d) KAC email discussion list

Bryony De La Motte will set up a closed discussion list for members of the KAC.

Agenda item 11 Conclusion

The following agenda papers were embargoed:

Kinetica Charging and Budget KAC/1999/1/2
Kinetica Business Relationships KAC/1999/1/3

The following tabled papers were embargoed:

Kinetica Budget Paper
Kinetica Agreement and Attachment (although KAC members may seek legal advice on it)


KAC/1999/2/2

Kinetica Implementation Progress Report

This report summarises activities and user reactions during the first four months of Kinetica’s operations.

1. KineticaWeb

KineticaWeb was launched as a pilot service on March 17, as originally scheduled. The new service attracted a large number of users, and it became apparent that there were problems with logins and session management in the LibriVision software. These problems were also affecting training courses. The contractors were very responsive in solving these problems, but it was recommended that commencement of full cataloguing services be postponed until April 12, two weeks after the scheduled date of March 29.

Since March 17, four changes to the KineticaWeb screens have been made in response to users’ comments. The changes have included reducing clutter on some screens, providing navigation across all views of bibliographic records, and repositioning of buttons to improve workflow and reduce mouse use. Login and session management has stabilised, although there are occasional problems with session crossing. This problem becomes evident in entering holdings via KineticaWeb, when another library’s NUCOM symbol is displayed. The time-out facility in the application is unpredictable, and much effort has gone into solving this problem.

KineticaWeb has been received well in many libraries, and many positive comments have been sent to the Kinetica email account on it. Feedback suggests that some reference and technical services librarians in large libraries are not adapting to it, and some reference staff are using the cataloguing client for their work. The following comment from the University of Adelaide is an example:

The interfaces have been poorly chosen to suit the needs of the user. In gaining a smart web product we now have a system that requires so many clicks and pauses to retrieve the results, that most of our reference desk staff are avoiding it. Previously they were masters in ABN commands, and could get details of holdings to appear within one or two commands for most known items. I would never have thought that I would miss clunky archaic ABN.

The software owners are currently developing a command line interface in KineticaWeb, which will support direct entry of search terms using CCL (the Common Command Language standard). This type of searching is currently available in the cataloguing client. This enhancement should meet the concerns of this user group. Acceptance of Kinetica by reference staff is a concern, and it is recommended that an expert advisory group on reference use be established.

Use of the RLIN database has become steady. The usefulness of access to the CJK system in KineticaWeb is limited by incompatibilities in the Z39.50 implementations in the software used by CJK and LibriVision, resulting in no displays of holdings information. Progress in solving this matter is slow. Several users have asked if there are plans to provide other international bibliographic databases within Kinetica. The Library plans to provide access to New Zealand’s new system, Te Puna later in the year or early 2000.

An online interactive Web tutorial for KineticaWeb is in development. We hope a protype will be demonstrated at the Annual Users’ Meeting.

2. Kinetica Cataloguing Services

Use of KineticaWeb for copy cataloguing is running smoothly. In the transition from ABN to Kinetica, the new downline loading application performed well, with many libraries enjoying continuous operation.

The Kinetica Cataloguing Client has had mixed reactions. Use of it in the first few weeks of service were hampered by several problems which had a severe impact on response times. The chief problems were a firewall machine filtering traffic and a bug in the authority control software. In mid-May, the firewall machine was replaced and a software patch released to fix the authority control bug. Over 700 copies of the client software have been distributed to Australian libraries, and there are often 500 concurrent client sessions active during the day.

Reaction to the software is mixed. The University of Adelaide have commented:

We expected, as Kinetica was Z39.50 compliant, to be able to quickly and efficient import data from other sources, as most Z39.50 cataloguing clients can. The configuration of this particular Z39.50 client is however different. It seems unable at present to allow us to capture records from say the LC or RLIN Z server. We have to key or upload bib records captured to our desktop PC, and then verify them on a line by line basis for bibliographic records. For authority records we cannot upload at all.

I don't know who 'test-drove' Kinetica, but we certainly didn't get that opportunity, or we would never have approved it. I am not sure who from academic libraries did. They may have been presented with limited opportunities or choice. I am unaware how many systems or what style of system was presented to review or was potentially available for review. Surely academic libraries with some experience of more modern cataloguing interfaces should have been involved? Global cataloguing is a reality to many of us now, but Kinetica hasn't helped us much to incorporate easily the information we have at our fingertips.

There have been other comments on the ‘clunkiness’ of the client interface, the number of mouse clicks, the tag by tag input and validation, complex authority control procedures and treatment of name/title headings.

It is crucial that the users are informed of enhancements and new releases of the cataloguing software. Users were advised that the Kinetica Cataloguing Client was not a Z39.50 client, and numerous presentations were given during the implementation. A new release of the cataloguing client is planned for September 1999, which will improve many features. The version of AMICUS being implemented at the British Library is totally new, and features a Z39.50 cataloguing client. The Annual Users’ Meeting presents an opportunity to remind users of the procurement strategy (‘buy not build’) and inform them of changes and enhancements. A document outlining enhancements and system bugs is in preparation and will be mounted on the Web. This will allow users to observe and comment on priorities for changes and enhancements.

