Sierra 6.0 Release Notes

Sierra 6.0 is in general release. Release notes include new and changed features, details on updating your system, and more.

Sierra 6.0 is currently in general release.

Sierra 6.0 went into general release on June 5, 2023.   We are releasing a Sierra 6.0 maintenance update, August 15, 2023. 

This maintenance update version of Sierra 6.0 will display in the Help | About section of the SDA as Software Release: Sierra 6.0.0_7.  The version of Sierra 6.0 released on June 5, 2023, will display in the Help | About section of the SDA as Software Release: Sierra 6.0.0_6. 

Any library, running Sierra 5.6 or older, that preps for update to Sierra 6.0 on or after August 15, 2023, noon PDT will receive version Sierra 6.0.0_7.  Libraries running Sierra 6.0.0_6 that want the fixes included Sierra 6.0.0_7 can update to that version by choosing to (again) update to Sierra 6.0.

For further information about which fixes are included in Sierra 6.0.0_7, see Resolved Issues in Sierra 6.0. 

 

 NOTE: Customers with Encore need to be at least Encore 4.6 SP2 in order to upgrade to Sierra 6.0. 

 CAUTION: In Sierra 5.2 and later, the SDA must run on Java 1.8 and will no longer launch if run on Java 1.6 - see Sierra 5.2 Release Notes.

 

New features in Sierra 6.0

Description	Recommended Pre-Upgrade Action	Recommended Post-Upgrade Action
SAML login for staff users This enhancement allows libraries to use native SAML-based authentication in Sierra so that staff at those libraries will be able to login to Sierra Web and the web-based Admin App using the institution's central authentication system, while those users not included in the central authentication system may still login to Sierra Web and the Admin App using Sierra's native credentials such as username and password. In this first phase of SAML login for staff, Sierra Web and the web-based Admin App will support any of three modes of staff authentication: Exclusively Native (authentication against Sierra's own store) for staff users Exclusively SAML (authentication by IdP) for staff users Mixed SAML (authentication by IdP) and Native (authentication against Sierra's own store) login for staff users Multi-factor authentication can be enabled with SAML login to provide extra security for staff user logins so libraries can move away from older security methods (e.g., VPN connections). It is expected that libraries will need to configure their identity provider for multi-factor authentication to make this work.	None	The native SAML-based authentication software must be installed separately. Contact your account manager for implementation services. Separate fees will apply.
Scheduler for All Sierra's Scheduler utility will be installed as part of the Sierra 6.0 upgrade for every customer who doesn't already have Scheduler installed.                Scheduler will enable libraries to set a scheduled job to: Output Delimited Records Load Patron DELIMITED Records Load Patron TEXT Records Output MARC Records Load MARC Records Create a Review File	None	Libraries who already have Scheduler will not be affected by this installation. Libraries newly using Scheduler will need to add Scheduler permissions (610-620) to appropriate logins in order to access Scheduler functions.
Key-based SFTP in Scheduler Key-based authentication has been added to Sierra's Scheduler utility to support MFT file transfers for customers using Summon or 360 Services from Ex Libris.	None	You must contact Ex Libris Support to get your authentication key before you can enable this option in Scheduler.
Harvest Sierra data in MARCXML via OAI-PMH Following the introduction of OAI-PMH harvesting of Sierra metadata in Dublin Core, customers requested the ability to harvest Sierra data in MARCXML. In this release, Sierra's OAI-PMH server has been enhanced to support MARCXML. MARC21 crosswalks have also been added to the options in the Admin App for OAI-PMH harvesting.	None	The OAI-PMH harvest software must be installed separately. Contact your account manager for implementation services. Separate fees will apply.
Download multiple FTP files at once When downloading FTP files, library staff want to download multiple files at once to save time and reduce the chance of downloading duplicate files. This enhancement allows library staff to select multiple FTP files for downloading instead of downloading files one at a time.	None	None
Accessibility improvements in the SDA The user interface in the SDA has been updated to better support screen readers for Sierra staff users. Improvements have been made to the login screen, pop-ups and modal windows used in Circulation Desk functions, and to the record editor screens in the SDA.	None	Optionally, enable "Use accessibility mode" in Admin | Options | Edit tab to make the record editor easier for screen readers and other assistive technology to interpret.  Restart the SDA to pick up the modified configuration.
Update permissions for Manage Holds This enhancement revises the permissions needed to modify holds using Manage Holds. Modifying holds will now require only permission 45 (Holds Management).  (Previously, staff also needed edit permission for the hold's record type, e.g. Update bibliographic records to modify bib-level holds.)  In both the SDA and Sierra Web, if the Optional Circulation Permissions feature for Manage Holds is enabled, the user must also be assigned permission 1059 (View Outstanding Holds) to access the Manage Holds function.	None	None
View item status change date Starting in Sierra 6.0. Sierra will display the last date an item status was updated when a user hovers over the status field in an item record. The last-status-update field is also included in the SierraDNA Views as part of the item record status view. Note: the last_status_update field will be empty until the item's status changes after the library as upgraded to Sierra 6.0 or higher	None	None
View patron record from Holds screen This enhancement allows an authorized staff member to see the patron information when viewing an item, volume or bib-level hold in order to easily identify the correct patron in the holds queue. If the staff user is not authorized to use permission 161 (View patron records), 162 (Create patron records) or 164 (Update patron records), the override permissions pop-up is presented.	None	None
Display due date and status in Holds/Bookings view Sierra will display both the status and the due date of checked-out items when searching the catalog so that staff can easily differentiate between normal checked-out items and those that have additional status information.	None	None
Display statistical group name in item record Sierra will display the descriptive name of the statistical group in the checkout location (OUT LOC) and checkin location (IN LOC) in the item record so that staff can easily interpret the location information without memorizing the Statistical Group Maintenance table.	None	None

