We will soon be implementing Innovative’s Vega Discovery, which will replace our Encore Catalog. We hope to have answers to all of your questions, but if you don’t find the answer you are looking for here, please submit a ticket by sending an email to techsupport@midhudson.org. Vega is still being developed and our understanding is evolving as it develops. You can expect this area of the website to continue to improve and include more and more detail as it becomes available.
A: Vega is a new platform of services being built to expand and enhance and extend the Sierra system. The Vega platform includes a number of elements that can be added on as separate enhancements. Currently, Vega includes a Discovery element, which we are development partners for. Discovery is the patron-facing interface or Catalog that connects users to our library resources, both local and digital. The platform’s roadmap includes an Interact which will help libraries reach patrons at a higher level, Promote, a marketing element, Program for registration and events, and also Analyze an analytical program for reporting and analyzing the data created in the system.
A: Vega Discover is an interface that patrons and staff will use to search and discover our physical and digital collections. Early discovery platforms like Encore were designed to provide wider access to library collections, with refining tools like facets to help narrow the search to meet their needs. Vega discovery is a modern evolution of the discovery concept and while it retains the option to refines the search with limits it also employs context and intelligence when providing results. Modern account display, the ability to manage useful tools for lists and searching within it enhance the user experience.
A: Vega is in development and currently only stand-alone libraries and those with branches have gone live. MHLS is one of the early adopters and will be among the first consortia to implement Vega Discovery. We have begun the process of working one on one with Innovative, with regular meetings.
Here is the plan:
- The first steps have been to provide Innovative with the specifics about our data, resources, and resource sharing practices. This will provide the structure for them to implement Vega Discovery in alignment with how we do business today. (We are here)
- Our catalog will be converted into Bibframe, which is the record management system that is used by Vega to more closely connect patrons to content and bridge the gaps between our physical collections and digital collections. While we continue to catalog in MARC, our data will convert in real-time to Bibframe. (Coming soon)
- Once the data is in place a test platform will be set up for staff to access and test our catalog. We will be looking to staff to place holds, search and manage their personal accounts as we apply changes. (Summer)
- Once we are confident in the settings, display, and operation, we will make the test site available for testing while Encore still stands as our primary solution.(mid to late summer)
- We will direct all of our links to Vega discovery and remove Encore once we are confident that Vega Discovery is ready. (2nd half 2021)
A: Development for Encore is coming to a close, and for some time it has been understood that replacement was needed. It is also necessary to think beyond the constraints of the MARC record in order to embrace digital content in order to provide discoverability and access to resources from the web. While these are lofty elements for change there are many tangible benefits.
- Patrons will have the user experience that they expect with resources at their fingertips and intuitive paths to manage their library patron experience. The interface has been developed through library partnerships and usability studies to ensure that the end result meets the needs of the user.
- Patrons can manage their experience, storing searches and lists with the ability to later reorganize their selections.
- Patron information like holds and checked-out items are displayed on the interface at all times and need only be expanded.
- Users can follow context searching fluidly, to refine and discover through data connections and trends.
- Record displays that make sense, providing all of the relevant versions in one place. If the user selects an edition that is not available, a more readily available edition is suggested, but can also be ignored.
A: Currently the only element that is not available or in the immediate roadmap is the article searching that we have in Encore. Our analytics have shown that patrons are using this only marginally. Access to the databases is not going away. Patrons can still find and search these resources from the library’s own website or from our HomeAccess pages.