A guide to configuring the SimplyE Circulation Manager, for hosting/implementation providers or technical library staff

Purpose

This document provides the basic instructions necessary to configure a demonstration implementation of the Circulation Manager. They provide access to a single library with a small, open access collection. This configuration does not yet demonstrate configuring a DRM-protected library service stream from a commercial service, such as Overdrive, Bibliotheca, or Axis 360. Instead, the aim here is to:

1. Ensure that the Circulation Manager is deployed successfully,
2. Review how the Circulation Manager works,
3. Provide an opportunity to experience actively configuring a Circulation Manager before deploying a production service, and
4. Promote confidence that the organization is ready to deploy a more robust, production Circulation Manager.

Though this Quickstart does not demonstrate configuring a library's commercial collection of DRM-protected materials, there are other documents which provide step-by-step guidance. After you have configured this demonstration Circulation Manager, you may wish to see the "Configure" articles in the How-to articles section for integrating a specific commercial provider collection.

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This document will provide the following:

1. Getting your initial Circulation Manager installed and configured to a state in which a Sysadmin can access and use the configuration UI
2. Getting a testable version of the App through test flight so they may evaluate and troubleshoot configurations and operations prior to pilot.

Assumptions/Requirements

Deployment. Your Circulation Manager should be completely deployed and available on the Internet to fully test the configuration elements presented here. Refer to the Deploying a SimplyE Service document for more information on deployment scenarios and instructions on deploying to virtual servers and Amazon Web Services.

System and Library Information. This document refers to data you will need to complete the configuration of several areas of the Circulation Manager. For example, in a production environment as the hosting provider/implementor, you should have already received information from a library to be added to the Circulation Manager. The required library data is described in detail in the document SimplyE Library Implementation Guide.

In addition to the library information, we make reference here to system-related information. For example, when you deployed your Circulation Manager infrastructure you should have implemented a domain name for the SimplyE Circulation Manager service and added it to your DNS zone. For a single library implementation within a statewide SimplyE implementation (the original design thinking for the service), the domain name would have the form https://library_name.simplye-state-abbreviation.org. With a change in software implementation to host multiple libraries on one Circulation Manager instance, and with providers offering services not constrained by geography, the Circulation Manager domain might take the form https://circulation.org-name.com/ or https://simplye.org-name.com/. For the sample configuration in this document, we will use the fictitious information below:

Web Browser. Last, you must use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to work in the Admin configuration interface. The Admin interface currently does not render correctly in Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Edge browsers.

Create a Circulation Manager Administrator User

The first action to take in configuring your Circulation Manager instance is to create an administrative user. Currently, it is possible to use two mechanisms to enable access to the Circulation Manager's admin interface:

• Creating individual user accounts 
• Configuring single sign-on using Google accounts

For the first access to the Circulation Manager, we recommend setting up a single user account acting as the primary administrator of the system. Subsequent access can then be configured as needed.

Access the Web-Based Configuration Interface

Open a web browser and go to the /admin path in the Circulation Manager domain, as specified above; e.g., http://simplye.provider-name.org/admin  Scroll the bottom of the initial page to the section Create a new individual admin  Enter the appropriate administrative user's email address in the Email field Enter a secure password (12-16 characters recommended) into the Password field Click the Submit button below the form

When the administrator account is created, your browser will be redirected to the Admin login page.

Login as the Administrator

On the Circulation Manager's login page: Enter the email address of the administrator you created above into the Email field Enter the password you created for the administrator into the Password field Click the Sign In button

Once you have installed the circulation manager software, go to https://<your-circ-manager-url>/admin, and:

1. Configure admin authentication you must do this before you can proceed
2. Verify the Circulation Manager's server-wide settings
3. Configure Elasticsearch AWS Getting Started Guide
4. Register the circulation manager with the metadata wrangler
5. Configure one or more libraries
   1. Create the library record
   2. Configure one or more collections for the library and associate them with the library record
   3. Configure a patron authentication technique (SIP or ILS) and associate it with the library
   4. Configure an analytics mechanism and associate it with the library
6. Register the library's catalog with NYPL for inclusion in the mobile apps

