1.1. Sample of Migration Process for Incoming Library Systems

Initiate Project/Preparations Prior to Start of Weekly Calls

Communication methods used for migration

• Conference calls with WebEx
• Basecamp

MOBIUS (or hosting vendor) access to Incoming System's data (by a defined date)

• Data mapping is time sensitive for migration

Establish routine call date and times

• Remember Holiday Schedules
• Basecamp introduction/discussion 

Establish who will be on calls and make decisions

• Circulation  staff
• Cataloging staff
• Administration Staff/Decision makers

 

Official Start to Migration Process/Kick Off of Weekly Calls

Introduce NC Cardinal Team and roles team members will play in migration process

Introduce the MOBIUS Team: technical issues, ILS extraction

Assign Mentor Library System 

Discuss Training Opportunities/Scheduling 

• training spaces/ required equipment
• system closures for staff attendance 

Talk about go-live week scheduling/planning and promotion to patrons

Introduce library staff to NC Cardinal Knowledge Books/NC Cardinal Best Practices - 

• Circulation in Evergreen https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=21
• Cataloging in NC Cardinal https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=3
• Administration Manual for Libraries https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=2

Library Settings and Data Mapping worksheets and discussions/milestones

• Library Settings Documents https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=404
• Data Mapping Documents https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=405
• Patron Notifications and OPAC configuration

(Cardinal staff will using data from documents to apply circulation and hold policies, library settings and configure patron notifications in Evergreen ILS) 

• Receipt configuration and Printer Testing

Create SIP accounts with MOBIUS and test connectivity with vendor

• Hosted Proxy with NC Live?

Staff accounts 

• Discuss use of generic circulation accounts or login accounts for each staff member

Virtual/On-site Training 

• Circulation Training
• Item and Bibliography Catalog Training
• Use of Offline mode 

Testing applied data and settings in testing environments

OPAC 

• OPAC Training
• OPAC Customizations

Resource Sharing

• Cardinal Resource Sharing Best Practices   https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=16
• Decide on date to begin participating (within 60 days of Go-Live) 
• Training on the use of FedEx Online Portal
• Setup FedEx Account(completed by Cardinal Team)
• Confirm that the system has received shipping materials(boxes, scales, etc.)       

Offline Mode

• Once MOBIUS begins the final data sync from your current ILS to Evergreen, library staff will not be allowed to access their ILS( MOBIUS kicks the process off Saturday night/Sunday morning). 
• Staff will begin working in offline mode when arriving at work Monday morning.and will continue working in offline mode until end of day on Wednesday
• Download Offline transactions - Wednesday evening after library has closed to patrons
• Cardinal team: Process transactions Wednesday night and work through any offline exceptions
  

Go Live

• Library system opens later Thursday morning
• Library Admin. Staff provides library staff with login credentials
•  Library staff will check in all items returned while working in offline mode( staff will only be allowed to check out items to patrons while working in offline mode)
• Communicate/report issues to Cardinal Team using Basecamp
• Library staff who manages public computers will need to confirm that SIP accounts are active and Evergreen’s OPAC is displayed on all patron facing workstations
• Field questions & troubleshoot - Cardinal and MOBIUS

Call Follow Ups 

• Admin. Staff Training
• Reports Training
• Discuss any other unresolved issues

(Follow up calls are scheduled according to the migrating system’s needs)

 

2.1. Preparing for Migration

Preparing for Migration

Barcode Ranges for Patron Accounts and Items 

NC Cardinal requires library systems to utilize consistent barcode ranges for their patron accounts and items so to avoid data conflicts.

Patron Data

Social Security Numbers must never be stored in Evergreen; all SSNs should be stripped out of your ILS before migration into NC Cardinal.

Bibliographic Data

Joining NC Cardinal means that a library system's bibliographic records will be merged with existing NC Cardinal bibliographic records, which are "owned" at the consortium level and shared by all libraries. Therefore, donation or gift information and any other local information will need to be migrated into Item Notes during the migration if it is to be kept. 

2.2. If You Need To Rebarcode Your Collection

Rebarcoding Your Collection

Not everyone needs to rebarcode their collection, but if your barcode range overlaps with another library in the system, or has a small number of digits, then you may need to rebarcode your collection before joining Cardinal.

 

Below is some advice from Rishara Finsel, the Library Director at Transylvania County Public Library from the time she went through a rebarcoding project while at Polk County.

Rebarcoding is a big project; there's no sugarcoating that. We rebarcoded slightly more than 50,000 items and it took us a year and a day.

Time: We use RFID, so we also had to reprogram those tags, and we also switched to RFID stingray tags on discs while we were at it. This made our process a lot more involved than a simple barcode replacement. We estimate that it took about 45-50 seconds per item, on average, to rebarcode and reprogram RFID tags. I'm guessing that about 30 seconds per item is a generous estimate for just rebarcoding, though it will depend on your ILS and set-up. We didn't have a time crunch, so generally treated it as a side project, which is why it took a year. It certainly could have been done in a shorter timeframe, but the overall staff hours needed wouldn't change much, regardless of whether those staff hours are spread out or scheduled for a shorter deadline.

Process: We made a master map of the collection, and my tech services librarian used that to track progress and direct people where to work. We usually had two different collection areas being worked at any given time, with different people working on each. We made a mobile station with a laptop, barcode scanner, and stack of barcodes that we took to the stacks to rebarcode most of the books. In some cases, with media and with smaller collections, we filled a cart with items and took them to a staff workstation and rebarcoded there; that usually only happened at our smaller branch (which wasn't big enough to make a mobile station worthwhile) or when the mobile station was in use elsewhere. Working in the stacks was generally more efficient. 

Who: We had a variety of staff working on rebarcoding, as well as three very trusted long-term volunteers. My tech services librarian kept a loose schedule of when people were working on it. Essentially though, if you had free time, and the mobile station was available, you grabbed it and just picked up where the last person left off. 

Advice and lessons learned:

• Weed your collections first! And then weed them again!
• Celebrate your progress, otherwise it just becomes ongoing drudgery. We made a rocketship progress marker on the wall in our staff area that I updated every week. Every time we finished another 5,000 items we had some sort of celebration, which included the volunteers and all staff (since those who weren't rebarcoding were covering for those who were.) They weren't necessarily big: ice cream, tote bags, SRP shirts. My favorite one was puppy and kitten snuggle time; our Humane Society brought over some adoptable babies for playtime.
• We started off with a lot of enthusiasm, and ended with a lot of enthusiasm (mainly because we just wanted to be DONE), but lagged in the middle.
• Most people hated to rebarcode for more than about 1.5 hours a time, which is why we decided to treat it as an ongoing side project, rather than an exclusive task. 
• Barcode costs are insignificant compared to staff time. 
• When you order barcodes, make sure the numbers are formatted with spaces for improved readability. Example: "3 1250 20001 1156", not "31250200011156". We didn't, and wish we had.
• If you are doing your whole library, it has the bonus benefit of acting as an inventory process. You can identify missing items by their non-standard barcode.
• This helped build staff buy-in for Cardinal. If we were doing all this work, we better have something to show for it, and Cardinal is that something.
• In the end, Cardinal makes it totally worth doing.

2.3. Choosing a Barcode

Check Digits

Our recommendation is to use Codabar with a Mod 10 L-to-R check digit for item barcodes and patron barcodes. Check digits are not required by Evergreen and many Cardinal systems do not have them. They are however a "best practice" and may come in handy, for instance, if you want your self check machines to verify that the number it scanned is a valid barcode.

The other barcode type in use is Code 39. 

Configuration of the Check Digit

Mod 10 L-to-R 2-1-2 check digit

Patron barcode begin with : 58198000000000

I’m going to use the example sequence number of:  5 8 1 9 8 0 0 0 9 4 3 9 9

First, starting at the left, you multiply each number by 2, 1, 2, 1, etc…

                 5   8   1   9   8   0   0   0   9   4   3   9   9

      X        2   1   2   1   2   1   2   1   2   1   2   1   2

               10  8   2   9  16  0   0   0  18  4   6   9  18

If the result of any multiplication is a two-digit number, add those two numbers together to create one number.  For example, 5 x 2 = 10.  Add the 1 and 0 together to get 1.