 

Sierra 6.0 System Changes and Important Fixes

Description	Recommended Pre-Upgrade Action	Recommended Post-Upgrade Action
Fix for scoped searches for authors do not return "See" references (SIERRA-38325) This issue has a code fix in Sierra 6.0 and also requires authority records to be rescoped in order for the fix to take effect.	None	For systems with scoping, library staff will need to rescope authority records in order for the fix to take effect.
Update message shown when there is an error loading records through Data Exchange In Sierra 5.5, a staff-facing message was added to the record loading process through Data Exchange to alert staff when a file has errors that prevent one or more records from loading. The message has been refined in this release to make it less alarming to staff. The message now says Error trying to load N records. Details in <file name>.	None	None
Support for the SDA on MacOS Ventura In October 2022, Apple announced the release of the MacOS Ventura. Libraries that run Sierra on Macs need to be able to install the client on the new MacOS. This enhancement adds support to the SDA for MacOS Ventura. Both Intel and M1 chips are supported. The SDA is supported on the three most recent versions of MacOS: Ventura (MacOS 13), Monterey (MacOS 12), and Big Sur (MacOS 11). MacOS Catalina (MacOS 10.15) is no longer supported for Sierra 6.0 or higher.	None	None
Java 11 Sierra has to keep up with changing Java versions in order to remain in support for security updates and for compatibility with other software programs. In this release, Java 11 is automatically installed on the server and used in place of Java 8 as part of upgrade to Sierra 6.0, no action is required. As always on desktop, Java is not upgraded automatically when server is updated to Sierra 6.0, but the desktop installers on the server are, so any user who uninstalls and reinstalls their SDA, or any new SDA user, gets Java 11 instead of Java 8, as the Java for their SDA. No change in this release to Sierra Web; when later upgraded in a future release, the change to Java 11 will be automatic.	None	None
Tomcat 9.0.68 We must periodically update our Tomcat version to remain in support for security purposes and for Java compatibility.  The update is automatic with the upgrade to Sierra 6.0, and as with Java updates, the expectation is that there is no visible change to the user.	None	None
Support additional notice types for LX Starter Currently, LX Starter supports Hold Pickup, Courtesy, Overdue, and Bill notice job types.  Sierra 6.0 adds support for several new notice types so that LX Starter will be able to add support for those notice types in future. The newly supported notice types include Hourly Overdue, Additional Courtesy, Recall, Hold Cancellation, Hold Pickup and Cancellation, Manual Fines, Adjustment, All Bills and Fines, Statement of Charges, and Statement of Checkouts. LX Starter provides modern, professionally designed email templates for patron notices.  For additional information, see When will Vega LX Starter be available?	None	No immediate action.  Once LX Starter has added support for additional notice types, libraries using LX Starter will be able to configure and schedule for those notice types.
Send call number, volume, and copy number to LX Starter for new merge tags Sierra will now send additional fields when queuing notices for LX Starter so that LX Starter will be able to add new merge tags for these fields in future. LX Starter provides modern, professionally designed email templates for patron notices.  For additional information, see When will Vega LX Starter be available?	None	No immediate action.  Once LX Starter has added additional merge tags, libraries using LX Starter will be able to add those merge tags to their templates.

