As we’ve been out and about talking with folks, we realize there’s some confusion over what’s going on these days with ILLiad. So let’s set the record straight. We love ILLiad, you love ILLiad, and we are continuing to invest in its future. Simply put, we want you to have the opportunity to choose the resource sharing software that best meets your needs.

Toward that end, in November OCLC and Atlas announced that Atlas will continue to develop ILLiad , putting you in the driver’s seat regarding your choice of software. For more details, you can view the OCLC/Atlas Systems ASERL webinar presentation.

ILLiad 9.0 was released November 26, 2018. In anticipation of some questions you might have about ILLiad 9.0 and the upcoming 9.1, we’ve developed an FAQ in addition to the standard Release Notes .

In conjunction with our continued development, we invite our ILLiad users to participate in the ILLiad UserVoice forum . Through UserVoice you can suggest an idea for enhancing ILLiad as well as vote on ideas suggested by your colleagues.

Are you attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, January 25-29, 2019? Your Atlas Systems team will be there, too--out and about at meetings and conference sessions. We’ll also have “office hours” on Saturday with food and drink. We invite you to stop in or make an appointment ahead of time.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find us at any given time at the conference. Or email us in advance to set up an appointment.

Check back at https://www.atlas-sys.com/events/ for more details on Atlas team schedules. See you in Seattle!

It is that time of year! Are you wondering how your Ares numbers look for 2018? Need a refresher on how to use AtlasBI? Interested in creating new dashboards or getting additional insights? Join Kerry Keegan, Ares Product Lead, and Genie Powell, Director of Special Projects and AtlasBI guru, to explore how AtlasBI for Ares can help you evaluate your 2018.

WHAT:

Free AtlasBI webinar for Ares Users

DATE:

Wednesday Jan 23, 2019 at 2:00 PM EST

REGISTRATION: Register here

NEW! Atlas Systems is pleased to announce that Canada has been added to the regions supported directly by AtlasBI! Canadian customers running Atlas software can contact Atlas for information on how to take advantage of this new service and learn more about using AtlasBI for analytics, insights, and reporting.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, we invite you to take a look at our new documentation and community forum landing page . We’ve made it easier for you to connect with us and find the resources and support you need. We hope you like what we’ve done and, as always, we welcome your feedback.

The 10th Annual Access Services Conference was held in Atlanta November 14-15 and once again Atlas Systems was there!  John Brunswick, Kerry Keegan, and Angela Mott staffed our table, checked out the presentations and posters, and spent time chatting with the other attendees.

On Thursday we held our second Ares User Group and Happy Hour, this time at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center.  Over sixty attendees enjoyed appetizers and refreshments while networking with fellow Access Services practitioners.

During the User Group portion of our event Kerry provided information on the upcoming Ares Conference, a plug for UserVoice, and an update on the introduction of AtlasBI for Ares.  She even managed to sneak in a quick update on ILLiad 9.  Kerry also discussed plans for Ares 4.8, sharing some of the ideas being considered for improvements and new functionality.

Attendees then broke into discussion groups on a variety of topics, with Atlas staff sitting in and taking questions.

Overall the conference was a great success for us here at Atlas.  We learned a lot, talked a lot, and brought back a lot, as we always do.  We hope to attend the conference in 2019 as well, – look for us there.

At Atlas, we’re always looking for new ways to incorporate customer feedback and, since January 2017, we’ve enlisted UserVoice to help gather and organize your ideas. As part of this ongoing effort, our annual Ares Virtual Conference was re-formatted as the first-ever Ares Virtual User Group. Newly-appointed Ares Product Lead, Kerry Keegan, was thrilled to welcome more than fifty attendees from thirty institutions and led participants through a series of interactive polls to gauge interest on topics like hard copy circulation, streaming media, and e-book reserves.

Director of Special Projects, Genie Powell, joined the group to announce the availability of a new, cloud-based, business intelligence analytics system - AtlasBI for Ares. Its demonstration was met with overwhelming approval and Atlas-hosted customers were presented with links to access their new reporting dashboards.

More online user groups are forthcoming, but please don’t wait to share ideas and upvote current enhancement requests. 

A free recording of the Virtual User Group is available.

November 13th, right before the Access Services Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, I was able to tour the Library Service Center (LSC) that houses the shared collections of Emory University and Georgia Tech University libraries. 

It was an unassuming, lovely one story facility from the outside, but once inside you realize that, like the Tardis, it is bigger on the inside!

We toured the processing areas and then went on to see the stacks of high density shelving. The shelves were 32 feet high, and Chris Britt-Rogers showed us how long each aisle is by walking to the end for this photo. It's well over a 150 feet long! We spent time at the LSC talking about how implementing the Electronic Delivery Utility would save staff time and improve efficiency in ILL Lending. We also talked about getting ILLiad working with their Storage Management software. I was even able to talk with their vendor at the conference that week about it, and they are already working with our developers!

During my Atlanta visit I was also able to meet with ILL and Reserves staff at Emory and Georgia Tech to talk about ILLiad and Ares as well. Lots of ideas for enhancements, as well as being able to help answer questions they'd had about their ILLiad and Ares software. All in all, I'd say all our brains were very full by the end of our visits, and then we were able to spend the next two days at the conference learning even more. This is one of my favorite conferences, and I love having the opportunity to visit two of our valued ILLiad and Ares sites at the same time!

If not, we have to take a moment to remind you about what a great deal this is for any size institution. The Video Training Library brings videos, from beginner to advanced topics, to your device of choice—desktop computer, laptop, iPhone or iPad, on all Atlas products as well as general library topics. The Video Training Library delivers on-demand access to online class recordings, self-paced training modules, and tutorials starting at only $30 a month or $299 a year, with tiered pricing available for groups. With 620 videos currently available across 200+ courses (and new content added continually) there isn’t an easier, more budget-friendly way to ensure your staff has access to the training they need when they need it.

To search for subjects and experience the breadth of coverage provided, please visit https://training.atlas-sys.com/

We’d like to thank you for your continued trust in our products, services, and staff. 2018 was a very busy year, as we added customers for Ares, Aeon, ArchivesSpace, and ILLiad and re-organized our staff to enhance the quality of our support. More of our users are adopting our Concierge services and we are pleased with the reaction to AtlasBI. We are excited about our new development on ILLiad and rolling out AtlasBI to more users in the coming year.

From our team in Virginia Beach, we hope you enjoyed a joyous holiday season. We look forward to exceeding your expectations in 2019!