                For the above number, results of the multiplication, then additions when there are two-digit numbers are:

                1  8  2  9  7  0  0  0  9  4  6  9  9

Add all single-digit results together:
             1+8+2+9+7+0+0+0+9+4+6+9+9 = 64

The check digit is the amount you must add to this result (64) to get to the next multiple of 10.  In this case it would take 6 to get from 64 to 70 so the check digit is 6.

 

 

 

2.4. Library Settings Documentation

Library Settings Documents

The Library Settings Document will provide the necessary pertinent information of an incoming library system. The Library Settings Document is the first documentation recorded when starting a migration, and is shared and discussed with the incoming library system. This documentation allows for the incoming library system to start shaping how it will migrate into the NC Cardinal consortium, based off its own rules and rules that apply to all consortium members.

Once the incoming library system and NCC have completed filling in the necessary settings, NCC can create the Organization Unit for the incoming system and begin setting up the Library Settings.

Using the Library Settings Editor within Evergreen, Local System Administrators (LSAs) can optionally customize Evergreen's behavior for a particular library or library system.

NCC uses a Google Doc Mother template for the Library Settings, which includes Library Information, Financial, Holds, Cataloging, and General information from the incoming migrating library system.

 

Library Information

Used to gather information regarding the library system’s branch names, contact information, hours of operation and holidays/closed dates.

Staff List

Provide a list of ALL library staff who may interact with the Evergreen ILS, including contact information and a description of their role and duties in your system. This helps us identify staff who are not on the migration team but may need to be included in training/testing considerations.

Zip Codes

Provide a list of  ZIP codes that are likely to be used by patrons in your service area so that we can add them to our list in Evergreen to be prefilled when staff are registering patrons

SIP Accounts

Standard Interchange Protocol (SIP) is used to transfer data between ILS and third party technologies, such as Patron Authentication and Automated Material Handling(AMH). Provide a listing of 3rd party technology subscriptions currently in use that will need SIP accounts. SIP accounts are limitless and free of charge, as a member of the NC Cardinal Consortium.

Financial Library Settings Template

label	description	Recommendations / Comments	Acceptable Values	Counts in Cardinal as of January 2022 (value then count)	NC Cardinal
Show billing tab first when bills are present	If enabled and a patron has outstanding bills and the alert page is not required, show the billing tab by default, instead of the checkout tab, when a patron is loaded	If you pull up the account and the patron owes money, the bills tab gets pulled up first to show staff that fines may be accruing or may exceed the library billing threshold	True/False	True (11) False (4)
Disable Patron Credit	Do not allow patrons to accrue credit or pay fines/fees with accrued credit	Patron credit is available by default. All systems should have a value. If true, patrons will not be able to accrue credited balances. If false and patrons pay more than they owe, that credit can exist for future fines.	True (credit disabled)  /   False (credit allowed)	True (32) False (4)	TRUE
Allow Credit Card Payments	If enabled, patrons will be able to pay fines accrued at this location via credit card	This is set if you have credit card payments enabled. Several ways to do this, your RFId vendor through self check, contract with external terminal at circ desk. Evergreen also offers option. Patron logs into account via OPAC and transaction is handeled there w/out staff involvement. Only certain vendors available. Local bank, credit card vendor, etc. For more information, please see Credit Card Payment Options in the Administrative Manual in the NC Cardinal knowledge base for more information. https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=337	True/False	False (23) True (6)
Payment History Age Limit	The OPAC should not display payments by patrons that are older than any interval defined here.	Determines how long a patron can see their previously paid bills in the My Account section of the OPAC	interval of time: # of hours or days	1 year (6) 6 months (5) 3 months (3) 365 days (2) 12 months (2)	1 year
Cap Max Fine at Item Price	This prevents the system from charging more than the item price in overdue fines	The individual item price must be listed in the item record for this to apply. To consider: do you cap max fines at the item price? Item price will need to be set for materials if the default price is not to be used. Circulation policies have more granularity, but this setting can be used for maximum fines across the board.	True/False	False (14) True (12)	TRUE
Charge fines on overdue circulations when closed	Normally, fines are not charged when a library is closed.  When set to True, fines will be charged during scheduled closings and normal weekly closed days.	Most systems do not charge fines while library is closed, but you may wish to do so if, for instance, you are closed on Sunday but still want to charge fines on that day.	True/False	True (2) False (1)
Default Item Price		List a single, fixed dollar amount. If a price isn't specified by cataloger for the item, this will be the default amount for lost billing fee charges (if not set otherwise in the item record). All systems should have a value.	x dollars	25 (21) 20 (11) 15 (5) 50 (2) 5 (2)
Charge lost on zero		Some libraries do not want to bill patrons for lost items that were donated or for magazines, so they put a price of $0 in the item record. This library setting allows Evergreen to distinguish those items from items with a null/blank price field for which the default item price will be billed. If there is a price listed of "0.00" then this setting determines if the patron is billed default price or not. True = would be charged default price. False = patron not billed, since cost was $0.00	True/False	True (11) False (6)	TRUE
Lost Materials Processing Fee		List a single, fixed dollar amount. If you charge a processing fee, you can set it here. This would be assigned when the item is marked lost.	x dollars	2 (7) 0 (7) 5 (6) 3 (3) 10 (2)
Void overdue fines when items are marked lost		Default setting in Cardinal is True, so that when patron is billed for the entire cost of item, the fines are voided.	True/False	True (37) False (6)
Void lost item billing when claims returned	Void lost item billing when claims returned	If marked "claims returned" by library staff, then lost billing fines would be removed and no further fines accrued until item is found. Billing can be done later done manually.	True/False	True (18)	TRUE
Void lost item processing fee when claims returned	Void lost item processing fee when claims returned	Default setting of True, so that the processing fee will be waived when an item is "claims returned."	True/False	True (11)	TRUE
Lost items usable on checkin	Lost items are usable on checkin instead of going 'home' first	Default setting of False, so that materials that were marked Lost have to be sent in transit back to their circulating library before they can be checked out again. If True, materials that were Lost and then checked in can be immediately checked out again.	True/False	True (41) False (3)	TRUE
Void lost item billing when returned	Void lost item billing when returned	Default setting of True, so that when an item is returned and bill has not been paid yet, the bill would be voided.	True/False	True (44)	TRUE
Void processing fee on lost item return	Void processing fee when lost item returned	Default setting of True, so that when a Lost item is found and returned, the Processing Fee is removed. If False, the processing fee will still be charged even when the Lost item is returned.	True/False	True (27) False (4)	TRUE
Void lost max interval	Items that have been lost this long will not result in voided billings when returned.  E.g. '6 months'	This is a period of time. If a user loses a book and it is found and returned within this time period, the Lost book bill will be automatically removed from their account. After this time period, the Lost charge will remain on their account even if the lost book is found and checked in. This setting allows catalogers to freely delete materials after this time period has passed, because they have to check in the material before they can delete it to close out the transaction and make sure it is no longer associated with the borrower. If a Cataloger checks in a Lost item to delete it within this time period, they may be unintentionally absolving the user of any Lost fees they owe. If staff are choosing to accept the returned item after this time period, they can still manually waive the Lost billing.	interval of time: # of hours or days	6 months (13) 12 months (6) 36 months (5) 999 months (3) 365 days (2)
Restore overdues on lost item return	Restore overdue fines on lost item return	When Lost charges are added on an account, overdue fines are removed. If you choose True for this setting, Evergreen will restore the overdue fines that were on the account before the material was marked Lost. If you choose False, the previous overdue fines will not be added back to the account when the item is found.	True/False	True (40) False (4)	TRUE
Lost Checkin Generates New Overdues	Enabling this setting causes retroactive creation of not-yet-existing overdue fines on lost item checkin, up to the point of checkin time (or max fines is reached).  This is different than "restore overdue on lost", because it only creates new overdue fines.  Use both settings together to get the full complement of overdue fines for a lost item	Do you want to charge the patron the max amount of fines they would have received if the item had not been marked Lost before the fine max was reached? If this setting is False and the patron later returns a Lost item after many months, Evergreen will only restore overdue fines that were billed during the initial overdue period (e.g. 30 days). If this setting is marked True and the patron later returns the Lost item, Evergreen will generate new overdues for period between the time the item was marked Lost and the date the item was returned, up to the Max Fine value. If you have a long fine period ($0.10 a day/max $15) and a short Mark Lost period (30 days), patrons would never have reached the potential max fine amount before the item was Marked Lost.	True/False	False (13) True (6)	FALSE
Do not change fines/fees on zero-balance LOST transaction	When an item has been marked lost and all fines/fees have been completely paid on the transaction, do not void or reinstate any fines/fees EVEN IF circ.void_lost_on_checkin and/or circ.void_lost_proc_fee_on_checkin are enabled	If a lost item is returned that has already been paid for, don't make any financial adjustments to the account. The Cardinal default is True to help avoid negative balances on patron accounts. If you offer a refund to a patron that lost a book and then found it later after paying all associated fines, you should choose False. Note: if an item was marked Lost and patron paid the fines already, then Evergreen will not void those fines to create a negative balance.	True/False	True (22)	TRUE
Mark item damaged voids overdues	When an item is marked damaged, overdue fines on the most recent circulation are voided.	If an item is marked damaged and you bill for damaged items, overdue fines will be voided when you mark the item Damaged and assess the damage fees. Similar to when you mark something Lost.	True/False	True (31) False (10)	TRUE
Charge item price when marked damaged	Charge item price when marked damaged	If staff mark something Damaged at check-in, Evergreen will give you the option to bill the last patron. Staff can specify a different amount if the item has already been checked in before marking it as Damaged.	True/False	True (37) False (6)	TRUE
Charge processing fee for damaged items	Charge processing fee for damaged items	List a single, fixed dollar amount if you charge a processing fee for permanently damaged items (that will be removed from the collection).	x dollars	0 (8) 2 (6) 5 (5) 3 (3) 10 (2)
Prohibit negative balance on bills (DEFAULT)	Default setting to prevent negative balances (refunds) on circulation related bills. Set to "true" to prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with an interval setting, to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time.	Use True in conjunction with the Negative Balance Interval setting (below) to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. Set to False to allow negative balances for an unlimited period of time (i.e. you will give a refund for voided payments at any time).	True/False	True (21) False (1)	TRUE
Negative Balance Interval (DEFAULT)	Amount of time after which no negative balances (refunds) are allowed on circulation bills. The "Prohibit negative balance on bills" setting must also be set to "true".	Select the period of time during which you will provide a refund to the patron, if you allow refunds for some period of time. Leave blank if you do not offer refunds and chose False for the Prohibit negative balance on bills (above).	interval of time: # of hours or days	12 months (2) 365 days (1) 6 months (1)
Prohibit negative balance on bills for lost materials	Prohibit negative balance on bills for lost materials. Set to "true" to prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with an interval setting, to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time.	True will prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with the interval setting (below) to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. False will allow negative balances for an unlimited period of time (i.e. you will give a refund for the voided lost materials payment at any time, once the item is returned).	True/False	True (17) False (2)	TRUE
Negative Balance Interval for Lost	Amount of time after which no negative balances (refunds) are allowed on bills for lost/long overdue materials. The "Prohibit negative balance on bills for lost materials" setting must also be set to "true".	If you allow refunds for some period of time, please provide the interval expressed in days or months. Leave blank if you do not offer refunds and selected False in the "Prohibit negative balance on bills for lost materials" setting (above).	interval of time: # of hours or days	6 months (3) 12 months (1) 30 days (1) 365 days (1)
Prohibit negative balance on bills for overdue materials	Prevent negative balances (refunds) on bills for overdue materials. Set to "true" to prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with an interval setting, to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time.	True will prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with an interval setting, to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. Set to False to allow negative balances for an unlimited period of time (i.e. you will give a refund for voided overdue payments at any time).	True/False	True (20)	TRUE
Negative Balance Interval for Overdues	Amount of time after which no negative balances (refunds) are allowed on bills for overdue materials. The "Prohibit negative balance on bills for overdue materials" setting must also be set to "true".	Select the period of time during which you will provide a refund to the patron. All systems should have a value. If you allow refunds for some period of time, please provide the interval expressed in days or months. Leave blank if you do not offer refunds and selected False in the "Prohibit negative balance on bills for overdue materials" setting (above).	interval of time: # of hours or days	6 months (2) 365 days (1)
Use Lost and Paid copy status	Use Lost and Paid copy status when lost or long overdue billing is paid		True/False	True (8) False (2)	TRUE

