Speedbumps on the recovery road

 Well, there was scheduled maintenance this morning to be done by the vendor for POLARIS remotely since our ILS is now on their remote cloud.  But the work is taking longer than projected and has temporarily disabled our LEAP access to Polaris.  Can still technically login to the Polaris client for a remote session but for now Polaris is not communicating with ShareIt (as one would expect) so I can't receive the dummy request I got from the courier today to conduct additional testing on the receive functionality before full fledged borrowing resumes.

So....just kinda twiddling my thumbs again on a casual Friday.  It's College Colors day so I'm wearing a maroon TAMU tee shirt to work today.  Gig 'em, Aggies.  Y'know for as much as I love baseball jerseys as outerwear, it's kinda remarkable I don't own a TAMU Baseball Jersey, considering how much I loved Aggie Baseball when I was a student there.  I should probably get one.  I don't like that you can't personalize one, though.  You can only pick existing players & numbers, you can't supply like your own last name & class year, which is what I want.

Long holiday weekend, hoping the shit is all ready for next Tuesday but guessing it probably won't be.

I can't do patron validation either if Polaris & ShareIt are still unable to communicate with each other.

Luckily I told my over-eager patrons who asked that ILL might not return exactly on 2 Sept 2025, only that it will be "some time after that".

Library Re-Launch & functionality testing

 So my library is on the verge of re-launching our services after taking since late February to recover from a vicious ransomware attack that left us completely crippled.

I have quietly resumed lending functions, sending out books to other libraries, but only those requests I can physically get my hand on in the main branch building.  Stuff from the branches will have to wait until full system restoration after Labor Day when holds will be reactivated in full.

I also did some test requests for material from other libraries on my own staff library card and one finally arrived today.  I confirmed I was able to receive the item, which generated the expected automated hold, which in turn enabled me to run the special report in POLARIS to enable me to print one of our custom book straps.  I was then able to return the item to the lender on the ShareIt platform and erase the hold from my account.  In other words, the borrowing function seems to be working normally and we are ready for the ILL request form to "go live" after Labor Day along with all other library services that are coming back online after that date.

I'm psyched to have my days be non-stop busy busy busy for awhile.

Did NOT go to ALA

 So  just brief update to note I wound up NOT going to ALA; not enough ILL content and just couldn't justify to myself spending 6 whole nights in downtown Philadelphia....I'd rather save that money and go to more anime conventions!

Speaking of Anime, here is a link to my new (old) anime blog I'm being forced by Typepad's immanent shutdown to migrate over to WordPress instead.

To ALA or not to ALA?

 Been reviewing the American Library Association Conference Schedule and having second thoughts about attending.  There's only 2 dedicated sessions to my specialty, Interlibrary Loan, and even these are oriented to Academic ILL operations, less so Public Libraries.  There are 2 sessions on better serving neurodivergent readers, as well as 3 sessions on Japanese manga/Korean manwha in library collections that caught my eye.  I'm sure the Intellectual Freedom Awards ceremony will feel very uplifting, and there's even a session on overcoming Imposter Syndrome that I can't deny would be personally beneficial.  I've only ever been to the Texas Library Association annual meeting before as my only basis of comparison.  A lot of the sessions give off the feeling of a tent revival but for Librarianship and Intellectual Freedom.  Nothing wrong about that.

 But six whole nights in Philadelphia is a considerable expense and I'm having second thoughts.  I have about 10 days to back out no harm no foul.  Might have to eat the airfare but I got a good deal on Southwest so it wouldn't be that bad.  I could get the hotel money back and a partial refund on the conference costs.  I'm torn because I really really want to finally visit Philadelphia for probably the first and only time in my life, real bucket list kind of thing...but at the same time....six nights is six nights and OOOF.  I can probably find enough things on the schedule each day that will be worthwhile showing up for but I need to keep scrutinizing the schedule by keyword search and planning it out day by day.  I also want to fit in some sight seeing and even signed up for an official bus tour sponsored by ALA around Philly-area libraries which ought to be fun.  There are a lot of sessions on Black Librarianship that would be morally uplifting to attend, even as a cis het white dude I'm not the target audience....but these sessions do proudly proclaim "welcome to all".  Just wanna come, shut up & listen and LEARN, y'know?  Resisting anti-Black racism is part and parcel of the overall fight against American Fascism.  Fighting anti-LGBT censorship is also Anti-Fascism.

I want to go to the American Library Association while it still exists for me to go to at all.  I want to go to see and be seen and spread the word back home, y'know? Idealistic?  Yes.  Expensive?  Very.  But possibly the experience of a lifetime?  Also very possible.  But six nights, 5 days away from work, that's a huge investment, not sure it's one I can make and still do the Canada travel still want to do this year.  *Sigh*

Scuttlebutt at the last Statewide Office Hours (TSLAC)

 So I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the most recent "Statewide Office Hours for ILL, hosted by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC)" earlier this week.

 While everyone already knows the contract between TSLAC and Auto-Graphics, Inc is paid up thru end of December 2025 for access to the Texas Armadillo Network for Interlibrary Loan (our portal access to the ShareIt system for ILL)....

 Our contacts at TSLAC did disclose that preserving Interlibrary Loan access is a top priority of TSLAC and they were committed to renewing the Auto-Graphics, Inc. contract for FY2026 as well.

Absent restoration of IMLS funding, though, this indicates to me that TSLAC will be reorganizing its own budget and making internal cuts to come up with the funding to keep Interlibrary Loan viable for Texas public libraries.  But those internal cuts could well fall on the even more vulnerable, like, say, TSLAC's talking book program for the visually impaired.  I don't KNOW that will happen, just floating it as a speculative possibility of the below referenced ALA lawsuit drags on past December 2025 and we get into budgetary crunch time.  Best case scenario, the courts force IMLS to rehire personnel and honor existing grants and continue granting new ones.  But absent that, the money has to come from somewhere and we might not like where TSLAC decides to drop the axe, their hand forced by domestic cyber-terror unit DOGE.  They could always petition the Texas Legislature to pony up the lost funds, but I don't think that is likely to happen.  DOGE caused this because DOGE are vandals and cyber-terrorists.  Buncha cyber-Nazis if you ask me.

Then there's all the blatantly unconstitutional legislation that could impact library policies in the immediate future with respect to book and digital collections.  I believe it was Mark Twain who once said:  “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”

Especially the Texas Legislature, sweet Jeezus.

ALA's lawsuit to save IMLS

 Here's an update from my Texas Library Association, of which I am a proud Dues Paying member and have been since 2017 for reasons you can probably guess.

 

Details here: