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Library new home page and....

  • 11-10-2009 2:34pm
    #1
    d4gurl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭


    ...they have become a lot more strict!

    I took a book out at the start of term and renewed it once and now the website won't let me renew again.. I'm raging for the last few years I've been able to renew books basically for the whole year! Is this some new rule of only being allowed to renew once?! I see it as a plan hatched to make lots of money really!

    Basically this is just a rant about the new library web page.. I really dislike it..albeit the old one was horrible.. but it was familiar! Sniff trinity is gone mad with all these changes..


Comments

  • #2
    amacachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    d4gurl wrote: »
    ...they have become a lot more strict!

    I took a book out at the start of term and renewed it once and now the website won't let me renew again.. I'm raging for the last few years I've been able to renew books basically for the whole year! Is this some new rule of only being allowed to renew once?! I see it as a plan hatched to make lots of money really!

    Basically this is just a rant about the new library web page.. I really dislike it..albeit the old one was horrible.. but it was familiar! Sniff trinity is gone mad with all these changes..

    Or to stop a small group of ****ers from hogging books for the entire year?


  • #3
    d4gurl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭d4gurl


    bah I'm in final year I need the books! I would rather me have them then some fresher who is probably hogging them and not using them!


  • #4
    Larianne
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,954 ✭✭✭✭Larianne


    They sent out an email saying at the moment you can only renew once as there's some problem with the new system. So I think it's only for the moment.

    I just think it's stupid the loan is only for a week and then you have to renew it. (UCD had two week loans) They've enough books like.


  • #5
    Kwekubo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,238 ✭✭✭Kwekubo


    The Library sent out an announcement about this a week or two ago - there's a bug in the new computer system, which means that there is currently no way for users to place a hold on a book that someone else has taken out. The problem wasn't noticed until demand for books rose during week 1. As a temporary workaround until the problem is fixed, all withdrawals have been limited to one renewal. From what I can see though there would be nothing to stop you returning the book in person and then immediately taking it out again for another two weeks.


  • #6
    amacachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    d4gurl wrote: »
    I took a book out at the start of term and renewed it once and now the website won't let me renew again.. I'm raging for the last few years I've been able to renew books basically for the whole year!
    d4gurl wrote: »
    bah I'm in final year I need the books! I would rather me have them then some fresher who is probably hogging them and not using them!

    Hold on... oh thank God, I thought you might've pulled my heartstrings off but they're still intact.


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  • #7
    Larianne
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,954 ✭✭✭✭Larianne


    Kwekubo wrote: »
    another two weeks.

    Two weeks? I can only get a loan for a week and then have to renew?


  • #8
    d4gurl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭d4gurl


    amacachi wrote: »
    Hold on... oh thank God, I thought you might've pulled my heartstrings off but they're still intact.

    Not when I was a fresher though did I hog them....

    Anyway I must of deleted that email! thanks folks!


  • #9
    Kwekubo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,238 ✭✭✭Kwekubo


    Larianne wrote: »
    Two weeks? I can only get a loan for a week and then have to renew?
    Yup, renewing only adds seven days to your account, from the date that you renew the book. But under the normal rules you can just keep renewing the book every week. (I seem to remember seeing 10 renewals written somewhere as the maximum for a single withdrawal, but I'm sure I've renewed things for more than that before.)


  • #10
    Mark200
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,536 ✭✭✭Mark200


    amacachi wrote: »
    Or to stop a small group of ****ers from hogging books for the entire year?

    If you need a book that's out you can reserve it or something so that it can't be renewed. Hardly difficult.


  • #11
    Sammi503
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20 ✭Sammi503


    Actually you can't put a hold on the book at the moment (they screwed up the system when the replaced it with a newer "better" one). Even the librarians can't put a hold on a book for you...I asked a lovely librarian in the Hamilton to put a hold on a genetics book for me (stupid feckers in 3rd year being all proactive and ****e...taking out all of the damn books that I need!). Poor woman just about managed to put the hold on the book for me...and lo and behold last Monday it didn't work and some stupid fecker has the book I need for another week! *grumble grumble moan*


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  • #12
    Becky_Boo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27 ✭Becky_Boo


    the library website says that you can renew a book 7 times before you have to bring it back so I presume when they get the new system fixed things will be back to normal like last year


  • #13
    Degsy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,397 ✭✭✭✭Degsy


    The new Millenium system is a load of POX!
    To have to tell students that they cant renew a book they have in thier hand because the "new" system isnt working is a disgrace.

