In 2025, Keystone will partner with the Indiana State Library, Talking Book and Braille Library Service to bring the KLAS Users' Conference to Indianapolis, Indiana.

The KLAS User' Group planning committees have already been hard at work, and are excited to share more specifics about our second hybrid conference. Also, they need your help! Whether you plan to attend the conference or not at this point,or aren't sure at all, please complete the KLAS UC2025 Pre-Conference Survey by Friday, May 24.

We know everyone gets tired of endless surveys, but this is a huge help to your Logistics and Program committees as they start narrowing down what topics need to be discussed, locations and types of sessions to offer, speakers to invite, and so on.

Now, on to all the details you need to start planning your 2025 KLAS Users' Conference attendance:

• Dates: March 17-20, 2025
• Location: Indianapolis, IN
• Theme: Driving Innovative Inclusion in Libraries - Start Your Engines!
• Proposed Conference Schedule

Conference Hotel:

Embassy Suites by Hilton Indianapolis Downtown
110 West Washington Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

Rate & Reservations:

Conference Rate: $129.00 / night + tax (or the prevailing government rate at time of booking + tax)

Online Reservation Link: https://www.hilton.com/en/attend-my-event/indwwes-91o-381ce6ea-9ca2-42bc-8149-729006e1a780/

If you prefer to call to make your reservation, dial 317-236-1800 and ask for reservations. Provide the arrival/departure dates of your stay and mention group code 91O. The group name is "KLAS USERS CON".

Amenities

• Free WiFi
• Hot Breakfast Buffet with made-to-order omelets, eggs, and other items
• Free evening reception
• Suite style rooms with separate bedroom and sitting room with microwave and mini-fridge in each
• $44 parking / night (valet only)
• Indoor pool and hot tub
• Workout facilities
• Lobby bar and room service serves light dinner options

Conference Sessions Location:

The Embassy Suites is approximately .3 miles from the Indiana State Library where all conference sessions will be held. The walk from the hotel to the library is via relatively flat sidewalks with well-marked crosswalks at each intersection.

Indiana State Library
315 W. Ohio St.,
Indianapolis, IN 46202

Conference Registration Deadlines & Costs:

Registration is not yet open. Announcements will be included in the KLAS Users' Weekly Wrap-up and sent to the KLASUsers listservs when it is. Until then, here are the planned registration deadlines and costs.

Online Attendees:

• Before December 17, 2024 = $85 with Early-Bird discount
• After December 18, 2024 = $100 per attendee

In-Person Attendees:

• Before December 17, 2024 = $200 with Early-Bird discount
• December 18, 2024 - February 16, 2025 = $250 per attendee
• After February 16, 2025 = $300 with late fee

If you watched the recent Webinar on Issuing MoCs, you know that I strongly encouraged everyone to clean up their Serials... but what exactly should you be checking? 

As we get the first waves of libraries converted, I'm getting a crash course in what to look for and what our programs need to work, so here's the run-down! 

1. Active Serials

All of your active Serials need four things. The first three are on the title tab:

• Medium: DB
• Publisher: CMLS (It's fine to have the description spelled out, but the Code should be CMLS)
• Serial Type: Dir / Direct

For cleanliness sake, I also recommend making sure the Status is Active, and the Reading Level and Language are set appropriately, but the above are what we need for the program to make a local copy.

We also need an active Caption, which should look about like this. If you have MoC Dir serials without captions, please compile a list and send it to us.

2. Long-Discontinued Serials

At this point, we're recommending that the longest-discontinued serials be excluded from our copy programs. They've been unavailable for quite some time. 

If you agree to let these lie, please:

• Clear the Publisher field
• Set the Title Status to Withdrawn
• Include Discontinued or similar in the Title.

(Note: even for titles like these that you do not intend to circulate again, please do not delete serial title records, at least not without checking in with customer support to make very, very sure that nothing is still referencing the title.)

If you decide that you want to keep any of these for the option of sending back-issues, you need to either Cancel or Delete all active subscriptions for them, or patrons will get a very old serial issue. (See below for more details on clearing subscriber lists).

Any that you want to keep will also need the active serial info above, and something added to the Title to make it clear that the serial is discontinued.

Long-discontinued Serials list:

• AMH7 American Heritage - Discontinued Fall 2012
• BRD4 Das Beste aus Reader's Digest - Discontinued Mar 2020
• BUE3 Buenhogar - Discontinued Spring 2009
• CPZ4 Smart Computing - Discontinued Oct 2013
• DBF4 Diabetes Forecast - Discontinued  Sep 2020
• JFA4 Journal Francais d'Amerique - Discontinued Dec 2021
• MNY4 Money  - Discontinued Jun 2019
• NGT4 National Geographic Traveler - Discontinued Dec 2019
• OCI7 Cowboys and Indians - discontinued Fall 2020 
• OPR4 O, The Oprah Magazine - Discontinued Dec 2020
• PBY7 Playboy - Discontinued Jan 2021
• SVT4 Seventeen - Discontinued Dec 2018
• UNW7 U.S.News & World Report - Discontinued Jun 2009
• YAM4 Young Adult Magazine of the Month - Discontinued Dec 2013
• YOG4 Yoga Journal - Discontinued Dec 2023 (no issues on BARD)
• ZIG3 Matilda Ziegler - Discontinued Nov 2009

3. Recently-discontinued Serials

For these, you need to either Cancel or Delete all active subscriptions for them, or patrons will get an old serial issue (that they've presumably read before anyways).

Set the filter at the top of the Subscribers tab to Active, so that only the current subscriptions will show. Then, go through each and either:

• Update the subscription (Ctrl-o), add today's date in the End Date, and Save (Ctrl-s)
• Delete the subscription (Ctrl-d; enter to confirm). 