 

Cataloging Library Settings Template

label	description	Recommendations / Comments	Acceptable Values	Counts in Cardinal as of January 2022 (value then count)	NC Cardinal
Default Classification Scheme	Defines the default classification scheme for new call numbers: 1 = Generic; 2 = Dewey; 3 = LC	Consortium has a default value of Dewey (value: 2), but you can choose something different if you wish	1 = Generic; 2 = Dewey; 3 = LC	2 (3) 3 (1)	2
Default copy status (normal)	Default status when a copy is created using the normal volume/copy creator interface.	Consortium has a default value of "In Process" (value: 5), but you can choose something different if you wish	In Process (5) - see note for more statuses	5 (20)	5
Delete volume with last copy	Automatically delete a volume when the last linked copy is deleted		True/False		TRUE
Upload Default Match Set	Default match set to use during ACQ file upload		51		51
Alert on empty bib records	Alert staff when the last copy for a record is being deleted		True/False		TRUE
Retain empty bib records	Retain a bib record even when all attached copies are deleted		True/False		FALSE
Require staff initials for entry/edit of copy notes.	Appends staff initials and edit date into copy note / item note content..		True/False	True (24) False (1)	TRUE
Vandelay Default Barcode Prefix	Apply this prefix to any auto-generated item barcodes	Relevant to batch importing, these should be reviewed	3 or 4 letters, all CAPS	FOR (1) CUMBER (1) TRAN (1) BRAS (1) POLK (1)
Vandelay Default Call Number Prefix	Apply this prefix to any auto-generated item call numbers	When batch importing: what prefix do you want your materials to have by default?	3 or 4 letters, all CAPS	POLK (1) JOHN (1)
Vandelay Default Circulation Modifier	Default circulation modifier value for imported items	When batch importing: which circulation modifier do you want things to have by default?
Vandelay Default Copy Location	Default copy location value for imported items	When batch importing: which shelving location do you want things to be in by default?		2573 (1)
Vandelay Generate Default Barcodes	Auto-generate deault item barcodes when no item barcode is present	When batch importing: If the vendor doesn't supply an item barcode in their record, should Evergreen auto-generate one		True (8)
Vandelay Generate Default Call Numbers	Auto-generate default item call numbers when no item call number is present	When batch importing: Should Evergreen auto-generate a call number?		True (2) False (2)
Temporary barcode prefix		We recommend using the first 4 letters of the library name.		FOR (2) POLK (1) ROC (1) HCPL (1) NEU (1)
Temporary call number prefix		We recommend using the first 4 letters of the library name.		NWACQ (2) ACQ (1) POLK (1) ROC (1) HCPL (1)
GUI: Hide these fields within the Item Attribute Editor	This setting may be best maintained with the dedicated configuration interface within the Item Attribute Editor.  However, here it shows up as comma separated list of field identifiers to hide.	Optional. Probably better to do this through the cataloging interface.		["Quality"] (1) ["Copy Number","Deposit Amount","Deposit?","Fine Level","Quality"] (1) ["Copy Number","Deposit Amount","Deposit?","Floating?","Quality"] (1) ["Circulate as Type","Copy Number","Deposit Amount","Deposit?","Fine Level","Floating?","Quality"] (1)
Courier Code	Courier Code for the library.  Available in transit slip templates as the %courier_code% macro.	All systems should choose a courier code.		FORSYTH (15) NORTHWESTERN (14) BUNCOMBE (14) JOHNSTON (11) BHM (11)
Default circulation modifier		Prevents a blank modifier; we recommend setting one.		BOOK (12) null (1)	BOOK
Default copy location		Prevents a blank shelving location; we recommend setting one.		3988 (3) 3950 (3) 4733 (2) 2488 (1) 4647 (1)
Record In-House Use: # of uses threshold for Are You Sure? dialog.	In the Record In-House Use interface, a submission attempt will warn if the # of uses field exceeds the value of this setting.			999 (3) 250 (2) 200 (2) 300 (2) 50 (1)	999
Record In-House Use: Maximum # of uses allowed per entry.	The # of uses entry in the Record In-House Use interface may not exceed the value of this setting.			200 (6) 999 (3) 800 (1) 7 (1)	999
Allow funds to be rolled over without bringing the money along	Allow funds to be rolled over without bringing the money along.  This makes money left in the old fund disappear, modeling its return to some outside entity.		True/False	True (8)
Fund Spending Limit for Block	When the amount remaining in the fund, including spent money and encumbrances, goes below this percentage, attempts to spend from the fund will be blocked.	Optional		100 (1) 110 (1) null (1)
Fund Spending Limit for Warning	When the amount remaining in the fund, including spent money and encumbrances, goes below this percentage, attempts to spend from the fund will result in a warning to the staff.	Optional		10 (2) 95% (1) 90 (1)
Rollover Distribution Formulae Funds	During fiscal rollover, update distribution formalae to use new funds	Most libraries do not use this setting as it does not allow the granularity of fund distribution that you may need from year to year. For instance, if you order 5 copies, 1 goes to X branch and 2 go to Y branch, that would not be indicated by this setting.	True/False	True (1)

