New Locator rolling out
New items submitted since May 2008 are included.
On February 2, 2009 the new version of The Locator will be ready for searching. 3.7 million titles have been successfully migrated to the new database system which is called Zebra from Index Data. New items, submitted to SILO since May 2008, are included in The Locator.
In addition to the search indexes that were available in the old version of The Locator, the new version has six new indexes to search. The new indexes are: Author Keyword, Publication Year, Standard Number, UPC, OCLC, and Location. The database is also cleaner, with better and more completely cataloged records.
While the new version of is searchable, it is NOT yet connected to the SILO Interlibrary Loan system. This will be done by March 1, 2009. The State Library will provide instructions on how to use the blank form to request items found in the new version of The Locator through the SILO Interlibrary Loan system.
SILO File Upload and cataloging in OCLC remain viable ways to contribute new items to The Locator. A new Online Add and Delete system is not available but will be developed and released soon. The Exception List process has also been discontinued for now, but will be further developed and released later.
The new version of The Locator will not be widely released at first. The URL will be posted only to the Iowa library community.
Said Marie Harms, "We ask that you do lots of searches in it to help us identify problems and search result anomalies. We'll provide a feedback form so you can let us know what is not working. By March 1, 2009 we will point the State Library's Web site to the new version of The Locator so that it can be used by the public."