Cancelling by adding an End Date is preferable because it leaves a record of who was subscribed before. If the magazine resumes, you can resume the subscriptions by deleting the End Dates.(But if you have a long list, Deleting is faster.) 

We are working on a tool to help bulk cancel subscriptions, so if you have a later transition date and/or long subscriber lists on discontinued Serials, you might wait to see if we can get it to you in time. 

Finally, please make sure that the serial includes everything needed for Active serials: Medium: DB, Publisher: CMLS, Serial Type: Dir, and a Caption.

Most Recently discontinued Serials:

• AMH4 American History - Discontinued Spring 2024
• DOG4 Dogster - Discontinued Fall 2023
• OTL4 Outdoor Life - Discontinued  Spring 2023
• WRT4 The Writer - Discontinued Sept 2023

Dealer's Choice Serials:

Finally, there are two in-between discontinued serials, and you can decide which of the above lists they belong in:

• PES4 People en Espanol - Discontinued Apr 2022
• PSM4 Popular Science - Discontinued Dec 2022

4. Merged Serials

There are two pairs of merged serials that need review.

For Odyssey / Muse:

• ODY4 - Make sure the title reflects the dual nature of this serial
• ODY4 - Needs Publisher: CMLS, Serial Type: Dir, Medium: DB
• ODY4 - Needs both the odyssey and the muse caption/pattern, with the muse caption being the active one
• ODY7 / MUE4 / MUE5 - whatever the library has for Muse (BARD Back issues only) - needs to have the publisher cleared

Captions:

• odyssey_@chron1@-@chron2@ 
• muse_@chron1@-@chron2@

• EBN4 - needs to have the Ebony caption/pattern
• ESS4 - needs to have the Essence caption/pattern
• ESS4 - needs Publisher: CMLS, Serial Type: Dir, Medium: DB
• Your choice whether EBN4 should be copied to allow back-issues sent on demand (if not, remove the Publisher)
• Active Patron Subscriptions should be on ESS4
• Check EBN4 for subscriptions added after 2019 - It was announced as returning in 2023 and then withdrawn. Libraries should follow up with those patrons.

Captions:

• ebony_@chron1@-@chron2@
• essence_@chron1@-@chron2@

In Closing

Thank you for making it this far--sincerely. All of this cleanup will mean that you get all the issues you want loaded, but no ancient history getting duplicated and mailed out. It will help keep your first round of MoC Orders reasonable, and it will make the conversion process a lot smoother.

If you have questions, let us know. We will also be working on the libraries coming up for conversion next, so do not fear if you see some of these changing happening "on their own". It isn't the cataloging fairy; it's Katharina and I. (Although, maybe Katharina is the cataloging fairy...)

Mark your calendar and start making your plans for March 17-20, 2025 to join us as Keystone and the Indiana State Library, Talking Book and Braille Library come together to bring the KLAS Users' Conference to Indianapolis, IN!! More info will be coming soon, so be on the lookout.

This week we're sharing user perspectives from the two libraries who served as pilot libraries for how libraries for the blind and print disabled will circulate magazines on cartridge (MoC) via KLAS. Michael Lang, Director, State Library of Kansas Talking Books Service, shares the Gutenberg experience and Jesse McGarity, Technical Operations Specialist II, Virginia Beach Public Library, Accessible Resources and Services, provides insights from using Scribe for MoC. A big thanks to Michael and Jesse for testing the waters, helping us improve the process for all of you, and for sharing their experiences!

MoC at Kansas Talking Books Service

Submitted by Michael Lang

Michael Lang, checking in with an update on some of the lessons we learned getting started with local MOC production in Kansas. We ran into a few issues, some were issues of our own making and some were bugs in the system that needed to be worked out. As such, my MOC circulation numbers aren’t going to be very helpful for anyone. Nothing was running as we thought it should have at first. We started, ran for a week, had to pause as the bugs were worked through, and then restarted.

We are running our serials as a separate medium, so that magazines will be loaded separate from books. Our plan is to send them out on a calendar basis, weekly on Wednesdays. We’re still trying to make sure that’s working as intended.

Most of the problems we’ve uncovered are being or have already been patched by Keystone and NLS. Here’s the main problems we ran into.

• Issue 1: Old, some very old, issues of magazines were sent to our patrons. We intend to only send out one back issue to a new subscriber. That’s not how it worked when the switch got flipped. I believe this has been fixed.
  • Lesson 1: Pay close attention to which issues are being printed during your mail run at first.
  • Lesson 2: Consider cancelling subscriptions for inactive NLS magazines, or patrons might get the last issue of American Heritage magazine from 2019 (fake example) and wonder why.
  • Lesson 3: Look at your serials request lists in KLAS and see if anything looks funky prior to flipping the switch. Does someone have reserves for 2009 People magazines? Catch it before it goes out.
• Issue 2: Naming issues with Readers Digest caused multiple duplication errors, an issue that has been fixed by NLS.
  • Lesson: Know where your report is for orders in error status and run it throughout the transition. Patron Module – Reports Menu – Statistics – Duplication Order Status.
• Issue 3: Bug in the system has led to 0 new files (books or magazines) being added to our system since 3/15. Almost fixed.
  • Lesson: Sometimes being the pilot library breaks stuff, but if you can roll with the punches its worth it.

Overall, we’re excited about where this is going to get us when it’s all smoothed out. It’s given me a chance to email with Nancy and John a bunch which is always a treat 😊

MoC at Virginia Beach Accessible Resources & Services

Submitted by Jesse McGarity

In March, Accessible Resources and Services (ARS) at the Virginia Beach Public Library (VBPL) went live with MoC!

We are sending magazines out on separate cartridges from talking book. This is because we already had cartridges of separate colors (white for talking books, green for braille, and peach for magazines) and because we have a smaller patron size. We set the magazine limit to 15 per cartridge since they are smaller than books, with a max of two cartridges.

Some of the reasons we decided against sending talking books and magazines together is because we had the second color cartridge, but also because we did not want to confuse patrons. Additionally, we did not want to limit the number of talking books a patron would get.

After the first shipment it took us a week or so to figure out our settings were incorrect, but once we did, items started going out. The first two shipments were quite a bit for us (about 90) but as we wait for returns it has been much less. Right now our daily send out very low, about one or two. Hopefully has people realize we are sending them, it will be more.

The next step is to find a good way to add has/hads to each patron account, so they do not missing any issues.

As I’m sure you all know, NLS will be transitioning the distribution of the MoC (Magazine on Cartridge) serials to the network libraries. As the schedule for this transition is being filled in and we get the final testing done on the release necessary for MoC service, I wanted to let you all know how things are looking, what you should be thinking about, and what you should expect for the coming month or two.

Current Status

We have two pilot libraries up and running: Virginia Beach (VA1I) on Scribe, and Kansas State Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired (KS1A) on Gutenberg. They have provided us with valuable early feedback, informing how we have built the set-up programs and allowing us to do another round of fine-tuning on the eDoc and Service Serials programs.

These programs will be included in KLAS v7.8.13, which will be going out to Early Release customers soon. This release (or later) will be necessary for MoC serial distribution.

While KLAS has had Serials support for a very long time, the volume of MoC serials distribution demands a more automated process, with plenty of updates and improvements for duplication in place of physical production. Once this release is out, we will continue to prioritize Serials improvements and fixes as the needs are identified.

I’ll also note that, at least for now, only the non-TBT audio magazines are being passed to the libraries--not TBT3, and not any of the braille magazines. Those will continue to be distributed Direct from NLS

How it will work

When your switchover date arrives, we will run the setup programs to take care of everything on the KLAS side. The key program is an updated version of the eDoc Sync, which will check for new Serial Issue files on books.klas.com or your Gutenberg device. When a new file is found, it will create an Issue to match, along with the eDoc.

The creation of that Issue will generate Serial Reserves for all the Active Subscribers, which will also be pushed to their Service Queues. From there, things work very much like they do for regular DBs: when a patron needs service, the titles will be pulled into a Duplication Order.

If you choose to treat the serials as a separate Medium (which will keep them on a separate queue and in separate orders from the DB books, and count them towards a separate cutoff), we will also:

• Generate a local-distribution copy of the Serial title record with the new medium (the old record will be kept for BARD downloads only).
• Copy all the active subscribers to the new Serial title.
• Generate a Medium Profile and Service Queue for all active subscribers.

Decisions to make

We know that you all have your own workflows, preferences, and patron trends--and you know we do our best to make sure that KLAS can adjust to fit. That means you have some options about how we’ll set you up.

Please think about the following options, and let us know how you want things set at your library. We’ll be in touch as your transition date approaches.

Medium:

As I mentioned above, you have the option of using a dedicated Serial medium (generally DS / Digital Serials).

If you do not use a separate medium, the Serials will mingle in with the books in the same Service Queues and potentially the same cartridges. The plus side is that you will not need to manage separate profiles and queues, and patrons can all have the same hard limit cutoff for the total number of cartridges.

If you do use a separate medium, that will neatly separate your books and magazines, making it easier to ensure that both go steadily out to your patrons. It also means that you can get separate statistics on DB-Carts and DS-Carts, and if you chose, provide distinct labeling to differentiate book cartridges and serial cartridges for your patrons.

Cartridges:

I emphasized in the recent Braille Duplication webinar that cartridge inventory must be kept separate--that once a cartridge was used for a DB order, it should never be used for a DS order, and visa-versa. We have now identified the issue that was preventing KLAS from successfully passing inventory back and forth between media, so I am now (mostly) retracting that imperative.

Keeping your cartridge inventory is now considered optional except for multi-branch systems.

If you have multiple branches in your KLAS database, you still must keep your cartridge inventory labelled and separate until we are able to fix the underlying issue.

We do still recommend that cartridges are labelled according to their contents for the best patron experience. For now, doing so will also allow for more accurate statistics, especially AVL cartridge counts. We will continue work in the future to ensure that cartridges previously used for one medium but currently used for a different medium do not get double-counted.

Retention:

With physical issues of a serial, you only have room to hang onto so many back-issues. However, since these are digital, you will have all of the recorded back-issues for each magazine available by patron request.

However, when you subscribe a new patron to a serial, you probably do not want to send them twelve years of back issues, and they probably don’t want to get twelve years of back issues.

So how many do you want to send? Just the most recent issue? The past two or three to get them started? This setting can be manually adjusted per serial title if there is a magazine patrons tend to want more back-issues of, but please let us know what you want this setting to be for all the direct serials to start with.

Medium Defaults:

If you leave the serials as DB, they will hang out with the DB books and count towards all the same Medium settings. However, if you chose to make the serials DS, we will need to know what default settings you want in place for the subscribers’ medium profiles.  

For the Serve Type: how often do you want magazine cartridges to go out? Do you want to send patrons their next cartridge as soon as an issue is available, or let issues collect and only send a cartridge once per week? Every other week? Do you want to designate a specific day (perhaps a day when your regular circulation tends to be light) and handle all serials on that day, or do you want to set your patrons for Nightly serials service, but with a 7-day or 14-day Circ Delay setting to ensure that each patron is served ASAP when they return cartridges, but that they never get cartridges too close together?

All of the other profile settings will need to be set as well: NS Cutoff, Shipment Size, and Max Titles per Cartridge being the important ones. The Queue Size and Queue Refill Point are less relevant to serials service, but we need to put a number there, so tell us which one you want.

