Meeting Minutes for 03/07/2023

Discussion Topics

Ubuntu server build and migration project updates (Minute 00:21)

• Last year, Marmot let the Discovery Committee know that 2023 is going to be heavily focused in terms of Pika  on tech debt.
• The Ubuntu server migration is the first tech debt project.
• Back in 2021 there was a big security risk which was a global issue around Log4J. The fix for Log4J created other issues within Apache that resulted in other patches. This had a cascading effect coming from the initial Log4J that resulted in issues in communicating with the Apache web server that had translated hiccups in Pika. To fix that, Chris undertook an effort to transition Pika from operating on servers running on CentOS as the operating system to Ubuntu.
• Experienced with the former Flatirons consortium now the MLN2 Marmot members. Using Ubuntu completely resolves the Apache web service issues.
• Marmot is in the process of learning from that migration and starting to apply that to a migration project for all of the Pika servers.  
• The Pika team will be in touch with each institution to discuss times for setting up a test Ubuntu server for their Pika instance and start planning out migration timelines. The migrations go very smoothly and have minimal impact on library users.        

Google Analytics 4 brief update (Minute 3:28)

• The newest Google Analytics will be released on 03.07.2023 and start recording analytics that will be populated in GA4 on 03.08.2023 for all your sites.
• GA4 is different and might take time to learn on how to pull reports. They have changed the lingo and are moving away from page views. 
• It is good to remember that Google Analytics is a marketing platform when you are digging into your analytics to find the statistics you need.
• The team will check to make sure that people have the proper privileges for those reports.
• The team is not able to provide support or much guidance with Google Analytics.       

Hoopla collection control settings in Hoopla interface versus Pika (Minute 5:21)

• Hoopla has some collection controls that are not represented in the catalog.
• The Pika team is in the process of creating some documentation to explain how the collection is controlled by Pika. This documentation will include how the entire Hoopla integration works in Pika so the people who manage Hoopla for their library can use this documentation as a guide to update the catalog   
• For libraries using Hoopla, please let the Pika team know if they are replicating the collection controls within Hoopla for your Pika sites.  Unfortunately, the API will not tell the team about the collection controls that are missing for your Pika site. 
• In your Library Settings for Hoopla libraries the team has a section for Hoopla settings that include the controls for your library’s collection.Please check your settings and let the Pika team know if you need any additional development that will be added to that section.  The team would especially like to hear if you are using the exclude by publisher option. Please submit your request using the Marmot Help Desk System.

Demo of new features, bug fixes, and documentation for the upcoming release (Minute 07:42)

• Release Notes

Discussion of development priorities for the next release (Minute 28:60)

• C.J. is working on an upgrade of the Bootstrap that will include accessibility improvements. Very likely in the next release all of our themes will be updated with improved accessibility.     

Other discussion topics 

• Sunsetting of the OverDrive app (Minute 24:38) 
  • With the sunsetting of the OverDrive app, are we able to update "Place Hold OverDrive" to "Place Hold on Libby"?
  • The main reason the Pika team has not changed the wording from OverDrive to Libby in Pika is that users can use the website which is not going to be named Libby. 
  • When patrons read online through Pika they will be directed to the OverDrive site as well.
  • The name OverDrive gets referenced in a lot of different places outside of the buttons. OverDrive is the vendor and Libby is the app.  
• Banners in Pika (Minute 29:59)
  • Where do you find how to create banners in Pika in the Marmot Knowledge Base
  • Ashley would like to work with Brandon to get an idea of what libraries are using for their default password login scheme for the MLN1 libraries.
  • In Pika, this is called a system message.  

The next meeting is Tuesday, June 13th, 2023