Observation: In Encore, we have the ability to delete titles from our reading history. This is not an option on the current Vega platform.
Reported: 04/13/2022
Status: Editing reading history is currently not possible, but it has been reported to Innovative.
Resolution: TBD.
Observation: Occasionally, a search will result in a “0 results found for [keyword].” However, there are items in the catalog with that word. This seems especially likely with short, common words like “it” and “or.”
Reported: 04/01/2022
Status: Refreshing the page will usually resolve the issue. The bug has been reported to Innovative.
Resolution: This is a known issue. If the bug fixing goes to plan, it will likely be deployed on 5/24/22.
Observation: “Concepts” and “Persons” may be confusing to average patrons. This is especially so with “persons,” which includes many entities that are not people such as Hoopla, OverDrive, Scholastic, and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “Topics” and “Contributors” are also used, and it is unclear how they relate to concepts and persons.
Another suggestion is to change the heading “Reader reviews” to “User reviews” since books are not the only items in the card catalog. The same problem also applies to “Reading History.”
Reported: 12/13/2021, updated 4/12/2022
Status: Many of these labels are customizable. MHLS will work on developing more user-friendly labels for various sections of the catalog. Please let us know if you have opinions about language/labels, or any other features of the sidebar by emailing techsupport@midhudson.org or filling out the feedback form.
Resolution: TBD.
Observation: In Encore, patrons and staff can see which individual libraries have a title on order, which can be a helpful piece of information. In Vega, the only information is the “On Order” availability status.
Reported: 1/28/2022
Status: Innovative is working on a way to get the copy/location information for on-order titles out of Sierra.
Resolution: TBA.
Observation: The Physical Description information for some items does not show the full description. This can be an issue for things like mixed media kits, which are cut off before you can see what is included.
Reported: 1/24/2022
Status: Innovative will implement a bug fix so that subfield e of the physical description in MARC records is not hidden.
Resolution: TBA.
Observation: Some records display a range of dates for the publication date of a work because of the way different editions and formats “roll up” together. This is generated by including all years when editions and formats of a work were published or copyrighted, but this might create confusion in some cases, such as when patrons expect to see only one date associated with a given season of a TV show.
In Encore, the original copyright date is in brackets, which may be preferred.
Reported: 11/04/2021
Resolution: Expanding the Edition information section will show the various publication dates of a given format, including the original copyright date.
The display is different in Encore because each bibliographic record is completely separate, while in Vega, they “roll up” in order to show patrons all possible manifestations of the same work.
To display only one date, a new setting would have to be added to show only the earliest publication/copyright date (that exists in the MHLS catalog, which would not necessarily be the original date of publication) or to display both a range of publication dates and the earliest date.
Note: the label has been fixed from “publicationinfo” to “Published.”
Observation: Staff have reported difficulty understanding where certain information is located within a resource page. This includes the content of the two Related and Details tabs and the order of that content. For example, author information and a list of their other books are located at the bottom of the Details tab. A reviewer has expressed that they would like this section to be more prominent. “You May Also Like” and “More in this Series” also appear under Details although they would seemingly make more sense under Related.
The author, illustrator, and other contributors appear part-way down the Related tab, although they could reasonably be considered part of the details of a particular work. Similarly, a list of topics appear under Related, even though they could be details.
Reported: 11/04/2021
Status: MHLS will look into configuring pages further and working with how information is integrated, such as through Syndetics Unbound.
Resolution: TBD.
Observation: Knowing where to look for call numbers/self locations and having to click through and scroll to find that information seems like too many steps.
Reported: 12/2/2021
Status: Currently, the call number can be viewed in two ways: 1.) by clicking on a location name or 2.) by expanding the Edition Information, then expanding one of the editions. See the images below for a visual aid.
Resolution: MHLS can make changes to the text to make the next step more obvious, such as “On shelf at one or more locations – select a library from the list below to get shelf location information“. This will be updated soon.
Observation: This would be a very helpful addition, especially when searching under Concepts.
Reported: 12/2/2021
Status: This is a long-standing deficiency in our record structure, but the integration with Syndetics may provide some help here. Mid-Hudson continues to work on it.
Resolution: TBD.
Observation: For example, a search for “genealogy periodicals” in Concept brings up no results at Adriance, despite the fact that they have many materials classified as such in Sierra.
It appears that the concept Genealogy–Periodicals only includes resources with that exact subject heading in Sierra and not those with “genealogy periodicals” as parts of a subdivision, such as “United States — Genealogy — Periodicals” or “New York (State) — Genealogy — Periodicals — Indexes.” Searching by keyword (All) instead of Concept provides some more results, but not as many as in Encore.
Improvements to the Concepts feature are needed in order to better capture the items that would reasonably be considered to be part of a concept, especially in regard to subject heading subdivisions and related subject headings for Concepts that are based on traditional library subject headings.
Reported: 12/2/2021
Status: MHLS will report the issue to Innovative and push for improvements to Concepts.
Resolution: TBD.