Branch Service:

If you are in a multi-branch system, do you want each branch to serve their own patrons, or do you want all Serials duplication to be done at the main branch?

Training & Networking

I’m sure you will all still have questions, and more questions will come up as you get started. You are always welcome to contact us with those questions, but to help people get started on the right foot, I do plan to host a training webinar later this month or in early May.

Our Pilot libraries have also agreed to share their experiences so far, so you can expect a guest blog post from them in the next week or two.

As libraries get up and running, we’ll be posting status updates including any new feature or bug fixes, and listing which libraries have made the transition (and whether they are Scribe or Gutenberg), so you will all know who in the network you can reach out to with questions.

If there is any other info you need to make this a successful transition, please let us know! We’ll be on your side and here to help for the whole journey.

This week's KeyNotes blog post is a guest post from KLAS User Development Advisory Committee Members Jesse McGarity, Virginia Beach Public Library Accessible Resources and Services and Barnaby Camp, Georgia Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled.

Thank you to everyone that responded to the KLAS Development and Advisory Committee (KDAC) survey. Of the 69 respondents, 88.4% worked for a Library for the Blind and Print Disabled (LBPD), 10.1% for an Instructional Resource / MaterialsCenter (IRC / IMC), while the remaining 1.5% identified as a School Library / Association / Other. The sample included librarians, reader advisors, BARD administrators, and other professionals. The purpose of the survey was to identify to KLAS developers the improvements or updated features that were the highest priority for users.

94% of respondents said they used the patron module daily, with the book search as the most used function, while 68% used the catalog module with heading maintenance as the most mentioned. Some users wished the search function would use Boolian operators. The highest priority for all respondents was to add an "Undo Function" for accidental merges in heading maintenance, restoring both headings to books and likes/dislikes to patrons. Next, was the ability to mark items previously marked as lost as something else (e.g., Lost-Returned) when returned, clarifying their status. Following, was to add a button that transfers current search parameters from "Find" to a query set in another window, enabling quick toggling through book records for copy/pasting subjects when "Title" exists in multiple formats.

There was a strong interest from IRCs for linking a related patron record as a 'contact,' ensuring that changes to preferred contact information on that record are reflected in the primary record. The most highly ranked potential update for LBPHs was checking the PIMMS database for existing patrons with the same name and birth year when adding a new patron record. Other high-priority improvements for LBPHs included allowing composite subject likes/dislikes for patron preferences, allowing users to sort orders by the last status date, and creating a new order type to send cartridges to patrons that don't count against their cartridge limit (the NSCutoff), also the ability to account for multiple medium/reading level situations on the same patron/institution record, for example to allow for “Large print - K-3," "Braille - 4-7," "Digital books - 8," all on the same account and to allow libraries to retain pre-bundled duplication orders .

Finally, in the open “red stapler” section, several respondents identified arranging series order in the service queue as one of their more tedious tasks. The question was asked on what would be the best way for KLAS to handle series. The majority preferred option B, which sends out the earliest book in a series that is not marked "Has/Had" and positions it relative to other books in the same series in the queue.

Thanks again to everyone who responded!

In May of 2022, we held the first KLASUsers' Mini-Conference to provide space and time for Keystone Staff and KLAS Users' to connect and learn from one another as well as share / discuss Keystone company updates and KLAS new features, tips & tricks, and new development suggestions. 2024's Mini-Conference will offer all of that and MORE! 

The 2024 KLASUsers' Mini-Conference will be a free, online event accessible via Zoom held:

• Tuesday, May 14 - 1:00-5:00 PM Eastern Time / 10:00 AM-2:00 PM Pacific
• Wednesday, May 15 - 1:00-5:00 PM Eastern Time / 10:00 AM-2:00 PM Pacific

Add the event to your calendar now, then review the initial schedule, and submit your registration form. Seminar date has passed. 

Sessions

This year will again feature sessions with topics of interest for all KLAS Users, as well as more specific Instructional Resource Center (IRC) and Library for the Blind and Print Disabled (LBPD) sessions. New for 2024 will be two sessions featuring updates from staff of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) and from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS). 

Session Types:

General sessions will share information and updates relevant to  all KLAS Users, and no conflicting sessions will be scheduled at the same time they are offered. During these sessions, there will limited time for questions and answers.

Workshop sessions are presented by Keystone staff member or a guest speaker. Attendees are encouraged to ask questions throughout the session. These in-depth presentations share information via different tools such as slides, live examples, and / or user experiences.

Birds-of-a-Feather (BoaF) sessions give participants the opportunity to exchange ideas in a group discussion setting. All KLAS Users are invited to participate in the BoaF sessions they feel are relevant to them. However, we do indicate for each session whether an IRC or LBPD audience might find it more applicable. Topics range from making the most of KLAS features to exploring broader service-related ideas. These sessions are not formal presentations with slides or software demonstrations. Instead, the format is casual and open. Moderators launch the discussion and keep the conversation on topic; participants are asked to come prepared to share and learn.

Tuesday, May 14

This is an initial schedule, and sessions are subject to change. Want to get more involved with the Users' group? Volunteering to moderate a BoaF session is a great way to get started!

Wednesday, May 15 

Registration

Registration is not required, but doing so helps us know approximately how many persons to plan on for each session. You will automatically be emailed a copy of your registration upon submission.

On February 16, 2024 Maureen Dorosinki, Vice President, KLAS Users' Group shared the below message on the KLASUsers' listservs. Based on the overwhelming positive response to it, we're also posting it here so it is easier to find and share with others.

