2021-09-02 Resource Access Meeting Notes

new release of our query data base shortly – query repository on GitHub has periodic releases – finalized and vetted
LDP – separate data base installed along with FOLIO
Work of Reporting SIG right now: setup the data base to access data form FOLIO apps + writing some sql queries for e.g. annual reports and regular reports
Providing queries, so that you can start out with a package of pre-developed queries
Topics for RA e.g. Collection usage – often related to print and inventory - different locations, material types
Queries are designed for a lot of institutions - always the option to customize and localize those queries
Expertise in libraries related to relational databases
FOLIO data is organized in JSON objects (lot of hierarchy and really complex arrangements of data)
How do we get it out of FOLIO into a format easier for humans to understand and to query and still have the precision that the original data had?
LDP started out and evolving – next software is called Metadb – organizes things a little bit differently – will be an improvement
Jason hierarchies into tables – less complex in queries
It also pulls more data out of FOLIO and much closer to real-time updates (Major improvement)
LDP – update once a day
Have to change our queries a little bit, but data model itself much easier to use from the start.
Team focused on writing queries for resource access and user management: Vandana (Cornell), Eliana (FLO), Angela (Duke)
One question is how to report to custom fields?
Effective location – not hard coded in the data model at first – now stored in the item and we have it in loans - Solid record of calculations
Effective location on holding and item with a permanent and a temporary location each
what is the correct location for an item at the time of loan?
If the item has a permanent location but the holding has a temporary location which do you pick from those two
important for a variety of reporting needs and for circulation rules
there's a concept of effective location that involves some complex logic
https://folio-org.atlassian.net/wiki/display/RA/Effective+Location+Logic
Erin developed holding level effective location – MM small group for requirements
Use case: discovery (e.g. micro film, special collections, periodicals)
No impact on circulation, because items are circulating
access services in terms of collection management in determining where things are and what needs to move like that
Brooks: has been issues in the past when data is loaded through other mechanisms where the item pickup location doesn't get set properly that supposed to be fixed. - loading your data or writing directly to the database, it's still something to look out for.
every time the item record is updated or every time the holdings record is updated. If those location attributes change the effective locations are recalculated and set as an attribute on the item record itself.
How do you see changes in LDP over the course of time?
Query through api – current status of data
there are history tables in LDP
LDP update once a day – last version of the day
Difference between within the day – sum total of those changes
Metadb will be different and better
Update once a day due to performance issues? – for huge libraries the data transfer takes a long time e.g. 6 hours – reload everything from FOLIO overnight, every day
With Metadb regular small updates rather than nightly big updates
LDP - App
- Designed to work with FOLIO
- Have to have your LDP installed - then you can read data from LDP directly inside the FOLIO LDP app
- FOLIO LDP app connects to the LDP and reads the data out of the tables that are in that database - bypasses the need to look at a sql query
- You can point it to one of the tables in the LDP and that's either the kind of raw tables that come straight out of folio with a slight bit of transformation, or a set of tables that we call derived tables which are tables that were built using a query.
- table called loans items - data from open loans and connected it to item table
- table has names already filled in like the patron group, and the loan you know the location of the item
- derived table = combining data from different folio tables and storing it
- tables, you can access directly in the LDP app, you can filter it down to a subset of the records by saying I only want the patron group faculty.
- Csv download
- goal to be able to join multiple tables together and the LDP app to use folio permissions to provide different levels of access for different tables.
- query builder for relational databases that does not require any coding
- Duke looked at software available - did a really large project last year where we looked at kind of all the available query software around it - none of them quite matches the simplicity that we're really looking for
- Project ReShare is using Metadb, ReShare is using the same reporting environment
- If you are using both ReShare and FOLIO – single reporting structure
- Do we have a timeline for Metadb? no release date yet
- Right now 2 schemas are showing on snapshot
- On local LDP - might be other schemas – different groups of tables
- In LDP and Metadb non-FOLIO data can be included
- Permission to bring data from legacy system or ILL data
- Can I share queries? Goal and on the list of features in github, a lot of them with milestone 1.4
- Would be nice to have a menu of pre-built queries for an institution
there are hosting providers who are not offering hosting for LDP alongside FOLIO
difficult for those SMEs who are putting so much effort in LDP and Reporting SIG and not having the LDP in their environment
A lot of libraries have LDP and they can share their experiences with LDP and maybe work with providers why LDP is not provided
A lot of knowledge within the FOLIO Community
Next Reporting and RA meeting – Sept 16- short LDP App demo