Configure the Circulation Manager System

Perform Web-Based System Configuration

1. Log into the new Circulation Manager's administrative configuration panel:
   • Go to the admin panel using your URL (e.g. https://<your-circ-manager-url>/admin )
   • Scroll to the bottom of the initial entry screen to the "Create a new individual administrator" form.
   • Enter the email address and password for your first administrative user. You can create additional admin accounts in the configuration utility.
   • Click the submit button to create the first admin account.
   • At the resulting login page, enter the admin credentials you created above and click the Sign In button.
   • Click the Configuration link in the upper right corner of the admin panel.
   • You should see the main configuration page with eleven configuration sections in a left sidebar. Those configurations sections are:
     1. Libraries
     2. Collections
     3. Admin Authentication
     4. Patron Authentications
     5. Site Wide Settings
     6. Metadata
     7. Analytics
     8. CDN
     9. Search
     10. Discovery
2. Verify the initial server settings created automatically for your installation:
   • Click the Sitewide Settings item in the left sidebar.
   • Click the Base url of the application setting and make sure it is set to the host and domain name you desired (no trailing 'admin' path).
   • For this base testing deployment, no other site settings are necessary.
3. Configure the Elasticsearch service integration for the Circulation Manager:
   • Click the Search sidebar item.
   • Click the Create a new search service item.
   • Enter a descriptive name for the service, such as "Elasticsearch indexing server"
   • Currently only the Elasticsearch server is supported, so the default Protocol item is appropriate.
   • Enter the URL to your Elasticsearch service:
     1. for testing Virtualbox and Linode (single-server) implementations, enter the internal container IP-based URL, "{+}http://172.17.0.2:9200+".
     2. for testing AWS implementations using the AWS ES service, enter the URL to the Elasticsearch server as shown in your ES service console.
   • Unless there is a local reason to change it, leave the default Elasticsearch index name as "circulation-works".
   • Click the Submit button.
4. Create a Metadata Wrangler integration:
   • Click the Metadata sidebar item.
   • Click the Create a new metadata service item.
   • Enter a name for the shared Library Simplified Metadata Wrangler service; e.g., "NYPL Metadata Wrangler".
   • In the Protocol list, select the "Library Simplified Metadata Wrangler" item.
   • You can accept the supplied URL for the shared wrangler
   • Click the Submit button. Note: If you happen to receive an error message ("Error: The library could not complete your request because a third-party service has failed"), the Wrangler server may be experiencing high volume or be down for maintenance. Try waiting ten minutes or so and re-submit the form.

Configure a Library

Create the Library Record and Configure Usage

Note: When configuring the library, you MUST provide a default email address to use when notifying patrons of changes.

1. • Click the Libraries sidebar item.
   • Click the Create a new library item.
   • Enter a descriptive name that uniquely identifies the library and makes it easy to find in a long list of library names hosted on the Circulation Manager; e.g., "Testing - Demo Library 1".
   • Enter the unique shortname for the library (e.g., "XXABCL", created by NYPL as described in DRM Token for Adobe Vendor ID on page three); this value is used in the OPDS feed path (see the last section of this document) for accessing the library's books from the mobile app.
   • Enter a required primary language code for the library's collection(s); e.g., 'eng' for English and/or 'spa' for Spanish. Again, at least one language must be specified.
   • Select a color for your library theming
   • You can upload a logo PNG - (135x135 required)
   • Click the Add button to the right of the primary language field.
   • You can specify other information about the library if desired (help pages, loan periods, etc.), but the above three are required for testing.
   • Click the Submit button to create the library.

Create a Test Collection for the Library

1. Create a test collection and assign it to the demo library:
   • Click the Collections sidebar item.
   • Click the Create a new collection item.
   • Enter a descriptive name that uniquely identifies the collection and makes it easy to find in potentially a long list of collections.
   • For a collection available as a simple public OPDS feed, which we'll use here (note: composed of 'open-access' or 'borrow' acquisition links; 'buy' links are not supported and such books do not appear in the collection's feed in the SimplyE app), accept the "OPDS Import" protocol.