Valentine’s Day means a variety of things to many people in various stages of life. It used to mean buying a pack of assorted valentines shaped like Garfield and writing your name 30 times to sign them and sneaking in a smiley face to the cute boy. It meant hoping you were going to get a carnation in high school, and be able to carry it around, and then, have your face burn with embarrassment when you didn’t get one. It meant finding The One, and today means you are happy making chocolate chip cookies from scratch after work because those are the only sweets you can justify eating on the terribly restrictive cholesterol diet you are on.

At work, it also means something altogether different, it has turned into caring about something bigger than us and doing it for the most part without ever meeting the people you serve. It means staying late to make sure the e-readers are plugged in so they can go out the next day. It means sticking with the call even though you have 20 more to do and the phone keeps ringing. It means trying to get ahead on the hamster wheel because you care. You care about the thousands of people you don’t see, as much as you care about the few you might talk to.

But I’m asking all of us to do one more thing this Valentine’s month. Take a day where you can allow yourself to fall off the hamster wheel and make one extra call. You could call that person who always has something positive to say and is so lovely you wish everyone was like them. No, I challenge us to call that person you dread calling. The person who you know lives alone…and is crabby. Call them and just say hello. Call them and thank them for being a patron. Reach out with empathy. You may think you know their story, but we only know one page of their story. Maybe even a half page, with something spilled on it.

Make this Valentine’s include giving without expecting something in return. You gave the gift of yourself and made someone’s day a little brighter, a little easier.

Speaking of easy, KLAS makes all your days easier. They can get us out of a pickle and show us that maybe something is going to be easier than you thought.

Post something on the KLAS Users forum! You may get something done that changes your procedures and moves your department forward.

Valentine’s Day used to mean waiting for gifts and being able to show off what you got. Now it means giving quietly because you truly care and know what working for a higher purpose means.

Maybe not everyone is completely there, but trust me, one day you might be.

Thanks for all you do to support each other, and the patrons.

Attention, Keystone-hosted customers: We are currently rolling out a change to our hosting. This change is on our end and will NOT involve any charge to you, and you will still be hosted on AWS, with all the current services and benefits.

Our hosting services have previously been set up so that customers are divided by geographical region, and share a server within that region. We are now in the process of changing this so that each library has their own individual server. This enables us to locate the server in closer proximity to the library itself, and ensures that all the processing power of the server is devoted solely to that library's own operations.

We have already moved several libraries, and everything is functioning normally—in fact, we have been told that those libraries are seeing better performance and improved speeds!

There should be no update or changes needed to your KLAS installation on individual workstations; we just change where your KLAS shortcut is pointing, so that it accesses the new server. For Gutenberg libraries, or other customers with external integrations, we will coordinate with the NLS or the relevant other party as needed for a smooth transition. If your IT whitelists IP addresses, we will provide the new addresses early in the process so they can add it them the list.

If you have not already been contacted to schedule the changeover, be on the lookout. We are looking to get all Central and East-coast LBPD libraries transitioned to the new model, then Eastern IRCs, then move Westward. However, if you are further west and want to be fast-tracked, you are welcome to contact Customer Support and indicate your interest.

We hope this will be a positive change for everyone, and expect it to be a smooth transition!

The Program Committee and Keystone staff are excited to announce three upcoming opportunities to expand and share your knowledge of KLAS. The first will be an open Q&A session for our Instructional Resource Center users, the second is our next online KLAS Administrator Training session for Library for the Blind and Print Disabled staff, and the third is the upcoming 2024 KLAS Users' Mini-Conference.

2/15/2024 KLAS IRC User Q&A with Marion

On Thursday, February 15 at 3 PM Eastern / Noon Pacific we invite ALL KLAS Instructional Resource / Materials Center (IRC / IMC) users to join us for an open Q&A session with Marion, our resident IRC / IMC customer support guru. Do you have a question about a report or setting up a query, need to troubleshoot a WebOrder issue, or have a suggestion for how to improve IRC workflow? Marion will try to answer any and all questions posed to her during this session. If she can't, we'll be sure to take it back and get you a reply as soon as possible. Mark your calendar now, and join us there!

• Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87243860587?pwd=TmFvSHpINkxmVUZXalBqVVlGRmYvZz09
• Dial-in for Audio: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ki2f3Rw3C
  • Meeting ID: 872 4386 0587
  • Passcode: 932252

This free, online session is being offered via Zoom and will be recorded and posted to klasusers.com for later review and reference. Feel free to email questions / features you want demonstrated in advance to  or post them as a reply below.

Online KLAS Administrator Training

March 2024 KLAS LBPD Admin Training

Our next Online KLAS Administrator Training session for library for the blind and print disabled users will be held March 25-28, 2024. Admin Training is an excellent opportunity to get in-depth training on all the features and settings that can help KLAS better support your library, staff, and patrons. During Admin Training, Keystone staff will get down into the nitty-gritty of the Admin menu walking you through the many options for Duplication on Demand, the WebOPAC, Reports and Queries, and more! 

Admin Training costs $600 / person, is held on Zoom, and runs from 1:00-4:30 PM Eastern Time each afternoon. Also, session attendance is kept small so each person receives the individualized attention they need. If you are considering attending, please note you must have:

• A KLAS Administrator role in your local system
• Authority to change records and policies for your KLAS system

The Online Administrator's Training article includes more detail about the training structure and content as well as a link to the registration form.

KLAS IRC Admin Training

We know there is interest in scheduling another Instructional Resource / Materials Center KLAS Administrator Training session, but we also want to put it on the calendar for a time that works for you! At this time, we need a commitment from at least two users from separate IRCs to schedule a session. The best part about being one of those is: you get to help use choose when it will occur! Like KLAS LBPD Admin Training, training will occur across four afternoons and will be an in-depth look with Keystone Trainers into the the available KLAS Admin Features and Functionality you can use to support your IRC's workflow and service models. We know control files and security setting can be very overwhelming, which is why we offer this training. All interested attendees should have:

• A KLAS Administrator role in your local system
• Authority to change records and policies for your KLAS system

We invite you to review the Administrator’s Training – What to Expect article to help you decide if this is something you want to attend. Then, head over to the KLAS Administrator Training Registration Form linked in the Online Administrator's Training article to indicate such.

