21 Jul 09 New Committee Rosters in ALA Connect
ALA Connect got a warm reception during the ALA Annual Conference earlier this month, and we’re seeing increased usage as a result of the marketing push. The dust had finally settled a little from Annual, so this past weekend we flipped the rosters in iMIS (our member database), which means the rosters in Connect got flipped, too.
What does that mean? It means that anyone whose appointment to a committee ended on June 30, 2009, is no longer part of the roster for that committee in Connect. So if you log in and find that you suddenly don’t have access to a specific group anymore, it’s likely because your appointment has ended and new people have been added to the roster.
Conversely, if you log in and see a new committee showing up in “My ALA Groups” or on your profile, it’s probably because your appointment to that group started on July 1, 2009.
We performed some magic behind-the-scenes to make the switch happen after Annual in order to give working groups the ability to access their space in Connect during the conference, but now it’s time for the new roster to work in that space.
If you believe that an affiliation is missing from your profile in Connect or that you’re on a group you shouldn’t be on, please leave a comment here, email me at jlevine [at] ala.org, or use the contact us form on the Connect site. Even better, if you *know* you should be listed on a specific committee, contact that committee’s staff liaison (or “admin” in Connect), because that’s the person who can add you in the member database so that Connect reflects your participation.
ALA staff members who receive questions about committee appointments from members should first check iMIS to make sure the appointment dates are correct there. If you’re still experiencing problems with rosters in Connect, feel free to call or email me. In fact, it’s a good idea to check your rosters in general to make sure that they’re accurate, as we only flipped dates for appointments that ended on June 30 or began on July 1.
Questions? Don’t hesitate to ask!
Tags: ala connect, ala2009, iMIS, rosters
12 Dec 08 Where Is ALA Connect?
If you’ve been following along with our work on ALA Connect, you know that we had hoped to be beta testing by now, getting ready to do a soft launch heading into Midwinter. So why haven’t we announced that here?
Well, we ran into a speed bump last month that we’re just now clearing. As previously noted, all of our membership and committee data is in a software program called “iMIS,” and probably the biggest challenge we’ve faced with this project is connecting our complex membership structure to Drupal. Back in September, we excitedly noted our first success in this area (well, Urban Insight’s success, as they wrote the i2d engine that powers this).
So we were well on our way forward and when the connecting module was finished, we anxiously initiated the big import of committee data from iMIS. Which is when I learned that ALA uses the iMIS committee module for a lot more than just “committees.” For example, as our central repository of data, we use iMIS to track libraries participating in the Public Programs Office’s traveling exhibits, our list of past ALA presidents, and more. Once we saw what came over, we also realized that we didn’t really need a community for the 1999 Annual Conference.
It makes sense to keep all of this data in one place, but it quickly became clear that we needed to do some data cleanup in iMIS and find a way to flag those “committees” that aren’t really “committees,” as well as past events. We asked all of ALA’s divisions and units to pitch in and help identify these things, which they did in an amazingly fast turnaround time of one week (thanks, ALA staff!). We’ve done the cleanup in iMIS, added a flag, re-written the i2d engine, and now we’re re-importing the data, which looks a lot better in Connect. Instead of 1900+ “committees,” divisions, sections, round tables, and events, we’re down to 1,354 of them, with the added benefit of more accurate data in iMIS for other purposes, so it was worth the hiccup.
We’re back on track now, planning to start alpha testing next week. We’ve had to push beta testing into mid-January, hopefully with a soft launch in February. If all scales well, look for an official launch in March.
I know others at several associations are watching what we’re doing closely since we’re the first to be at this stage, so let me just note that if you’re one of those folks, you could do far worse than to look at your iMIS data now and check for any cleanup that needs to be done ahead of time so that you don’t run into this type of problem during your implementation.
Tags: ala connect, drupal, iMIS
29 Sep 08 Membership Data Appearing in Connect!
Even as ALA staff work furiously to resolve issues with the new website, we’re still pushing forward with ALA Connect. If you felt the earth rumble a couple of days ago, it’s because we’re all doing the happy dance over here because the iMIS import and connection is fully functional.
That means members will be able to log into the system using their regular website login information, and Connect will automatically know which ALA groups they are affiliated with (divisions, round tables, sections, and conference registrations). We’ve had high hopes for this all along, but it’s still amazing to see it in action. In the screenshot below, you can see me logged in to view the ALSC community. Because I’m a member of the Association for Library Service to Children, I can see content posted to the group.
However, when I go to the Association for College & Research Libraries group, I’m not a member so I can’t see any content, which means the system is working as it should after the initial import.
There’s still a lot of work to do on the interface, including the creation of help documents and tutorials. All in all, though, we’re still taking 30 seconds to enjoy staring at the screen with huge grins on our faces. 🙂
Tags: drupal, iMIS, membership data