 

Holds Library Settings Template

label	description	Recommendations / Comments	Acceptable Values	Counts in Cardinal as of January 2022 (value then count)	NC Cardinal
Use Active Date for Age Protection	When calculating age protection rules use the active date instead of the creation date.		True/False
Checkout Fills Related Hold	When a patron checks out an item and they have no holds that directly target the item, the system will attempt to find a hold for the patron that could be fulfilled by the checked out item and fulfills it		True/False
Default hold shelf expire interval	The amount of time an item will be held on the shelf before the hold expires. For example: "2 weeks" or "5 days"		interval of time: # of days
Block Renewal of Items Needed for Holds	When an item could fulfill a hold, do not allow the current patron to renew		True/False
Block hold request if hold recipient privileges have expired	Circulation: Block hold request if hold recipient privileges have expired	If True: Patron will not be able to place a hold if their privileges have expired	True/False	False (22) True (16)	FALSE
Behind Desk Pickup Supported	If a branch supports both a public holds shelf and behind-the-desk pickups, set this value to true.  This gives the patron the option to enable behind-the-desk pickups for their holds		True/False	False (24) True (3)	FALSE
Hold Shelf Status Delay	The purpose is to provide an interval of time after an item goes into the on-holds-shelf status before it appears to patrons that it is actually on the holds shelf.  This gives staff time to process the item before it shows as ready-for-pickup. Examples: "5 days", "1 hour"		interval of time: # of hours or days	1 hour (14) 3 hours (5) 30 minutes (4) 2 hours (4) 5 minutes (2)
Canceled holds/requests display age	Show all canceled entries in patron holds and patron acquisition requests interfaces that were canceled within this amount of time		interval of time: # of hours or days	6 months (13) 30 days (4) 60 days (3) 4 months (2)
Canceled holds/requests display count	How many canceled entries to show in patron holds and patron acquisition requests interfaces		number	25 (12) 10 (9) 5 (4) 20 (4) 100 1	25
Reset request time on un-cancel	When a hold is uncanceled, reset the request time to push it to the end of the queue	If True: Holds that were un-cancelled or had gone unclaimed on the hold shelf will go to the end of the line when activated again	True/False	True (33) False (4)	TRUE
Expire Alert Interval	Amount of time before a hold expires at which point the patron should be alerted. Examples: "5 days", "1 hour"	This should be set if the Expire Interval setting is set (below).	interval of time: # of hours or days	3 days (21) 7 days (4) 2 days (4) 1 day (3) 4 days 2	3 days
Expire Interval	Amount of time after a hold is placed before the hold expires.  Example "100 days"	Take into account that a patron may place a hold on an On Order item that has not yet been received, after which it may be protected by 6 month age hold protection. How long do you want the hold to stay active before it is cancelled?	interval of time: # of hours or days	180 days (7) 365 days (6) 90 days (3) 6 months (2) 270 days (1)
Suppress Hold Transits Group	If set to a non-empty value, Hold Transits will be suppressed between this OU and others with the same value. If set to an empty value, transits will not be suppressed.	If two organizational units are in the same building and don't need to generate a transit between the two org units, you can supress the transits with this setting
Suppress Non-Hold Transits Group	If set to a non-empty value, Non-Hold Transits will be suppressed between this OU and others with the same value. If set to an empty value, transits will not be suppressed.	If two organizational units are in the same building and don't need to generate a transit between the two org units, you can supress the transits with this setting
Target copies for a hold even if copy's circ lib is closed IF the circ lib is the hold's pickup lib	If this setting is true at a given org unit or one of its ancestors, the hold targeter will target copies from this org unit even if the org unit is closed (according to the actor.org_unit.closed_date table) IF AND ONLY IF the copy's circ lib is the same as the hold's pickup lib.	If True this will attempt to target local copies for holds, even if the branch where the copy is at is closed, before being retargeted elsewhere. Should be set on a branch level rather than system level.		True (205)	TRUE

 