API updates in Sierra 6.0

• Add stat group parameter to Sierra API

Several Sierra APIs have been updated to include a new optional data parameter to specify the statistical group that should be used when recording a transaction performed using the APIs. The relevant APIs perform checkouts, checkins, renewals, payments or fee waivers, and placing holds. If no stat group is specified, transactions are logged in stat group 0.

• Expose specific patron block messages through Sierra API

This project was an extension of the development in Sierra 5.4 to expose specific patron block message in WebPAC. This enhancement in Sierra 6.0 adds the same patron block messages to Sierra API responses.

• Add primary ISBN, ISSN, and/or UPC to the Bib API

Three new optional fields have been added to the GET /v6/bibs/ and the GET /v6/bibs/{id} request: isbn, issn, and upc. This will provide Sierra API users with a quick way to access the standard number for a title so that they can easily link to a cover image or other content in a public display.

 

Known Issues

Please visit the Resolved Issues in Sierra 6.0 solution for information on issues fixed in Sierra 6.0. For a complete list of existing Known Issues from Sierra 2.0 through the present release, see Known Issues for Sierra (2.0-6.0).

 

Preparing to update your system

System Requirements

Sierra 6.0 will require Red Hat or Centos 7x or higher.  During the Prep Phase, the Sierra 6.0 self upgrade checks for the required Operating System and Red Hat Network requirements and will fail if those requirements are not met. Details are contained in the Sierra Self-Upgrade Solution

 

 

Red Hat Network

Access to several repositories and new packages are needed and the upgrade process for Sierra 6.0 will automatically issue Linux package install requests for packages matching the following patterns:

 

• apr
• apr-devel
• apr-util
• apr-util-devel
• ansible
• curl
• expat
• expat-devel
• expect
• expect-devel
• git
• jq
• json-c-devel
• libcurl-devel
• librabbitmq
• librabbitmq-devel
• libxml2
• libxml2-devel
• makeself
• openssl
• openssl-devel
• p7zip
• pcre
• pcre-devel
• perl-LDAP
• python
• python-jinja2
• python-requests
• python2-pip
• python3-dnf-plugin-versionlock
• python3-jinja2
• python3-pip
• python3-requests
• python36
• rabbitmq-server
• readline
• readline-devel
• stunnel
• tcl
• unzip
• wget
• xorg-x11-fonts-misc
• xorg-x11-server-Xvfb
• xorg-x11-utils
• xz-devel
• yum-plugin-versionlock
• zip
• zlib
• zlib-devel
• epel-release (repo)
• erlang-solutions (repo)
• erlang
• logstash (repo)
• logstash

 

By issuing these requests automatically during the upgrade, if the system being upgraded to Sierra 6.0 is subscribed to the Red Hat Network (or has otherwise been configured to have online access to a repository of operating system packages) at the time of the Sierra 6.0 upgrade, the package additions for Sierra 6.0 will be made automatically and no action is required on the part of the library even for those libraries ordinarily responsible for operating system updates.

 

For more information on the Sierra Upgrade External Access, Package, and Maintenance Requirements, please see the Sierra Self-Upgrade Solution

 

Operating System

For Sierra systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, or running a 32 bit version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, it will be necessary to upgrade the operating system to one of the 64 bit Linux versions above to upgrade to Sierra 6.0.

 

Solaris

For Sierra systems running any version of Solaris as their operating system, it will be necessary to migrate from that SPARC based server running Solaris to a new physical or virtual Intel/AMD server running 64 bit Linux in order to upgrade to Sierra 6.0.

 

 

Release Notes

Release notes include software behavior changes introduced in the update (some may have implications for training or data review prior to upgrade), any actions library staff should take prior to or just after updating the system, and notification of new features and other enhancements included in the update.

