Monthly Archives: June 2006

NOTICE: Voyager online library catalog unavailable June 20 – 24 for Upgrade and New Server

The Voyager library online catalog will be unavailable June 20 – 24th during the setup and migration to a new server and the installation of an upgrade to the latest version of the Voyager system.The new server will increase capacity and response time during searching and backend staff work. An additional upgrade of the latest version of the Solaris operating system will make the server more secure and more manageable. This latest version of Voyager provides new features and takes advantage of newer standards such as Unicode* (input, search and display of non-Latin scripts, including right-to-left scripts like Arabic and Hebrew) and the expanded support for ISBN 13** and other features including:

  • Patron Privacy Management Tools
  • Expanded Circulation Services
  • Enhanced Serials Processing and Display
  • Enriched Searching
  • Full compliance to the SIP2 and NCIP protocols (“connectors to the BLC and Mass Virtual Catalogs)

* What is Unicode?Designed to be a universal character set, Unicode is an encoding scheme for written characters and text. The standard is international in scope and includes characters from all of the major scripts of the world (more than 40,000!), as well as commonly used technical symbols. Alphabetic characters, ideographs, and symbols are all encoded using the same structure. (Endeavor Information Sytems, 2006).

** What is ISBN 13?The ISBN (international standard book number) is a unique identifier for books that has been adopted as an international standard since 1970. The current 10 digit ISBN is expanding to 13 digits to expand the numbering capacity of the ISBN system and alleviate numbering shortages in certain areas of the world. As a result, all library systems must update their software to provide the capability of handling both formats.

IMPORTANT:The BLC and Mass Virtual Catalogs will also be unavailable during the Voyager upgrade and unitl a new “connector” is implemented. The Virtual Catalog will not be availabe for login and direct borrowing until July 17th. Guest searching and borrowing from Interlibrary Loan will remain available as an option until then.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Voyager system or Virtual Catalog connector upgrade please contact the Library Systems & Digital Services Group at x8680 or libsys@umassd.edu