Some customers have adopted a workflow using the Z39.50 capabilities of their local system. Records are captured from the NBD to a local system using Z39.50. Some libraries add their holdings via KineticaWeb, or are waiting for commencement of the Batch*Link service. Searching via Z39.50 has been increasing steadily through the first three months of Kinetica operation, starting at around 2000 searches per week in April, increasing to nearly 5000 per week in June.

3. Kinetica Document Delivery Service

The launch of the Kinetica Document Delivery Service was postponed on July 1, and it is hoped that a revised date will be announced at the Annual Users’ Meeting. Two issues related to stability and interoperability with AMICUS need to be fixed before a start date can be announced with confidence. A verbal report will be provided at the meeting.

A request for tender for the operation of the Document Delivery Payments Service was issued on June 21. Tenders closed on July 7, and evaluation will commence on that date.

4. Contribution to the National Bibliographic Database

Contribution to the NBD shows good levels of business continuity.

Table 1 shows the number of online holdings added each month to the NBD. The third column compares this rate of contribution to the average contribution to ABN from July 1998 to March 1999.

Table1. NBD Holdings

Month

New Holdings

% of ABN rate

12 Apr-7 May 45256 34.7
10 May-4 June 90998 69.8
7 June-2 July 97838 75.0

The number of new holdings added each week will increase when Batch*Link is in operation. Several large libraries have made the decision to move to an offline method of contribution, and many libraries using the Stowe local system are intending to batch load.

Table 2 shows the amount of original cataloguing contributed online. The third column compares this rate of contribution to the average contribution to ABN from July 1998 to March 1999.

Table 2. Original Cataloguing

Month

New Bib Records

% of ABN rate

12 Apr-7 May 7966 51.6
10 May-4 June 14590 94.5
7 June-2 July 12003 77.7

5. System availability

Very high levels of availability have been achieved, with the system available each day from 6am to midnight, EST. There have been scheduled outages for maintenance and database tuning. These outages have been confined to weekends and evening hours. A maintenance schedule for the remainder of 1999 has been agreed with the contractor, and users will be advised ahead when the system will be brought down for maintenance. We will endeavour to make the Search Database available as much as possible.

6. Response times

Response times is a critical issue for the implementation. The system is performing well at the National Library. The users’ experience is extremely variable, and depends on many factors: bandwidth; the number of network ‘hops’; local area network configurations, including firewalls and proxies; and, Internet congestion. The National Library’s IT section has been providing advice to users, and a ‘network clinic’ service is available for all users to check their connections to the NLA. Many users report degraded performance in the afternoon. In order to diagnose response time problems at local sites and to be able to offer advice, a communications consultant has analysed performance at sites in Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The consultant’s report will have been received in time for the Annual Users’ Meeting and an oral summary will be provided to the committee. It has been suggested that the Library approach Internet Service Providers to investigate means by which reliable and fast access could be assured. Some discussions have taken place with AARNet on the performance of that network, particularly the OPTUS/Telstra gateway.

The Library is treating this matter with high priority. There are matters of user perception to address as well. It has become clear that many users were not as familiar with the protocols and performance of the World Wide Web as had been assumed. Changing user perceptions and maintaining confidence in the service are critical goals for the Kinetica Division.

7. User Agreement

To date, only one query has been received about the Kinetica User Agreement. The Library is seeking legal advice on the query.

8. Communication

Kinetica staff have put considerable resources into communication during this period. In the first six weeks of the implementation, staff were answering several hundred telephone calls and email messages per day. The Kinetica-L list has been used to advise libraries has been used to advise libraries on a wide range of matters such as best practice and system changes. Users have also posted messages to the list on a wide range of topics, from requests for system enhancements to hints on cataloguing and searching. The changes to KineticaWeb were in direct response to these comments. Kinetica staff have received much positive comment on their responsiveness. In mid-May, a decision was taken to moderate the Kinetica-L list, because some contributors were using it to post messages not directly related to the Kinetica service, but as a vehicle for debate on the Library’s policies. Moderation of Internet lists is a common practice, and has helped focus Kinetica-L on its chief purpose.

Andrew Wells
Assistant Director-General, Kinetica Division
July 1999


KAC/1999/2/4

Batch*Link
Progress report to Kinetica Advisory Committee

 

Batch*Link is the name of the service for the batch reporting of cataloguing and holdings to the NBD. The Batch*Link reporting format has been available on the Web since late 1998, but the service itself is still under development. Expressions of interest in the service have been received from libraries, library system vendors, and library book suppliers, as listed below. Only one library, Deakin University, has actually created an update file in the specified format.