   • Enter the URL of a publicly accessible feed; for initial testing we will use a small subset of the Library Simplified Open Access collection (a small set of books minimizes import/indexing time and makes the full collection viewable in a short period): http://oacontent.librarysimplified.org/works/sources/Plympton

   • Give the collection a unique data source name; e.g., oacontent-plympton

   • Assign the collection to the test library:
     1. In the Add Library dropdown, select the name of the library you added earlier
     2. Click the Add Library button which appears below the dropdown; this links the collection to the library
     3. You will see the library in a group list and can delete it if necessary by clicking the 'x' to the right of its name
   • Click the Submit button to create the collection.

Create the Library's Patron Authentication Integration

1. Create a test patron authentication configuration To run a full test of the Circulation Manager, you will need to be able to authenticate the patron to the library. The web admin utility features a single-user test authentication mechanism. You can use this for testing, but you will need to use connectivity to an authentication resource, typically an ILS, for production systems.
   • Click the Patron Authentication sidebar item
   • Click the Create a new patron authentication service item
   • Again, give the service a descriptive name that is easy to identify in a long list of services
   • Accept the default "Simple Authentication Provider" in the dropdown list for this test
   • Enter a test user identifier; for a simulated 14-digit barcode, you might enter the following: 29999087654321
   • Enter a test password, which in this case should actually be a PIN, something like: 0550
   • In the Libraries dropdown item, select the test library you created
   • Click the Add Library button at the bottom of the form
   • Click the Submit button to create the integration

Register the Library with the NYPL Adobe ID Service

When you create a library with commercial, DRM-protected collections, you must register the library with NYPL so the library will have access to NYPL's shared Adobe ID license. Though you can skip this step for the demonstration library in this example, it is a critical step in making the library's collections usable in production.

Configuring Custom Lanes for the SimplyE Mobile App

The SimplyE mobile app presents subsets of a library's collection, usually specific genres and/or sub-genres of a collection, as a set of carousels termed lanes (swim lanes) in its primary interface. Lanes are automatically generated from the metadata included in an ebook data feed. However, the lanes presented can be customized. The document Customizing Lane Categories, providing a demonstration with step-by-step configuration instructions, is planned for development soon. If you wish to look at the editor interface before that document is ready:

1. Login to the Circulation Manager admin interface as normal
2. On the left side of the top menubar, click the drop-down list of libraries
3. Select the library name for which you would like to customize lanes
4. In the top menubar, click the Lanes link
5. Review the Lane Manager sidebar for customization options

More information will follow in the detailed document.

Accessing the Demonstration Collection in the Generic SimplyE Mobile App

Once the system is configured, you have created a library, and imported the demonstration collection, you can set up the generic production SimplyE mobile app to point to your test library's collection for review. Because this library is not registered with NYPL, its name will not appear in the list of available libraries using SimplyE. Instead, you can review your demonstration collection by using a tap sequence to open up a hidden prompt.

1. Download/install the SimplyE app from the app store for your device (Apple Store or Google Play Store)
2. Open the SimplyE app on your device
3. Tap the menu icon
4. Tap the Settings item
5. In rapid succession, tap the Version entry eight times
6. Tap the Alternate URIs entry which appears
7. In the Feed URI field, enter the URL to the demonstration library's OPDS feed; e.g., http://simplye.org-name.com/TXABCL
8. Click the Set button at the bottom of the form
9. Click the back arrow icon to go back to Settings
10. Click the menu icon
11. Click the Catalog item to display books in the demonstration library's collection

This manual mechanism is available for informally testing the display of library collections. This will work with DRM-protected collections as well as the open collection used in this demo. However, this mechanism will not work correctly when you are ready to test download and reading of DRM-protected commercial collections. For that level of testing, you will need to contact NYPL to include the library in the beta distributions of the iOS and Android mobile apps. For instructions, see Request a Library's Inclusion in Beta/Production App (Draft).

Once you have successfully accessed the library's OPDS feed in the generic app, you have completed the configuration of your first SimplyE deployment.