    The "official" line is that the book must be returned to the sorting trolley for an unspecified time so that everybody who happends to be in the area can converge on it like vultures(i havnt seen it yet)or the student can go and find an identical copy of the book and present it to the counter ffs.

    Renewals dont work,holds dont work,we have to use a mouse to change screens instead of function keys,readers now have to provide the numbers of first-call books instead of thier names,we now have to leave books for a week before returning them to stacks etc etc..
    Its as difficult for us as it is for the students and quite rightly,disatisfaction is endemic.

    As for renewals and holds being working again..dont hold your breath!


  • #14
    Jonathan
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators Posts: 8,260 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jonathan


    Degsy wrote: »
    The new Millenium system is a load of POX!
    To have to tell students that they cant renew a book they have in thier hand because the "new" system isnt working is a disgrace.

    The "official" line is that the book must be returned to the sorting trolley for an unspecified time so that everybody who happends to be in the area can converge on it like vultures(i havnt seen it yet)or the student can go and find an identical copy of the book and present it to the counter ffs.

    Renewals dont work,holds dont work,we have to use a mouse to change screens instead of function keys,readers now have to provide the numbers of first-call books instead of thier names,we now have to leave books for a week before returning them to stacks etc etc..
    Its as difficult for us as it is for the students and quite rightly,disatisfaction is endemic.

    As for renewals and holds being working again..dont hold your breath!
    Why was it changed in the first place?


  • #15
    Degsy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,397 ✭✭✭✭Degsy


    Jonathan wrote: »
    Why was it changed in the first place?


    I presume they wanted to save money but as usual got it arse about face.


  • #16
    Jonathan
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators Posts: 8,260 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jonathan


    Degsy wrote: »
    I presume they wanted to save money but as usual got it arse about face.
    Surely setting up a whole new system was never going to be cheaper than the current one?


  • #17
    Degsy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,397 ✭✭✭✭Degsy


    Jonathan wrote: »
    Surely setting up a whole new system was never going to be cheaper than the current one?

    No idea tbh..ther may have been other issues that i dont know about..the politics there often boggle the mind.


  • #18
    Bartron Prime
    Closed Accounts Posts: 309 ✭✭Bartron Prime


    The new system was installed because the previous one had gone far beyond its shelf-life. It was installed in 1996 and was no longer being supported by the company that installed it (once called Geac, now Extensity Library Solutions). This meant no updates, patches, changes etc. The Automated Stack System, for example, was custom grafted on to the existing LMS. The brief usage of the 'Stella' Aquabrowser was a purchase of a new module from the same company that was grafted on.

    Essentially the old system could no longer support the growing needs of the Library in terms of resource management and additional functionality (In fact, TCD have gotten a RSS feed module built in to the new system.). It was slow, cumbersome, prone to errors and patched up on the fly. The Library were genuinely concerned that it could simply crash at any moment.

    In 2007 the Library noticed the HEA were providing money under the Strategic Innovation Fund for IT overhauls as part of the SIF II cycle. They figured that since they'd been waiting 11 years for a new system, they may as well apply for the cash. Considering the subsequent butchering of SIF, applying was a smart move. The Library was successful and the LMS tender was sent out under the Competitive Tender Process. If I recall correctly, the funding required the project to be awarded by the end of that academic year or a similar timespan.

    There weren't really any politics as such. The Library needed a new LMS, got the cash from the HEA then got Board to authorise the rest. In case you were wondering, yes it was approved by all the committees above the Library reporting to Board and Council.

    If nothing else, I hope that makes it clearer as to why the system was changed.


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