2024 KLASUsers' Mini-Conference

Our final upcoming online training opportunity is FREE and open to ALL KLAS USERS! This is your heads up to mark yourself as BUSY from 1:00-5:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 AM-1:00 PM Tuesday, May 14 and Wednesday, May 15.

Sessions will be presented and moderated by Keystone staff and other KLAS Users', held via Zoom, and offer IRC and LBPD-focused as well as general KLAS content.

Please reply to this article with topic suggestions and / or if you're willing to present or moderate.

Now that we're into 2024 (with January flying by rapidly!), let's take a look back at the past year together.

The 2023 Users' Conference was a return to in-person training, networking, and collaboration, but for the first time we also had a hybrid option! This format was tricky to run. Yet with the hard work of the Users' Group Programming and Logistics Committees we feel we achieve a good balance of in-person exclusives like providing in-person-only, hands-on training sessions each morning, online value such as ensuring front-line and specialist staff had options to attend only sessions relevant to them, and offering the ability for libraries unable to travel for conferences to still benefit from the conference, while also remaining accessible.

You can find the presentations and handouts from the conference here: KLAS UC2023 Presentations & Handouts 

Keystone staff also attended a number of other conferences, including the NLS Sub-Regionals and the APH Annual Conferences. These events provide another opportunity for us to connect with our users, and to learn about the challenges and opportunities your libraries and organizations face.

• KLAS Users' Meetings at 2023 NLS Regional Conferences
• 10/3/2023 APH KLAS Users' Meeting

Outside of these events, we strove to continue providing training throughout the year. This included the release of two new Manuals in our new format (Reader Adviser Manual and Transfers Manual). Each are designed to be friendly to use in a print or digital format including with a screen-reader, and I have more in the works! We also hosted webinars including Preparing for e-Braille and a KLAS Q&A with Katy, and continued providing online Administrator's Training sessions.

Additionally, the klasusers.com forums were busy this year. Thank you to everyone who helped get the word out about catalog errors and reissued titles on the Cataloging forum, posted ideas and requests in the Development Suggestions forum, and weighed in on others' requests and questions. 

In terms of development, we've been making progress on several large projects and released a whole lot of smaller improvements, new features, and bug fixes. Ongoing larger development projects include:

1. the APH Ordering Integration which is now functioning live for Free Matter orders at our test site (with support for orders that require Shipping pending development on the APH end of the integration)
2. the new WebOPAC, which was previewed at the conference and will include better support for series, serials, and duplication

We know these are highly anticipated and continue to work towards getting them out to you.

We have also been working extensively with Data Management and NLS to get PIMMS issues identified and fixed, implement Inactive Reason tracking, and lay the groundwork for the network libraries to take over distribution of NLS serials from the Magazine on Cartridge (MoC) program.

Shout-out to the KLAS Development Advisory Committee (KDAC) for their invaluable help not just generating ideas and suggestions, but helping us monitor and evaluate development suggestions from the forum and other sources, ensure corner cases are considered and accounted for, and prioritize all these projects and more.

As we carry on into the new year, I know we will have even more good things to share with you and look forward to the journey!

Keystone has some annual holiday celebrations during the month of December that give our staff and families an opportunity to gather together, enjoy some delicious food, reflect on what we've accomplished over the last year, and discuss what might be possible in the next. This year, our Holiday Dinner and our office potluck / white elephant gift exchange happened on consecutive days.

On the evening of Tuesday, December 19, we gathered around a long table in a private room at Cafe Luna in downtown Raleigh for an evening of wonderful Italian food. The conversation was lively and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to catch up on the lives of our coworkers outside of the office.

Just after noon on Wednesday, December 20, we gathered in our project area for our annual office potluck. We are always impressed by the variety of choices once everyone's contribution is added to the buffet spread. Our staff even thoughtfully create dishes taking into account known food allergies and sensitivities, so there's something to appeal to everyone and no one goes hungry!

After our potluck lunch, we do a white elephant / dirty Santa gift exchange. Our rules are: only one steal per gift per round, and everything's in play until the person with the last number's round. Does your organization do a white elephant exchange? If so, what are your rules?

I hope you enjoyed a brief look at some of this year's Keystone holiday celebrations. Hopefully, your year end also included festive gatherings such as ours, or at least some good rest and relaxation.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from all of us!

We've been working with Data Management / NLS on a patron project in PIMMS. As part of this project, We've been thinking about how to better manage patron status transitions in PIMMS.

PIMMS has a Suspended status and a Deleted status. Once a patron record has a Deleted status, that ID cannot be used in PIMMS again.

KLAS can have many statuses, but currently most libraries have Deceased, Suspended, and Withdrawn all mapped to the PIMMS Suspended status (and now collecting reasons for discontinuing service). The thinking here was that we didn't want an "oops" change of status to permanently delete a patron from PIMMS.

NLS has expressed concern that patrons are lingering in Suspended status for extraordinarily long periods of time. In KLAS, there is nothing currently that automatically moves a patron to PIMMS Deleted, except when withdrawn patrons are purged.

We think that Withdrawn should be the status that corresponds with PIMMS Deleted status. It is the next step in the process.

Currently:

• Most libraries move patrons from Active to Suspended to Withdrawn.
• It's very rare that a patron is "accidentally" changed to Withdrawn. Once the patron is withdrawn, they are gone, generally for good.
• Changing a patron to Withdrawn marks all outstanding items as Lost.