General Settings Template

label	description	Recommendations / Comments	Counts in Cardinal as of January 2022 (value then count)	NC Cardinal
Allow Patron Self-Registration	Allow patrons to self-register, creating pending user accounts. Default setting for Cardinal is True.	Example form: https://haywood.nccardinal.org/eg/opac/register	False (12) True (5)	TRUE
Patron Self-Reg. Display Timeout	Number of seconds to wait before reloading the patron self-registration interface to clear sensitive data	Cardinal-wide value		1500 seconds
Patron Self-Reg. Expire Interval	If set, this is the amount of time a pending user account will be allowed to sit in the database.  After this time, the pending user information will be purged	Cardinal-wide value		7 days
Deprecated: Format Dates with this pattern.	GUI: Format Dates with this pattern (examples: "yyyy-MM-dd" for "2010-04-26", "MMM d, yyyy" for "Apr 26, 2010")	Cardinal-wide value		MM/dd/yyyy
Require dob field on patron registration	The dob field will be required on the patron registration screen.	Cardinal-wide value		TRUE
Juvenile Age Threshold	The age at which a user is no long considered a juvenile.  For example, "18 years".	All systems should have a value.	18 years (33) 17 years (3) 12 years (2) 16 years (1)	18 years
Show day_phone field on patron registration	The day_phone field will be shown on the patron registration screen. Showing a field makes it appear with required fields even when not required. If the field is required this setting is ignored.	Cardinal-wide value		TRUE
Require day_phone field on patron registration	The day_phone field will be required on the patron registration screen.	Requires staff to enter a value for the daytime phone number before they can save the patron registration or account update	True (23) False (3)	TRUE
Default Ident Type for Patron Registration	This is the default Ident Type for new users in the patron editor.	Consortium has a default value of Driver's License, but you can choose something different if you wish. (Do not record Social Security Number in Evergreen; all SSNs should be stripped out of your ILS data before migration into NC Cardinal)	1 (14) 3 (3)	2
Require at least one address for Patron Registration	Enforces a requirement for having at least one address for a patron during registration.	Cardinal-wide value	True (7) False (1)	TRUE
Allow pending addresses	If enabled, patrons can create and edit existing addresses.  Addresses are kept in a pending state until staff approves the changes	True is recommended. If True, patrons may update address in their accountin the My Account section of the OPAC, so staff are aware of the new address when patrons are at the desk	True (25) False (18)	TRUE
Invalid patron address penalty	When set, if a patron address is set to invalid, a penalty is applied.	True is recommended to block patron from being able to checkout, renew, etc., if they have an invalid address.	True (31) False (3)	TRUE
Default level of patrons' internet access		This is a value that can be used outside Evergreen to control internet access if you're using software to provide wi-fi or computer access.	1 (12) 2 (13)	2
Patron: password from phone #	By default, use the last 4 alphanumeric characters of the patrons phone number as the default password when creating new users.  The exact characters used may be configured via the "GUI: Regex for day_phone field on patron registration" setting.	The two most ocmmon options are the last 4 numbers of your phone number, or the last four digits of the patron barcode	True (35) False (9)	TRUE
Warn when patron account is about to expire	Warn when patron account is about to expire. If set, the staff client displays a warning this many days before the expiry of a patron account. Value is in number of days, for example: 3 for 3 days.	All systems should have a value.	30 (3) 21 (8) 60 (5) 7 (4) 28 (1)	30
Enable features that send SMS text messages.	Current features that use SMS include hold-ready-for-pickup notifications and a "Send Text" action for call numbers in the OPAC. If this setting is not enabled, the SMS options will not be offered to the user.  Unless you are carefully silo-ing patrons and their use of the OPAC, the context org for this setting should be the top org in the org hierarchy, otherwise patrons can trample their user settings when jumping between orgs.	Cardinal default value is True but patrons still have to opt in to receive text notifications		TRUE
Auto-Extend Grace Periods	When enabled grace periods will auto-extend. By default this will be only when they are a full day or more and end on a closed date, though other options can alter this.	This has to be set for the other Auto-Extend options to function	True (21) False (7)	TRUE
Auto-Extending Grace Periods extend for all closed dates	If enabled and Grace Periods auto-extending is turned on grace periods will extend past all closed dates they intersect, within hard-coded limits. This basically becomes "grace periods can only be consumed by closed dates".	For more informative explanation, please consult the Fines and Grace Days page in the Administrative Manual	True (23) False (6)	TRUE
Auto-Extending Grace Periods include trailing closed dates	If enabled and Grace Periods auto-extending is turned on grace periods will include closed dates that directly follow the last day of the grace period, to allow a backdate into the closed dates to assume "returned after hours on the last day of the grace period, and thus still within it" automatically.	This setting is the most forgiving of the grace period options. See the Fines and Grace Days page in the Administrative Manual (link in row above)	True (19) False (6)	TRUE
Number of Retrievable Recent Patrons	Number of most recently accessed patrons that can be re-retrieved in the staff client.  A value of 0 or less disables the feature. Defaults to 1.	Sets the number of recently served patrons that a staff member can look up at their workstation.	10 (3) 20 (2) 2 (1) 6 (1)	10
Maximum previous checkouts displayed	This is the maximum number of previous circulations the staff client will display when investigating item details	Sets the number of recent borrowers that show up when looking who recently checked out a specified item	10 (12) 5 (9) 3 (8) 2 (6) 6 (1)	10
Require staff initials for entry/edit of patron notes.	Appends staff initials and edit date into patron note content.	Default setting of True. Patron notes are found under the "Other" tab found on the patron view menu		TRUE
Require staff initials for entry/edit of patron standing penalties and messages.	Appends staff initials and edit date into patron standing penalties and messages.	Default setting of True. Patron messages are found in the patron edit screen.		TRUE
Max Patron Claims Returned Count	When this count is exceeded, a staff override is required to mark the item as claims returned	A limit to how many items can be marked as Claims Returned before an override is required. Recommendation of "10"	3 (18) 5 (10) 2 (6) 10 (4) 8 (1)
Claim Never Checked Out: Mark copy as missing	When a circ is marked as claims-never-checked-out, mark the copy as missing	Most libraries choose True	True (22)	TRUE
Item Status for Missing Pieces	This is the Item Status to use for items that have been marked or scanned as having Missing Pieces.  In the absence of this setting, the Damaged status is used.	Most systems do not use missing pieces. When used, the most common settings are: Missing (#4) Damaged (#14) Repair (#106)	14 (13) 4 (10) 0 (1) 106 (1)	14
Change reshelving status interval	Amount of time to wait before changing an item from "reshelving" status to "available".  Examples: "1 day", "6 hours"	To consider: How long do your items typically stay on the cart waiting to be reshelved?	2 hours (6) 24 hours (4) 12 hours (4) 1 hour (4) 3 hours (2)	1 hour
Tag Circulated Items in Results	When a user is both logged in and has opted in to circulation history tracking, turning on this setting will cause previous (or currently) circulated items to be highlighted in search results		True (21)	TRUE
Warn patrons when adding to a temporary book list	Present a warning dialog to the patron when a patron adds a book to a temporary book list.	Patrons can opt out.	True (20)	TRUE
Library information URL (such as "http://example.com/about.html")	URL for information on this library, such as contact information, hours of operation, and directions. If set, the library name in the copy details section links to that URL. Use a complete URL, such as "http://example.com/hours.html".
Use external "library information URL" in copy table, if available	If set to true, the library name in the copy details section will link to the URL associated with the "Library information URL" library setting rather than the library information page generated by Evergreen.		True (6)
Content of event_text include	Text to be inserted into Print Templates in place of {{includes.event_text}}		Check out this event! (2)
Content of footer_text include	Text to be inserted into Print Templates in place of {{includes.footer_text}}		Main Library Hours: Mon - Thurs 9:00 - 7:00, Sat 9:00 - 5:00 (1)

 

Categories on these library setting documents include Library Setting Name of functionality, description of functionality, Cardinal Value (if functionality applies across the consortium), Library System Value (where the incoming library system can decide based off their own functionality or rules), Acceptable Values (provides clarity on how to answer the Library System Value), and Recommendations and/or Comments.

 

2.5. Things To Think About To Prepare For Data Mapping

Preparing for Data Mapping

In preparation for mapping conversations, here are a few Evergreen processes to keep in mind that may be unique/different:

• Org unit and permission group hierarchies
• Cataloging hierarchies – title, volume, item
• No donation/gift or other local info in bib records - document elsewhere
• Item collection – weeding – billing for lost items – void max interval – negative balances
• Begin reporting on collection data (total circs and circ history may not migrate)
• Billing info from old ILS may be limited - may show as “grocery”
• Weed now, as much as possible

Patron Groups

Patron Permission Groups

• Affects consortium (long list @ registration, number & complexity of circ/hold rules, etc.)
• Expiration dates are staff editable at time of registration/renewal
• Stat cats should be used when labeling does not impact circ/hold rules, limits, etc.

Item Types

Evergreen refers to Item Types as "Circulation Modifiers". Circulation Modifiers in NC Cardinal(Item Types) must be defined in the Item Attribute for every item cataloged. Circulation Modifiers are an important factor for building circulation and hold policies - not to be used as category labels (can use item stat cat for that)

NC Cardinal Circulation Modifiers
ART PRINT
AUDIOBOOK
BOOK
DOCUMENT
EBOOK
EQUIPMENT
GAME
HOTSPOT
ILL
KIT
LAPTOP
MAGAZINE
MAP
MICROFORM
MISC
MUSIC
NEWSPAPER
PERIODICAL
PLAYAWAY
RENTAL
SOFTWARE
TECHNOLOGY
VERTICAL FILE
VIDEO 

Shelving Locations

NC Cardinal Shelving Locations

• Must be defined in Item Attributes for every item cataloged
• Affect monthly circulation reports (consortium) 

Questions to ask yourself when mapping shelving locations

• Does it identify the physical location in the library where the patron will find the item?
• Does the shelving location impact circ rules? If not, do you distinguish these items for staff or stakeholders, rather than patrons? If so, it may be more appropriate to utilize item stat cats, call # prefix/suffix, or create more/better library signage.

