Ex Libris MELvyl Tells (EL Mel Tells)!

I'm delighted to announce that the prototype Melvyl Transition Catalog, Melvyl-T, is up and running. Take a look and give it a try at http://mel-t.cdlib.org

I'm very pleased to be on board the CDL for the launching of Melvyl-T, and I look forward to the enhancements the new catalog will provide our users. I want to thank all of those involved in the creation of the new database for their hard work and creativity in constructing Melvyl-T, and to Beverlee French for leading the CDL through the beginning stages of this exciting re-visioning of Melvyl. See her message below.

We have used a version of the prototype catalog to conduct usability tests on the user interface in April and May, which resulted in refinements and improvement in the catalog interface. This interface will be implemented in the full-scale production catalog to be put into service later this year. Users have already played an important role in shaping the interface and campus Evaluation Liaisons have been instrumental in the success of this effort.

As the Melvyl Catalog and Periodicals Titles databases begin to move to new underlying technology, based on the Ex Libris Aleph software, we thought it was a good time to create a forum where we could discuss the new, but at the same time, familiar catalog. In the coming months, we hope to unveil some of Melvyl-T's new features and demonstrate how they can be best used.

We hesitate to compare this publication to that former, revered publication-the Mynd of Melvyl-edited by our esteemed colleague, Alan Ritch; we know it won't have the wit of that one, but we hope it will have some of the pedagogical focus and lighthearted spirit.

In these initial issues we will introduce you to the behind-the-scenes folks who have been involved (some only too intimately!) in the creation of the prototype catalog and what will eventually be the 20 million record catalog. We also want to tell you about some of the valuable contributions many campus colleagues have made to the creation of Melvyl-T. So, while we'll have to wait to see if El Mel Tells all, we hope it can tell you something about this new product of the CDL which combines our loyal Cat and PE, about the people who are creating it, and its new and unique features.

Cristina Campbell is Project Manager for the Melvyl Union Catalog Implementation project. Little did she know what she was getting into when she migrated to the CDL from the UC Berkeley campus as Head of the Public Health Library! Crisis responsible for moving the project along and for holding all the pieces of the project together-she's the glue between CDL and Ex Libris staff. What this means in the day-to-day is that Cris is engaged in holding many, many conversations and meetings where she not only listens, but also hears, and in sending and reading many, many email messages.

Lesser known things about Cris: her native land is Peru, where she lived until college; she once ran a catering business and is a fantabulous cook; and she's an Italophile, having recently journeyed to and inhabited a villa in Italy. Ask her about any of these things-but don't tell her I told you!

Fortunately for the MELVYL-T database architecture team, their leader Karen Coyle is multi-lingual! Fluent in MARC, she can also translate easily into MELVYL, and most importantly, she can articulate and write all the technical details into plain and well-spoken English. As of the creators of the original MELVYL database and also one of the drafters of the RFP for MELVYL-T, her intimate knowledge of database design and functionality has helped the Transition team design and implement the many database features that you'll see in the MELVYL-T database.

As an adjunct and outgrowth to her work at CDL, Karen is known internationally as a thinker, writer, and speaker on issues of privacy as they relate to libraries, databases and the Internet.

To my knowledge, Steve is the only employee at the CDL who reads both the Weekly World News and The Economist (guess which one he reads first), and has both a gorilla and a porcelain toilet in his office.

Claudia Woo is part of the Access Group at CDL and has been a programmer for SearchLight, Counting California, and the current web version of the Melvyl catalog (and CDL-hosted databases). Her work on the Melvyl-T project involves adapting Aleph user interface features to meet the specifications of the Melvyl-T design group, and making sure that the interface functions correctly. By moving and combining Aleph file fragments, she ensures that there will be full functionality in the new Melvyl radio buttons and pulldown menus. Her work is a critical piece in making Melvyl appear as we want it to, and she has been working intensively to make sure this happens!