It's a logical step for us to add:

• Delete patron record from PIMMS.

This does mean that if a patron goes from KLAS status Withdrawn back to Active for some reason, you'll need to create a brand new patron record for them, so that they get a new PIMMS ID. The old Withdrawn record could then be merged in to transfer the HasHads to the new record.

Let us know if you do not agree! Otherwise, look for this change to come in January 2024.

If you had to guess, what would you say was the most popular title across all KLAS Talking Book Library (LBPD) patrons? How about the most popular author? I doubt you’ll guess the most popular series.

While Mitake was gathering the LBPD circulation statistics to send to NLS, she compiled all the libraries’ most popular titles, authors, and series to find out the combined top favorites. It was interesting to see the impact even a small library can have on the rankings. For example, the 7th most popular series was all due to just two libraries! The #1 most popular series was in the top at 30 libraries. Those two series had an equal number of titles.

Have you made your guesses? While you ponder a bit longer here are some (perhaps unhelpful) hints:

• The most popular author’s most popular book was only in 19 libraries’ top 200 titles, and his most popular series barely made the top 40.
• The most popular title was written by the 5th most popular author.
• The most popular series was written by the 4th most popular author, and the most popular book in that series was the 3rd most circulated title.

If you guessed Long Shadows by David Baldacci, author James Patterson, and the Heart of the Mountains series by M. M. Beller, then give yourself a piece of left over Halloween candy! Below are the top four in each category along with a few honorable mentions.

The Top Four Most Popular Titles by the Number of Libraries

1. Long shadows by David Baldacci (30 libraries – 12,382 circulations)
2. The boys from Biloxi by John Grisham (30 libraries – 7,803 circulations)
3. This healing journey by Misty M. Beller (28 libraries – 10,625 circulations)
4. Portrait of an unknown woman by Daniel Silva (26 libraries – 12,201 circulations)

Honorable mention goes to Razzmatazz by Christopher Moore which is the 4th most popular title in terms of circulation numbers, 9,237, but only 22 libraries had it in their top 200.

The Top Four Most Popular Authors

1. James Patterson with 41,108 circulations and 53 titles
2. William W. Johnstone with 30,756 circulations and 52 titles
3. Danielle Steel with 26,920 circulations and 32 titles
4. Misty M. Beller with 22,829 circulations and 7 titles

Honorable mentions that all had over 10,000 circulations are David Baldacci (10 titles), John Grisham (13 titles), Debbie Macomber (18 titles), Donald Hamilton (9 titles), Tracie Peterson (15 titles), Daniel Silva (3 titles), Stuart Woods (11 titles), Lauraine Snelling (16 titles), Mary Connealy (8 titles), and Wanda E. Brunstetter (10 titles).

The Top Four Most Popular Series by Sum of Circulation

1. Heart of the Mountains series by M. M. Beller (22,066 circulations, 4 titles, anywhere from 7 to 28 libraries had it in the top 200)
2. Matt Helm series by Donald Hamilton (13,496 circulations, 9 titles, anywhere from 1 to 19 libraries had it in the top 200)
3. Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva (12,646 circulations, 3 titles, all due to the popularity of one title (see above) since the other two books were popular at one library apiece and had less than 500 combined circs)
4. Amos Decker series by David Baldacci (12,382 circulations, all due to just one book, but it happened to be the most popular book, see above)

Honorable mentions are Stuart Woods’ Stone Barrington series (9 titles with 10000+ circs) and S. D. Sykes’ Somershill Manor Mystery series (3 titles, 9000+ circs). Impressively, Lauraine Snelling’s Daughters of Blessing series of four titles racked up 8800+ circs despite only being in the top 200 at two libraries.

Did anything surprise you? Which authors or books or series were you expecting to be at the top? If you want to know the top titles at your library, you can find that in the summary report that Nancy emailed you when asking for permission to share the data with NLS.

Our next webinar is coming up fast, and it's going to be a fun one: it's time for another Q & A with Katy!

This is an informal, Keystone-presented webinar where I invite all of you to come put my KLAS knowledge to the test, and get answers to all those nagging questions. Whether it's a little thing that never quite feels worth emailing Customer Support about, or something you've asked before, but didn't quite understand the solution--I'll have my demo databases at the ready to walk you through the answer.

Of course, I don't know everything, so if you manage to stump me, I'll get the info, consult with Customer Support and the other experts here at Keystone, and get back to you.

All experience levels, staff roles, and organization types welcome!

• When: Thursday, Nov 2, 3:00pm Eastern Time / Noon Pacific
• Who: All KLAS users!
• Where: Zoom!
  • Zoom link - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88940481673?pwd=MzRJNTYwaWR0ZkZ0NnRUQnlmRmhtUT09
  • Dial-in for Audio - https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdG7n08Afh
    • Meeting ID: 889 4048 1673
    • Passcode: 670244

As usual, if you can't make it live, the session will be recorded for future viewing. You can even send in your questions ahead of time so I can cover them for you!

Finally, stay tuned, because we have plenty more online learning opportunities coming over the next year. We'll be hosting a webinar every month in 2024, covering a variety of Talking Books / LBPD-focused, IRC-focused, and general interest topics. In May, we'll hold an online Mini-Conference with Keystone updates, New Features, and more, so mark your calendars for May 7-8, 2024! In the meantime, if there's a topic you want to hear about, or something you want to share with the network, the Program Committee would love to hear from you.

I'm looking forward to chatting with you and answering all of your KLAS questions on November 2!

The KLAS Users’ Group Program Committee is seeking new members and new ideas!

UC2023 is a wrap—so it’s time to roll over the committee, look ahead to creating new online content, and get back to work. This committee is a great starting point for folks wanting to get more involved in the Users’ Group, whether they’re new to using KLAS or an old hand. With just one meeting a month, this is a low-commitment volunteer opportunity.