Discussion

Circulation and Hold Policies tied to circulation modifiers & shelving locations (for circ. policies only)
Training dates - location, projector & screen, computer workstations or laptops for staff training activities (All Trainings have been made virtual since the pandemic)

Suggestions

Flexible thinking - Staff may need to be adjust workflows to accommodate the differences in old/new ILS structures.
Ask lots of questions at all times!

 

2.6. Library Data Mapping Documentation

Shelving Locations

Shelving locations should indicate the general area in the library where patrons can find materials. We have found that a consistent naming format has allowed NC Cardinal to consolidated a long list of branch and system shelving locations into a considerably shorter list for the entire consortium. In most cases, an existing consortium shelving location will work for migrating libraries, even if the name is a bit different than the one in your current ILS, so you should copy the most appropriate shelving location label from the previous tab (capturing the exact format) and paste in the New Shelving Location column for each of your existing shelving location names. Please consider whether the shelving location settings (Holdable, Circulate, OPAC visible) match the behavior for your current shelving location. Call# match criteria is only necessary if you need to sort items currently in one holdings code/item type/shelving location into more than one NC Cardinal shelving location.

* A listing of NC Cardinal's Shelving Locations 

https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=99

Questions to ask yourself when mapping shelving locations:

• Does the shelving location identify the general, physical location in the library where the patron will find the item? 
• Can we consolidate smaller groups of items to one shelving location and use signage/shelf labels to distinguish smaller groupings of materials? 
• Does the shelving location impact circulation policies?
• Do you distinguish these items for staff or stakeholders, rather than patrons or checkout rules? If so, it may be more appropriate to utilize item stat cats, call # prefix/suffix, or create more/better library signage 

Only in rare cases will we create a system level shelving location for special collections, usually because those items circulate differently than other materials in the same area of the library. Circulation policies may utilize shelving locations to provide different circulation periods for items with the same circulation modifier, but this feature should be used judiciously.

When working to migrate your system’s items, we look for the following information:

• Copy Count - This information will be provided by Mobius once they've worked with your existing data
• Owning/Circulating Branch - The current branch that the material is associated with
• Current ILS Holdings Code - This is the code from your existing ILS. This information will be provided by Mobius once they process your existing data.
• New Shelving Location in NC Cardinal -You should use an existing NC Cardinal shelving location to assist patrons in locating items. For rare exceptions, we can create a system level shelving location.
• NC Cardinal Circulation Modifier - Circ. Modifiers represent the physical type of the material being circulated. They are shared by all NC Cardinal Evergreen libraries. They are the most important factor in determining how items are checked out. Circulation Modifiers must be selected from the NC Cardinal list.
• Migrate Items? - (TRUE/FALSE) If you do not want these items to be migrated, please indicate so here
• Call# Match Criteria - Call# match criteria is only necessary if you need to sort items currently in one holdings code/item type/shelving location into more than one NC Cardinal shelving location.

Item Status

Migrating Staff will have to select the most appropriate NC Cardinal status to assign to items with each of the statuses from your current ILS. A listing of Item Statuses in Evergreen found at https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=678

Patron Permission Groups

May be called patron type, borrower type, borrower group, user type, or user profile in other systems. In Evergreen this is called the permission group and affects card expiration date and circulation/hold policies. Further details may be found in the Patron Permission Groups Knowledge Book https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=718

Patron Statistical Categories

Statistical Categories are a way to record additional patron information that is not already stored in the patron registration fields. Patron stat cats can be used to track and report on information such as whether a patron is a volunteer or library board member, the high school a patron attends, local or non-local residency of patron, etc. Statistical Categories cannot be used for circulation or hold policies, but are useful for reporting statistical data. You are not required to use patron stat cats, but if you want them, please fill out all fields highlighted in blue for each stat cat you are requesting.

Patron Thresholds

Creates penalties to block patrons from circulations when set thresholds regards checkouts, fines and overdue are met. Ex. Penalty: What is the maximum number of items a patron can have checked out before they are blocked?

Circulation Policies

Circulation policies in Evergreen are based on several factors; primarily the patron and the item type (circulation modifier). Policies should be established for the broadest possible set (Patron) in the main rule. Any exceptions that apply to specific patron permission groups or circulation modifiers can be defined further. The shelving location can additionally be specified (only when more granularity is required). Further information on Circulation Policies can be found in the knowledge book https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=692

Circulation Limit Sets

Provide any limits you wish to have applied to circulation policies for patron groups checking out a particular type of item. Discussion on Circulation Limit Sets found in Circulation Policies knowledge book https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=692

Hold Policies

Migrating staff will need to provide the patron permission group, circulation modifier, and answer whether the item is holdable, maximum number of holds allowed, whether that should include suspended holds, and whether the items should be eligible for resource sharing (after age hold protection has passed). Please keep in mind that items with a circulation modifier of BOOK, AUDIOBOOK, MUSIC, and VIDEO must be shared with the consortium (minimum of 25 holds allowed) if they circulate to your patrons. You can restrict your own patrons to a lower limit for these circ. mods, e.g. 10 videos. 

Policies should be established for the broadest possible set (Patron) in the main rule. Any exceptions that apply to specific patron permission groups (such as Adult Limited) or circulation modifiers (such as TECHNOLOGY or EQUIPMENT) can be defined  by adding a line to create a policy with Holdable=False  for those specific permission groups that cannot place holds on any specific circ. mod.

Non Cataloged Types

These are some additional optional means of categorizing item data or recording item circulations Non Cataloged Types (can also be used for In House Use for non-barcoded items) - categories of materials that are not cataloged but for which circulation statistics are desired. For items that will leave the library, please be aware that the circulation will automatically disappear from the patron account with no notice. No overdue fees are charged and the item will never be marked lost, so this option should only be used for items circulated on the honor system and when the library does not care if the item is actually returned by the patron. This can also be used for items that check out to patrons that do not leave the library.

Item Statistical Categories

Statistical categories are a way to save and report on additional information that doesn’t fit elsewhere in Evergreen’s default records. item stat cats can be used to identify a special grant collection, award collections, note that cataloged items are donated.

Call Number Prefixes/ Call Number Suffixes

• Call Number Prefixes are a way to add standard call number information or special collection info
• Call Number Suffixes are a way to provide more granular info to patrons without creating a new shelving location for smaller collections

Billing Types

In Evergreen, some bills/fees are automatically applied, based on library settings -- overdue fines, lost book billing, etc. Other bills/fees may be manually applied by staff -- copy/printer fees, non-resident fees, etc.

Patron Notifications

Migrating Staff will provide information for Cardinal Team to configure the following automatic notices for patrons:

• Account Expiration - Reminder that patron’s account is set to expire in x number of days
• Pre-Overdue - Reminder that a book is going to be due soon
• Hold Available - Notification that item requested by patron has been checked in at pickup library and ready for patron to retrieve
• Overdue - Book(s) are now overdue
• Mark Lost - Book(s) have now been marked lost and replacement fee assessed

Reports

Provide us with information regarding reports currently used in current ILS that you would like to have setup to run in Evergreen

3.1. Migration Team

Putting Together a Migration Team

You will have a team of your staff members who participate in weekly migration calls with the NC Cardinal team and MOBIUS team. Part of the migration process also means preparing the rest of the library staff and keeping them fully informed during the migration process. All library staff will have access to the training database, but it is up to the library director and migration team to let all staff know that they should be exploring the training database and practicing their usual workflows in the new Evergreen environment to be better prepared for in-person training dates.