 

 NOTE: If you are upgrading from a version older than Sierra 5.0, after you restart the upgrade process via Admin Corner to begin the Commit Phase, you will see a new prompt before you reboot the server into maintenance mode.  The prompt is for a new passkey that you can obtain from CSDirect (https://csdirect.iii.com/custconv-aws) using your login credentials.   This will allow for all future software upgrades to use signed URLs for all software downloads.  Please refer to page 15 in the Sierra Self-Upgrade Solution.

 

 NOTE: If you are upgrading from a version older than Sierra 5.0, after the Sierra 6.0 conversion is complete, a background task is immediately started to recalculate bibliographic record scopes.  This is to correct previous scoping changes made in Sierra 4.0 that caused some items to not be properly ordered in display or included in explicit scoped searches.  This background task should be completed within a few hours even for the largest databases and should not impact your system. If you are upgrading from Sierra 5.0-5.6 to Sierra 6.0, this task was run as part of a previous 5.*  conversion.

 

Sierra customers who use INN-Reach will not be able to upgrade to Sierra 6.0 at this time if the INN-Reach central server is not on Resource Sharing 3.1 or higher which includes the development to support the expanded codes feature of Sierra 4.0. The Sierra 6.0 upgrade will produce an error in the Prep Phase if the INN-Reach central server you are partnered with is not running Resource Sharing 3.1 or higher.  Please contact Customer Support if you receive this error or have any questions. 

If you have Encore, we highly recommend that you upgrade your Encore to Encore 6.0 soon after installing Sierra 6.0 to keep both Sierra and Encore up to date on the latest and aligning software.

For MyLibrary! customers and Sierra API users who also have the Patron Update Web Service, additional configuration may be necessary to enable all functions in MyLibrary! and the Sierra API.  Please contact Customer Support if you are having trouble updating patron information using the Sierra API or within MyLibrary!.

If you are upgrading from a version older than Sierra 3.4, the Sierra 6.0 update will enable the 2018 Sierra Fines Paid and Collection Agency feature. This was an optional feature in Sierra 3.4 and Sierra 4.0 and if you answered “no” in either previous update, it will automatically be enabled when you upgrade to Sierra 6.0.

 

Actions staff must take

This update consists of a Prep and a Commit Phase. The Commit Phase will require approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour of downtime and a reboot of the Sierra servers (application and database).  A full backup (both application and DB servers) is required within 24 hours of the Commit Phase.  Please review your backup schedule and choose the day/time for the Commit Phase accordingly. Note, if you own an Encore server, it will also be inaccessible during the Commit Phase.

At the end of the Prep Phase, the update process checks for a successfully completed backup within the last 24 hours and will alert you of potential problems.  For customers on 5-day backup schedules, this may indicate that the Prep Phase ran on a day outside the normally scheduled backup. This same check is also performed at the beginning of the Commit Phase. You will not be able to proceed with the Commit Phase until a successful backup is verified.

Innovative customers can request the update via the "Updating your System" section below. Please use the same request form if your library is running a pre-2.0 Sierra version. You can check your version of Sierra by selecting 'About' after clicking 'Help' in the client menu.

Some libraries have reported that they were unable to launch the Sierra Desktop Application (SDA) after upgrading to Sierra 2.0 SP2 and SP3. This might also be the case with Sierra 6.0 if you are upgrading from an older release (Sierra 2.0 SP1 or older). To avoid this problem, you should either launch the SDA using an icon, or use the "noWebStart" method of accessing Sierra. Add "noWebStart" to the URL used to launch the SDA on each affected workstation (Windows or MAC):http://[APP_SERVER_URL]/sierra/desktop/noWebStart

If the workstation launching the SDA is using "noWebStart" for the first time, the client will be downloaded and installed at that time. A workstation will only need to download the client the first time that "noWebStart" is used.

Libraries that installed Sierra in November 2012 or later had the "noWebStart" method of access set as the system default during installation. It is unlikely that these libraries will experience a problem. If you are not sure what setting is in place at your library, contact Customer Support. The easiest way to determine if there will be a problem on an individual workstation is to look at the contents of the Sierra Desktop Application folder. If the iiirunner.exe file is not present, you should reinstall the SDA using the "noWebStart" method mentioned above.

 

Updating Your System

If you are a Hosted Sierra system or a Combo (single server) Sierra Training system, please schedule the update with Support. Submit the Sierra Upgrade Request form. 

For libraries running Sierra 2.0 SP2 or newer, you now have the ability to self upgrade via the Admin App. Please visit the Sierra Self-Upgrade Solution.