News

We are gearing up for our launch of online patron registration for full-access cards using the Patron Point Verify tool. We will be going live on Tuesday, August 26th. Since Monday, our early adopters have been testing the tool, and the results have been positive so far. We are continuing to keep a close eye on registrations. Orientations We hosted a live orientation on the tool yesterday via Zoom...

This is just a reminder that our annual summer event is just over two weeks away! Explore the full program on the SWAN Expo page and register today to reserve your spot. Registration is $45 per attendee, which includes breakfast, lunch, and refreshments. SWAN will invoice libraries after the event. To register yourself or colleagues, please log into the SWAN Support site and follow the link below...

We received close to 14K authority records this month with our Backstage monthly load. To lessen the impact on our nightly indexer, we will be processing a small batch of authority keys every day for nearly the entire month of August. Even with this small amount, there may be a day where the adutext runs long and will impact morning reports. We will keep you posted should any issues arise.

We have more information for you regarding the Online Patron Registration platform we are launching using the Patron Point Verify tool. Our Springshare representative is still working to configure the tool. We will send updated patron profile defaults based on the responses we received, and those will be in place by the time the tool goes live. We also received some questions via the 'defaults'...

Hoopla Service Overview For libraries unfamiliar with these services: Hoopla Instant Collection: A pay-per-use digital collection that is always available Hoopla Flex Collection: A one copy/one user digital collection Hoopla Flex Consortium SWAN is exploring a Hoopla Flex consortium, contingent upon vendor improvements to catalog discovery integration. A Hoopla Flex consortium would allow...

Patron Point is still working on configuring SWAN's upcoming online patron registration form on their Verify platform. We are planning to sunset our current registration form and cross over to the Patron Point solution on August 26th. We will have more information coming soon. Over the coming weeks, we will provide the following as soon as they are available: A URL for the SWAN patron registration...

The July 2025 (April- June, 2025) Quarterly Billing is complete, and the invoices and checks will be mailed shortly. Documentation is available to help guide member library staff through the Billing Summary workbook as well as the detail statement reports folder accessible in BlueCloud Analytics Shared Reports. Library Directors have been provided with BCA login credentials. If you are a Director...

The Aspen 25.07 release is live to your catalog and app. This release includes several nice enhancements, some of which were requests from our user groups. Formats and format filter The format filter popup will display all formats when you select more. Previously, the popup would display only a selection of formats, with the option to search for more. This enhancement was a priority from our...

Update 07/18/2025: We have reduced the number of keys we're processing nightly and this appears to have resolved the long-running report window. The reduction in keys will require this processing to continue until the end of July, but do not anticipate any further delays to our report schedule. We will provide an update once this process has concluded. Update 07/14/2025 6:26 AM: Overnight indexing...

We will not be rebuilding our indexes over the 4th of July holiday. Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Online Patron Registration using Patron Point Verify goes live in August. Before launch, we need library staff to verify default patron settings that newly registered adult and juvenile records will receive. Please access this form to find a spreadsheet of defaults. Find your library and fill out the form to indicate if the settings are correct or if you require changes. Access the form Submit...

For libraries that subscribed to new supplemental EBSCO resources for the upcoming 25/26 cycle, your links are now available! You can download the EBSCO supplemental links for 25/26 below and they are also available to download from the EBSCO Databases page, under the section Supplemental EBSCO Databases. Please note that only new resources for the upcoming cycle are listed in the workbook. If you...

Catalog updates Links to authors with parentheses in the name, e.g. "Lewis, C.S. (Clive Staples)" from search results previously returned an error - this is now fixed and links will take the user to the expected search results for the author. When bulk adding titles to a list, Aspen will no longer create duplicates of titles in the list. You can now sort search results by user ratings ("star"...

Join us for a day of learning, collaboration, and connection at our annual summer gathering for library staff. This year’s SWAN Expo features guest speakers, roundtable discussions, and sessions highlighting new software features, vendor partnerships, and the future of our shared platform. Explore the full program on the SWAN Expo page and register today to reserve your spot. Registration is $45...

The recent support site update includes new features for library staff. Bookmark pages On any page, select the Bookmark button to save frequently used pages. These will appear on the home page and in My account. You will need to be logged in to see and use bookmarks. Find new and updated training When SWAN creates new training or documentation, or makes significant updates, you will see a "new" or...

The Aspen 25.05 release is live. This release includes the following enhancements, and lays the groundwork for Hoopla Flex integration which will be available in a future release. Boundless integration Issues with the Boundless APIs and Aspen integration have been fixed with this release. SWAN staff will work to re-enable the Boundless integration in your Aspen catalogs this week. Following this...

The self-nomination period has ended and the slate of candidates for the three seats on the SWAN Board will be the following. Since there are the three candidates who volunteered for the three open seats, SWAN will not have to conduct an election for the 2025 cycle. Congratulations to the three library directors. You can read their submitted statements below. Ben Weseloh, West Chicago Public...

As of April 29th, we have gone live on our new help desk system, powered by HaloITSM. Some member staff may have received e-mails as we've transferred tickets from our old system to our new one, and some of you may continue to receive those over the next couple of days. We are still completing the DNS crossover to a custom URL. Currently, you can access our help desk at the following link: https:/...

Update 4/29/2025: It appears as of April 29th, the NYT plans to continue the Books API. We're continuing to monitor the situation and look for any communications from the New York Times. Unfortunately, the New York Times has deprecated their Books API, which pulled in New York Times bestseller lists into the catalog. This means that the New York Times lists will no longer be updated in the catalog...

The April 2025 (January- March, 2025) Quarterly Billing is complete, and the invoices and checks will be mailed shortly. Documentation is available to help guide member library staff through the Billing Summary workbook as well as the detail statement reports folder accessible in BlueCloud Analytics Shared Reports. Library Directors have been provided with BCA login credentials. If you are a...