Using meetings, presentations, handouts, and internal networks to inform staff of the overall migration timeline, in-person training dates they will be expected to prepare for and attend, and migration call discussions can be helpful to overall staff buy-in and smooth adjustment to change. 

3.2. Migration Training

Migration Training Resources

NC Cardinal offers many training opportunities and resources to members of the consortium. Please visit the NC Cardinal Support and Staff Education knowledge base to see all of the training knowledge books available, click on knowledge tags, or search by keyword. We also have an NC Cardinal YouTube channel with NC Cardinal training videos and playlists, as well as playlists of videos from other Evergreen consortia that may be helpful.

These are some of the key resources that will be used during migration into the consortium:

• Learn to search the online catalog and how patrons will interact with Evergreen: OPAC training video

• • searching for items
  • placing holds
  • editing preferences and personal info

• Learn how staff will perform circulation functions in the Evergreen web staff client
  • Circulations Basics video
  • Circulation knowledge book

• Two days of on-site training(now offered virtually) for staff to learn navigating Evergreen/circulation (6 hours) and cataloging (6 hours)

• NC Cardinal requires that all staff who will perform cataloging functions must follow consortium Cataloging Best Practices and pass cataloging assessments. Please see the Cataloging Permission Requirements page for more detailed information.

• • Staff who add or delete item and/or volume (call number) records must pass the Item Cataloging assessment.
  • Staff who create, import, edit, or delete bibliographic records must pass both the Item Cataloging assessment and the Bibliographic Cataloging assessment.  

• Learn how staff will check out items to patrons during last week of migration
  • Offline transactions video
  • Offline transactions knowledge book

• Learn how to use the reporting features in Evergreen
  • Reports Overview video
  • Reports knowledge book

 

 

3.3. Differences your staff may see migrating to Evergreen

Differences Between Evergreen and Your Previous ILS

In addition to the differences listed in the Getting Your Data Ready and Getting Patrons Ready sections, staff will need to adjust to several potential differences from your current ILS when moving to NC Cardinal.

Staff may not place holds for or checkout to their staff login access account. Instead, use personal accounts for personal holds and circulations and Institution accounts for work-related library holds and circulations.

Searching NC Cardinal consortium before issuing library cards — patrons must be in good standing if they have any existing NC Cardinal accounts; do not merge or overwrite another library system's card.

Patrons can present library cards from other NC Cardinal systems and check out your materials just like your own patrons (your circulation policies apply) - you cannot charge them any fees to use their card or require them to get a card from your library.

Staff may have to deal with billing challenges with another library's materials or patron fines and fees.

Libraries joining NC Cardinal must resource share with the entire consortium all books, audiobooks, music, and videos that circulate to their patrons.

Cataloging Best Practices and Assessments:  NC Cardinal requires that all staff who will perform cataloging functions must conform to consortium Cataloging Best Practices and pass cataloging assessments. Please see the Cataloging Permission Requirements page for more detailed information.

 

4.1. Differences your patrons may see migrating to Evergreen

Preparing Patrons for the Transition to Evergreen

Your staff and patrons may need some transition training to adjust to several changes that come with joining the NC Cardinal consortium:

Holds are not First In, First Out in NC Cardinal

6-month age hold protection

Importance of pull list — must pull all items at least once per day (when open)

24-hour Hold Targeter 

Opportunistic capture

Searching the enormous NC Cardinal catalog may be more challenging

Millions of bibliographic records and broader matching criteria may mean patrons need to use more search terms (title and author vs. title keyword), target smaller subset (video items vs all), and may need to sort by publication date for the latest novels, non-fiction, or videos.

 

4.2. Marketing Communication Materials and Timeline

Marketing the Transition to NC Cardinal

After your library system receives notification that migration is approved and a timeframe for migration into NC Cardinal, it is time to begin getting patrons excited about the changes and new opportunities for resource sharing across the state.

 

Rishara Finsel, current director of Transylvania County Public Library, did an excellent job preparing her community before migration when she was the director of the Polk County Public Libraries in January 2018:

• I presented to the county commissioners in August, which resulted in a newspaper article: Despite my misspelled name, it was a pretty good article. However, it gave the impression that Cardinal would be available immediately, so we started getting questions at that point. I talked about it at every meeting and public opportunity between then and go live. http://m.tryondailybulletin.com/2017/08/24/polk-library-joins-nc-cardinal/

• In November, we started advertising heavily to customers within our libraries. To tie up loose ends with Rutherford, we had to taper off our intra-library services, so customers needed to know why. We really wanted to give a positive spin on all of it, so we talked a lot about resource sharing. At that point, we started giving out brochures and talking with our regular customers.

• In December, we put up a TV slideshow at the front entrance with bright colors and fast facts. We also put most of the web content up at the beginning of December (but tweaked it as we went.) This is still online, but not linked from anywhere else on our website anymore: https://polklibrary.org/cardinal/

• About 2 weeks before go live, we got pretty aggressive (friendly aggressive) about letting people who currently use the library know about changes and that some online services will be unavailable during migration.

• We focused our external PR and big celebrating on the resource sharing start and all the new advantages of that, not on the initial go-live date. Existing customers needed to know how they were affected by the ILS change, but the things that actually got people excited came with resource sharing. On resource sharing start day, we had cupcakes and balloons in the libraries to celebrate.

• We offered some casual customer training classes in February, but only had a couple of people show for each. Their biggest advantage was being a reassurance for Circ staff, because it gave a referral option should there be any truly confused or frustrated customers. They were fine though, and didn't need to worry because they were thoroughly prepared!

 

 

4.3. Patron Training Materials for Migration

Training Resources for Patrons

Your patrons, along with library staff, may need some training on how to search the NC Cardinal catalog to find the materials they want. Remember that your patrons will no longer be searching through just your collection. Instead, they will be searching through the consortium catalog filled with about 2 million bibliographic records. NC Cardinal also uses a broad set of potential matching criteria from the MARC record, so both staff and patrons may find that using the Advanced Search screen more targeted search strategies are beneficial.

 

There are many ways migrating libraries can train patrons to use the NC Cardinal catalog effectively. Handouts, signage at OPAC stations, informational web pages, short training videos, and in-person training classes for patrons before and after migration are all good options. 

Here are some materials created by NC Cardinal member libraries that may provide inspiration for your own patron training efforts:

Cleveland County: YouTube video and FAQ

Davie County: YouTube video

Henderson County: Search Tip pdfs; 2016 PowerPoint presentation

Polk County Libraries: https://polklibrary.org/cardinal/

5.1. Go Live week for incoming library systems

Final Data Migration into Evergreen

Library migration team, MOBIUS, and NC Cardinal will establish the final date for any activity in old ILS. This period often begins over the weekend prior to the Thursday Go Live date and is the start of the offline period prior to go live in Evergreen/NC Cardinal. Any transactions performed in the old ILS after this date will not be included in the migration data moving to Evergreen. For the following several days, MOBIUS will be processing data (bibliographic records, call number and item records, patrons, and transactions) from the old ILS and importing it into Evergreen. 

Go Live week

Monday morning: Library is offline during final data load

1. Monday through Wednesday all incoming branches should utilize Evergreen's offline mode to check out materials.
2. Utilize as few workstations from Monday to Wednesday as possible, as all workstations used will need to have transactions manually uploaded into a session and any exceptions processed.
3. It is possible, but not recommended, to renew materials and register new patrons.
4. Checking in material is prohibited — staff can evaluate and sort materials (using carts, bins, etc.) to facilitate speedy check in and reshelving after go live. It is recommended to store these items in an area that patrons cannot access.

Wednesday afternoon: Cardinal team processes offline transactions

1. Prefer that all incoming library branches close early Wednesday evening — by 6:00 PM, if possible.
2. One library staff member at each branch will need to remain after closing to help upload transactions, unless the library system has the capability to remote into all workstations used to checkout materials during the offline period.
3. The Cardinal team works with each branch to upload and process offline transactions.
4. After uploading offline transactions, the NC Cardinal team will resolve any exceptions that have occurred. Once these are all resolved, Cardinal team will give the All Clear for logging in and checking in materials in the morning.

Thursday: GoLive into NC Cardinal's production instance of Evergreen

1. Library system opens late, if possible to give staff time to settle in, get logged in for the first time, etc.
2. Once NC Cardinal staff give the go-ahead, items that have accumulated during offline period can be checked in and data tested.
3. NC Cardinal team is available to support front-line staff with any questions or concerns.

Friday: Continue support of library system's GoLive within NC Cardinal

1. Library staff can continue to submit issues or questions to the migration Basecamp project for resolution.

First weekly call after Go Live

1. NC Cardinal team reviews administrative training, reports training, and other troubleshooting.

 

 

5.2. Things to Review in Staff Client on Day of Go Live

Post Migration Checklist

Please do the following on the go-live day to identify and report issues that may need to be addressed post-migration. We have a limited time in which to repair migration errors and require the information as soon as possible post migration.  Failure to report issues may result in delay of resolution.

Patrons

• Identify a variety of different kinds of patrons in your legacy system and confirm the following (i.e. different user groups; fines; notes; etc.):

• • Name, address, barcode and other contact information migrated
  • Notes/alerts migrated
  • Items out migrated
  • Fines and bills migrated
  • Barred patrons migrated as barred or blocked

Items

• Confirm the circulation/lending periods chosen by the library match each of the following circ modifiers:
ART PRINT
AUDIOBOOK
BOOK
DOCUMENT
EBOOK
EQUIPMENT
GAME
ILL
KIT
MAGAZINE
MAP
MICROFORM
MISC
MUSIC
NEWSPAPER
PERIODICAL
PLAYAWAY
RENTAL
SOFTWARE
TECHNOLOGY
VERTICAL FILE
VIDEO

• Confirm location codes (shelving locations) migrated
• Complete a search for items in the catalog and confirm the OPAC displays the proper location (e.g. Adult Fiction, Juvenile Audiobook, etc.)
• Identify/note if items are showing the default “Stacks” location — these need to be corrected
• SIP accounts created and activated for needed vendors
  • Overdrive: e-iNC, NC Digital
  • PC Res, etc
  • Self check machines
• New Evergreen OPAC accessible on patron facing workstations

 

6.1. Merging Records

Why you might need to merge records

Most of your catalog records will be merged with existing records for the same items that exist in the NC Cardinal catalog at the time of your migration. However, this automated process relies on a few specific indicators within the MARC records, and if the database is not able to confirm a record is a duplicate of an existing record, it will not merge it. A handful of records always require human review after the migration is complete.

Identifying duplicates from the Hold Pull list

After migration, your hold pull list is a good place to start looking for potential bibliographic record merges. Sometimes, even though you are not yet resource sharing, a request from a patron at another NC Cardinal library will show up on your list because you have the only copy in the system. Often, this is the result of duplicate bibliographic records. Other libraries own the same material, but your record for the item was not merged during migration. Somehow, the patron found your record when searching the catalog and placed a hold. Evergreen does not recognize that the hold could be filled by copies attached to the other record, so it sends the request to you because it calculates it as the best option. The solution, in this case, is to merge your record with the existing NC Cardinal record, which should migrate the hold request to a different copy with a higher likelihood of fulfillment.

When looking at your pull list, if you see items with "Potential Items" of 1 or 2 and a Pickup Library elsewhere, this is often an indication that your copy is a duplicate record of another copy in the catalog.

In the example above, The Princess Bride has 1 potential item. The pickup library is in a different system than the owning library.

Merge the Records

The first step of merging this record with one used for holdings of the same title at other libraries it to verify that it’s a duplicate record.

1. Open the bibliographic record for the item by clicking on the barcode in the pull list.
2. View the MARC record and locate the ISBN in the 020 field. 
3. Navigate to the catalog search and select the tab for Numeric Search.
4. Search for the item by ISBN. Make sure you have scoped your search to the Cardinal level.
   
   
5. If there is a duplicate record you can merge with, the search results should contain your local holding of the item and an entry for the more widely held record.
    
   

Note: For non-book records, utilize a different unique identifier, such as a UPC for DVDs and Blu-Rays.

After verifying that the records are duplicates, the next step is to merge them. To start the merging process from the catalog search results page:

1. Check the boxes for each entry on the search results page. Doing this will add them to your basket at the top of the results page.
2. From the Basket Actions menu, select Add Basket to Bucket.
   
   
3. From the Cataloging menu, choose Record Buckets. Select your bucket from the drop-down list of buckets in the Bucket View.
4. Check the boxes for both items you plan to merge from the bucket list.
   
5. Select Merge Selected Records from the Actions menu.
   
   
6. Compare the records and choose the more complete record of the two as your lead record by clicking the Use as Lead Record button above the MARC display. Click the Merge button.
   
   

Note: Keeping a bucket such as “Bibs to Merge” is recommended. Anytime you happen to find a duplicate, you can add it to the bucket, then regularly go into the bucket to complete the merging process for any materials you’ve found.

After merging, Evergreen will re-select the best copy to fulfill the requested hold because there are now other copies to choose from. The request should disappear from your pull list because copies from other libraries will register with a higher likelihood of fulfilling the hold.

 

6.2. Suppressing Holds

Dealing with External Hold Requests on Pull Lists

Prior to beginning Resource Sharing, you may occasionally see requests for items you own from libraries outside your system. Merging your holdings with NC Cardinal records should mitigate most of these, but if there are any titles for which you are the only owner in the system, some of these requests may persist. If this is the case, follow the instructions below to suppress the transit until you begin resource sharing. 

1. Choose Cancel Transits from the Actions menu on the Check-in screen.
2. Select the Check-in Modifier: Suppress Holds and Transits.
3. Check in the item again.

Note: This process should work for most items put into transit before Resource Sharing. However, some tricky situations may arise. If this process fails to suppress the transit, please submit a help ticket.

6.3. Start Resource Sharing

Start Resource Sharing

 

Read over the Cardinal Resource Sharing Best Practices manual

 

Think about when to have the incoming library system's GoLive for resource sharing

• Up to 60 days after GoLive into Cardinal's Evergreen Production instance

• Pinpoint a hub within the system during migration

• Space needed in hub to house resource sharing materials and set up of resource sharing area:

• • If a municipal library, the hub lies with itself unless the branch is close to another Cardinal system. Then an arrangement could possibly be created to work with another system's hub. Ex. Brown library shares a hub with BHM Regional.
  • Think about what day(s) a library hub could send out materials to other Cardinal members. Ex. Monday-Friday schedule, Only Wednesday's to send out materials, Tuesday and Thursday
  • Designate a work area that can be utilized for processing materials (for shipping and deliveries). Shelving for consortium holds, workstation to create shipping labels, area for a scale to weigh outgoing packages
  • Area for incoming and outgoing courier services (bins, boxes, or bags that travel to local branches)

• Cardinal will contact FedEx for account set up of migrating system's resource sharing contract via the State Library contract

• FedEx will contact migrating system's point of contact for conference call walk-through of FedEx Ship Manager website interface, how to order label pouches, and provide credential set 

• Begin pulling local and resource sharing holds twice a day (morning and afternoon) via the pull list

• Decide on a FedEx pickup schedule of materials (daily, three times a week, twice a week, once a week). Be mindful that FedEx will deliver, however, Monday through Friday if materials are on hold for your patrons.

• Courier any local holds to your branches.

• Be mindful of the 7 day Hold Shelf Cardinal policy — holds can live on your holds shelf for up to seven days. After 7 days, holds should return to their home or be sent to the next patron in queue for the hold.

• Be mindful of damaged items. Cardinal has a Damaged Item template that can be used

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NC Cardinal is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.