Volume 1, Number 1 (August 28, 2002)
Welcome to the first issue of The MassCat Mews, a newsletter containing news and information of interest to the membership of MassCat. This newsletter will be published via email on a monthly basis. Every issue of The MassCat Mews will also be published on the MassCat Website at the following address: http://www.masscat.org/links/masscatmews.htm
This inaugural issue features the following news items:
New! MassCat Member email List!
In July MassCat implemented an email list for our members. The MassCat Mailing List is intended as a forum for MassCat Members to discuss MassCat-related issues with each other, such as how to export or import records from local systems to MassCat, how to manage cataloging workflows, and questions or issues related to ILL.
This list will also be the place where the latest information regarding the MassCat database and related services such as CatExpress will be posted. I will regularly post messages pertaining to system downtime, updates or changes to the MassCat database, changes to the masscat.org Website, information about new members and any other information pertinent to membership in MassCat.
You all should have received a welcome message containing important information about how the list works. Please keep that message and refer to it often. If you no longer have a copy of that email message, please contact me and I will help you get another copy.
This email list truly is intended for member use. Please feel free to post messages to this list at any time.
Changes to the masscat.org Website:
As many of you have probably noticed, the MassCat Website: http://www.masscat.org underwent a design change this summer. Hopefully you will all find the site easier to navigate as well as read. Please take some time to work around the site and tell me what you think.
Update your ILL Holiday/Closings Calendar:
As summer draws to a rapid close, I would like to welcome back many of our school library members. I hope everyone was able to enjoy some relaxation time during this rather hot and humid summer!
I would like to remind everyone, especially our school libraries, that your ILL Holiday/Closings calendar needs to be updated with current holiday and library closing dates. It is important to have the dates that your library is closed included in this calendar so that our ILL system will perform efficiently. The ILL system takes the date information that you enter in your ILL Participant Record and calculates whether or not your library is available to respond to an ILL request. If, based on the closing dates that you provide, your library is unavailable to respond to an ILL request, the system will skip over your library and immediately forward the ILL request to another potential lending library.
It is vital to the operation of MassCat’s ILL system that current and accurate holiday and closing information is provided for each library.
To find out how to update your ILL Holiday/Closings calendar, go to the training section of the MassCat Website: http://www.masscat.org/training/training.htm and click on the link called: “Maintaining the ILL Holiday List in MassCat.” Then follow the nine easy steps! If you have any questions or encounter any problems, please feel free to call me (toll free) at the MassCat office: 866-627-7228
| Nora Blake |
| MassCat Manager |
| P.O. Box 129 |
| Hatfield, MA 01038 |
| 866-627-7228 (866-MASSCAT) |
| nblake@masscat.org |