The implementation of the Batch*Link service requires some system development by the NLA and IBM GSA. The NLA component has been delayed by competition for IT resources for the Kinetica Document Delivery Service. The three outstanding components of the service to be developed are:

1. Automatic gateway for the receipt and routing of update files to Kinetica, without human intervention. Design work for this gateway has been done, but work on its implementation is expected to begin in August. The service will start with human intervention. Once the automatic gateway is in place, the service can grow to receive regular small loads from a wide variety of sources.

2. Conversion of files from the Batch*Link exchange format to the Kinetica internal format, so they can be loaded to Kinetica. Three conversion programs will be required, one for each of the Batch*Link services: the full MARC service, the holdings update service in MARC format, and the holdings update service in Non MARC format. Work has commenced on the first of these, and a sample of University of Queensland records has been converted and loaded to the Kinetica test database.

Some libraries have expressed concern that they will need to convert their local system records to the Kinetica format for batch loading. To address these concerns, the National Library is investigating whether it is able to receive records in their basic USMARC format from the major systems, and convert them centrally for loading to Kinetica. The National Library has written a conversion program to construct MARC fields for the cataloguing source (040) and a generic holdings statement (984). The program has been used to convert and load some test records from the University of Queensland's Innopac system to Kinetica. The QU holdings statement consists simply of their NUC symbol and their local system number. This solution will suit libraries which batch load records for monographs. Serials require more detailed holdings statements on the NBD. Some libraries' interlibrary document supply staff prefer to have full call numbers on the NBD, rather than generic holdings statements.

The Library is giving priority to the University of Queensland (an Innovative site). Next priority will be given to the University of Adelaide (Dynix) and Monash University (Voyager). As testing is completed with each system type, we should be able to receive files from other sites using the same system. Deakin University and UNILINC will be the test sites for the batch update of holdings, due to their strong interest.

3. Discovery of the holdings update functionality in AMICUS, so that the holdings update format can be confirmed. There are some outstanding questions about the indexing of Kinetica immutable numbers and libraries' local system numbers, and how these are used in the batch loading programs. It is expected that indexing of libraries' local system numbers on Kinetica, so that they may be used as a match point for holdings updates, will be made available at a later stage of the development of Batch*Link. (No libraries currently rely on their local system numbers for matching with the NBD. However, as libraries outsource their cataloguing, and receive their MARC records from library suppliers, they will no longer have Kinetica immutable numbers in their catalogue records. To update their holdings in Kinetica in an efficient manner, these libraries will benefit from being able to match on their local system numbers, rather than on the Kinetica immutable numbers).

4. Expressions of interest

The following institutions have expressed interest in batch loading to the NBD:

Libraries:

*Deakin University (holdings updates)
Federal Libraries Information Network
Flinders University
Frankston City Library
Griffith University
Hurstville City Library
*La Trobe University
Murdoch University
New South Wales Parliament
Parkes Shire Library
PLAIN
Queensland University of Technology
UNILINC
*University of Queensland
University of South Australia
University of the Sunshine Coast
University of Western Australia
*Yarra Melbourne Regional Library Corporation

* indicates that a library was previously a batch contributor to ABN

Library system vendors:

Ameritech
InMagic
Stowe
VTLS/Virtua (expression of interest expected soon)

Library suppliers:

Askews
DA Information Services
Masons Book Centre (agent for BroDart)
YBP

OCLC users

Following the special offer from OCLC, 39 libraries have joined OCLC for interlibrary loan or cataloguing. Of these, the following 12 libraries have authorised OCLC to transfer their holdings to Kinetica. More authorisations may follow, as authorisation forms were sent to all 39 libraries, but have only been returned by 12. This brings to 49 the number of Australian libraries which are members of OCLC. The Library has approached OCLC direct to negotiate a start date for the transfer of holdings. It is suggested that this data stream be ranked lower in priority than data files sourced direct from Australian libraries.

Environmental Protection Authority (Victoria)
Bond University
CAVAL (CARM)
CSIRO MRL Library
XLibris
State Library of NSW
UWS Nepean
Deakin University – so many questions about legalities – letting go for now
Flinders University
Monash University
University of Tasmania
University of Western Sydney, Nepean

5. Batch update of holdings (changes and deletions)

Batch*Link will support the reporting of holdings updates (changes and deletions) in a mini MARC format. A few libraries were using such a service in ABN. Deakin University has submitted its first file, and has more waiting. Other libraries have not yet submitted update files. The Library will write a conversion program in the next two weeks so that the Deakin data can be tested and loaded.

6. Non MARC reporting service

In response to a request from UNILINC, the Library is developing a non MARC format for reporting holdings updates. This is expected to be more popular than the mini MARC format which is specified on the web. A conversion program will be written by NLA to convert the non MARC format to the mini MARC format required by Kinetica.

Julia Trainor
Kinetica Division
July 1999