Everyone is welcome, but we will especially welcome people from IRCs (Instructional Resource Centers) or other less-represented organizations.

Even if you aren’t ready to hop on board as a committee member, we’d still love to hear from you! Is there a KLAS topic you want to learn more about? A past webinar you think needs an encore performance with updated information? Or is there a roundtable or open discussion topic you think everyone could get together and dig into?

Don’t be shy! Leave a comment, or email , , or . The Users’ Group is for you, and this is a great way to help make sure you’re getting the most and best out of it.

A guest blog post by Lee Anne Hooley, Worcester Talking Book Library

July 17th-20th brought the opportunity for me to attend the KLAS conference that was held at the Tennessee School for the Blind in Nashville. This is my second in person conference since my career in the Talking Book world began back in 2018. The hybrid option is a fantastic option as well, but to me, there is nothing quite like coming together and learning.

Many of the sessions employed a hands-on approach to it. For instance, “Care and Feeding of your Scribe.” I learned quite a bit on how to take things apart as needed, as well as the general anatomy of them. In addition to learning how to swap out parts, I was able to get some feedback and ideas from other colleagues on how to better utilize the barcode scanners.

Two other sessions “Defining, Saving, and Sharing Queries” and “Exploring the WebOPAC,” featured worksheets. As much as I thought my school days were long over, it was really fun and challenging to not only have an assignment to help me improve me queries, but also it was great to be able to demo and add feedback to the new patron facing end of the WebOPAC. Having Katy and Nancy there and in person to answer questions when I got stuck or just to offer feedback and ideas was priceless.

Of course, my favorite part of coming together was the sense of community we get from coming together. We’re in the process of starting up our recording studio program, and sitting at the bar every night (for a truly great happy hour, by the way) gave me ideas and lots of folks to contact when I have questions. Sometimes it can feel isolating being a talking book librarian as most of the folks who can relate are scattered around the country. Being able to sit at a table and casually ask questions or trade stories in a casual environment is so valuable.

Last but not least, the amount of hilarity and inside jokes. Librarians are great people, and this group is no exception. From the Recession Special to Chandra’s future Grammy winning career to banana pudding everywhere to wayward goose alerts and parting shopping tips on how to get good deals on designer handbags, I laughed a lot with some fantastic folks and Maureen has all the selfies to prove it. Many thanks to the fine folks at Keystone for bringing us together. Can’t wait for to take on Indianapolis.

When I began my job at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library (WTBBL) in March of 2022, I understood that being Managing Librarian would include, among other things, being the KLAS Administrator. I had been an ILS administrator in the past, but this was for systems where being the "administrator" really just meant you were the one with the most knowledge about the system (which meant, well, not a lot), the one to make the helpdesk calls, and the one to be the vendor's point of contact for the annual payment and the up-sells. For KLAS, being an administrator means taking on a much more active role in understanding and promoting the ILS’s functionality, reporting, and finding solutions for staff and patrons.

As a member of the KLAS Users' Group Officers, I've gained significant insight into how things work, and can work, and am truly excited about attending the KLAS Users' Conference 2023: A Perfect Tenn next week—where I know I'll learn even more. And, as you’ve likely seen from the conference schedule, you don’t have to be an administrator to find lots of sessions that will help you in your particular job. I’m looking forward to an in-person conference (my second since 2019) and to see KLAS folks face-to-face who I bother an inordinate number of times each week (you know who you are!)

In the next few days, you’ll have a number of opportunities to engage with Keystone, other NLS Network and IRC Library staff. I hope you’ll take these opportunities!

Attend the Conference (July 17-20, 2023):

There’s still time to sign up, especially if you plan to attend virtually: https://klasusers.com/klas-uc2023

Attend Thursday's KLAS Users' Group Business Meeting & General Sessions via Zoom (free to all):

Thursday, July 20 Agenda (All times are Central Standard Time):

• 11:15 AM - KLAS Users' Group Business Meeting
• 12:00 PM - Answering Your Parking Lot Questions
• 12:40 PM - Reconsidering Circulation - Based on circulation statistics gathered from a number of libraries, Keystone's Mitake Burts will present a birds-eye-view of changes to circulation patterns across the network of NLS libraries and open a discussion on where the circulation may be heading next
• 1:25 PM - Conference Closing Remarks

Thursday, July 20 Zoom Meeting Info:

• Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87314746960?pwd=TDBMM3IySk1BcXhMdS9odXBWbVV0Zz09
• Meeting ID: 873 1474 6960
• Passcode: 412790
• Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kd1J0VRASH

Read the proposed changes to the KLAS Users’ Group Bylaws:

We’ll be voting whether to accept these changes at the Business Meeting:

• July_2023_KLAS_Users_Group_Bylaws_Proposed_Changes.docx
• July_2023_KLAS_Users_Group_Bylaws_Proposed_Changes.pdf

Become a KLAS Users’ Group Officer:

We will be seeking nominations for Secretary during our annual business meeting on Thursday, July 20. The Secretary’s role is defined and the election process outlined in KLAS Users’ Group Bylaws, Article VI. Officers. Come join the Users’ Group Officers!

I look forward to seeing you next week in person or virtually. Thanks so much for being such an engaged group!

Best,
Traci Timmons, President, KLAS Users’ Group

Are you excited for the 2023 KLAS Users' Conference? We sure are!

While we're grateful that we get to hang out with some of you in-person, we also want our online attendees to have a great conference experience. To help get you oriented, here's a short video tour of the Zoom Events platform:

While we hope this platform will be easy-to-use for everyone, please do let us know if you have any questions or issues. Ready to try it out? Log in any time to start building your personal agenda, filling in your profile, and making connections!