Inside Atlas 2021: Training and Library Solutions

Virginia Beach, VA — As the ‘Face of Atlas’, our Training and Library Solutions (TLS) staff rose to the pandemic challenge in 2021 by continuing to exceed customer expectations for service. The TLS team is comprised of the staff responsible for technical and software support, product management, implementations, training and special projects.

Technical and Software Support

Providing technical support can be challenging in the best of times. Providing technical support during a pandemic, required additional creativity and patience. A backdrop to many calls was general uncertainty...uncertainty over budgets, staff shortages, isolation, supporting remote work, implementing new functionality to meet current demands, etc.

While also working remotely, Atlas staff was able to support a high volume of requests related to the use of home networks and constantly changing IP addresses. We also were able to support improvements to some of our hosting platforms including Kubernetes and Github. Each of the software platforms that we support also implemented major new releases or functionality to meet current demands in a changing environment. Our technical and software support staff were able to help implement these enhancements and support our customers as the changes were implemented.

Product Management, Implementations and Special Projects

Our product teams are responsible for the implementation, support, special projects and Concierge services for our customers. They also serve as the product lead, advocating for enhancements with our product development teams and documenting enhancements as they are incorporated into the software. Each software platform introduced significant upgrades during the past year to help our customers meet their researcher demands during a pandemic. The following is a high-level summary of the accomplishments this team achieved over the past year.

Aeon

• Aeon v5.1 was released

• 14 Aeon implementation projects were completed

• 10 Concierge for Aeon subscribers were supported

• Conferences and Presentations

  • Atlas hosted the second annual Aeon Virtual Symposium on June 2-3, 2021 attended by over 150 Aeon users

ArchivesSpace

• 7 ArchivesSpace implementation projects were completed

• 5 ArchivesSpace data migration projects were completed

• Conferences and Presentations

  • Atlas staff presided over a “Introduction to ArchivesSpace API” workshop at the ArchivesSpace Member Forum

Ares

• Ares v5.0 was released at the end of 2020

• 1 Ares implementation project was completed

• 42 Concierge for Access Services subscribers for Ares and ILLiad were supported

• Conferences and Presentations

  • Atlas hosted the Ares 5.0 In Focus webinar

ILLiad

• ILLiad v9.1 was released

• 7 ILLiad server migrations were completed

• 17 ILLiad webinars were hosted by Atlas

• Conferences and Presentations

  • Atlas hosted and presented at ILLiad’s 24th Birthday event

  • Atlas presented “Building on Success — Resource Sharing and Interlibrary Loan Technologies on the Horizon” at the ALA Virtual Annual Meeting

  • Atlas presented “A look at ILL into the future: An update on your ILL Services” at the OCLC Resource Sharing Conference

  • Atlas hosted 7 Ask Atlas series events for ILLiad

Looking Ahead

Flexibility, persistence, and teamwork come to mind when thinking about the TLS in 2021. We rose to the challenge to exceed customer expectations even when internal and external environments continued to evolve. As we move into 2022, we remain committed to serve our customers where they need us.

“You have a job to do. We help you do it.”