LexisNexis Enhancements Delayed

In July, I told you about planned LexisNexis search form enhancements, targeted for implementation August 15. The developers hit some snags, and rather than change things in the middle of the semester, implementation has been delayed until December. Here's the entire message from the product manager.

-KW

Dear Colleagues,

You may recall that when I first announced the planned enhancements to LexisNexis Academic I promised that if we could not release them before the beginning of the fall semester that we would wait until winter break. I am now, unfortunately, in the position of having to honor that commitment. We have run into a delay related to the redirect that is needed to move subscribers onto the enhanced LN Academic interface. The earliest date that we could put in the redirect is August 29, and that this date is not guaranteed. This timing would already be too late for many of you who begin your semester before August 29, and it leaves no room whatsoever for correcting any problems. Because of the timing and the level of risk involved, we have decided that the most prudent course of action is to delay the full release of the improved interface until late December. We will, however, release the improved interface on September 1 as a fully functional Beta.

The most important things for you to know are:

• The improved interface will be available as a fully functional Beta release to all users beginning on September 1 at a new URL
• We will post the URL for the Beta site on the listserv and the wiki.
• If you wish, you can switch to the new release at any time by updating your URLs, or you can wait until the December release. The new URLs will continue to work after the full release. Subscribers who switch to the new URLs early will not have to take any further action and will not be affected by the full release in December.
• Many subscribers will find it impractical to switch to the new version because
  of the work involved in updating all URLs related to LexisNexis Academic. If you have embedded URLs to specific sources in your catalog or online resources system, or have developed instructional materials using durable URLs to specific search forms, sources, or documents we recommend that you wait for the December release. If you wait for the December release, you will not have to make any changes to your URLs.
• No action at all is required for subscribers who wait for the full release in December. At this time, the URLs for the current interface will redirected to the new version. This includes durable URLs for specific search forms, sources, or documents. Subscribers who choose to wait for the full release may wish to promote the URL for the Beta as an advance look at the updated interface.
• After the December release, both the new URLs and the old URLs will be supported indefinitely.

Please contact me with your questions and concerns either on the list or directly. I am disappointed that the improvements we have made will not roll into production for the fall semester, but when I try to imagine the roll out from the point of view of the librarians and instructors who support LexisNexis Academic users, I know that that it is better to wait and make these changes smoothly and gracefully during a semester break.

Best regards,
Alistair Morrison, Product Manager, LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions