Update: 7/31 5:20pm
URSUS is back online! Please resume system tasks as usual. See any problems? Let us know: support.maineinfonet.org
The URSUS system, including the online catalog at ursus.maine.edu will be offline for maintenance on Monday July 31st.
The work is expected to start shortly after 11AM. Although the expected downtime is 4 to 6 hours, we have been told to plan for an outage that lasts the rest of the day, in case additional work-time is needed.
For up-to-date information during the outage, and to see when it is clear to go back to processing MaineCat materials, please check
http://twitter.com/
Searching and accessing resources
- MaineCat (mainecat.maine.edu) will be online and can provide holdings and call number information in place of the URSUS catalog for physical items.
- Authentication to online resources via barcode such as the Download Library or online databases will be unavailable.
- Marvel resources can be reached using the “username” method described here: http://libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/gettingstarted.htm#access. University resources can be accessed by logging in with your university account, rather than your library barcode.
Circulation
- While the system is offline, please follow your library’s local offline procedures. If you wish to use the III Offline Circulation module, directions can be found here: https://www.maineinfonet.org/supportportal/offline-circ/
- Maintenance should start at 11. Please be generous with this time and don’t try to do complicated, critical, or multiple transactions up till you are kicked out. It is possible that work in preparation could interfere with other transactions, so pushing till the last minute could backfire.
- Please wait until you see the all-clear at maineinfonet.org or twitter.com/maineinfonet before you begin transactions, even if the system seems to be working. Transactions done prematurely may lead to lost or broken data.
Cataloging/Acquisitions
- There is no offline equivalent for the cataloging or circulation functions.
- Maintenance should start at 11. Please be generous with this time and don’t try to do complicated, critical, or multiple transactions up till you are kicked out. It is possible that work in preparation could interfere with other transactions, so pushing till the last minute could backfire.
- Please wait until you see the all-clear at maineinfonet.org or twitter.com/maineinfonet before you begin transactions, even if the system seems to be working. Transactions done prematurely may lead to lost or broken data.
Self-check, computer reservation systems, and other API authentications
- Self check machines, computer reservation systems, will not work while the system is offline.
- If your self-check machine or service relies on pointing at a numerical IP address instead of using ursus.maine.edu, please submit a ticket at support.maineinfonet.org so we can help you redirect it. Devices and applications pointed at the ursus.maine.edu address should continue to work smoothly after the transition.
Firewalls
- Since this maintenance involves changing the hosted servers, ff your library/institution limits access to certain domains or ip addresses, you may need to have your IT change your firewall settings to allow the new IP address. Exceptions based on the name minerva.maine.edu will continue to work fine. Exceptions based on the numeric IP address will need to be updated. Please submit a ticket to us at support.maineinfonet.org and we can provide the information you need.
A notice is on the front page of the catalog at ursus.maine.edu to inform patrons starting a week in advance.
We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause. We recognize that a Sunday or overnight outage would be preferable, but that is simply not an option for this type of work.
The URSUS maintenance is part of a schedule of maintenance on various Maine library systems. Similar outages will occur for the following systems and dates:
- MaineCat: July 26
- CBB: July 27
- URSUS: July 31
- Minerva: Aug 2
- MILS: Aug 7
- Portland Public: Aug 8
