News

Aspen is coming! Sign up for your go-live dates and training. Please sign up by Monday, August 23rd. Sign up Libraries in the first cohort will be ready to go-live on Aspen at the end of October 2021. Through September and October, SWAN staff will provide an Aspen training series and regular office hours to help you configure your catalogs and prepare to support patrons. Libraries in the second cohort will be ready to go-live on Aspen in March 2022, with trainings held starting in January 2022. Save the dates for the first cohort If you plan to participate in the first cohort, which will go...

On July 28th, SWAN hosted a panel discussion on auditing collections for diversity. The goal of the session was to share the experiences of Illinois libraries performing these audits and give an opportunity to learn from each other. The session lasted two hours, and a recording is available on the support site for anyone interested: Panel Discussion: Diversity Audits We are happy with how this event turned out and hope to plan more sharing sessions on this topic in the future.

Kanopy is offering a discount based on the amount SWAN libraries new to Kanopy commit to spending in one year. The start date for the discount is September 1, 2021. Discount details All libraries that subscribe to Kanopy will receive the discount but only new Kanopy subscribers will count toward the commitment. The commitment amount is an estimate. Because two libraries added Kanopy in July 2021, we have reached the $10,001 commitment and all libraries will receive the 5% discount. If we reach a $50,001 added commitment all libraries will receive a 10% discount. If we reach a $100,001 added...

The July 2021 (April-June) 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 sheet 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 and do not have access to the BCA reports, please open a ticket at the SWAN ticketing system. Please wait until you receive your statement before making payments or requesting a credit.

Please be aware, RAILS is currently experiencing a server outage at their Burr Ridge datacenter. This outage affects the following services: Logins to all RAILS websites and RAILS-specific services Logins and access to L2 (Library Learning) events and directory website Logins to the SWAN support site (this site) as these authenticate via L2 You can still access any content that does not require a login Logins to the SWAN ticket website as these also authenticate via L2 You can still email support issues to the SWAN ticketing system No other SWAN services are impacted by this outage. We'll...

We have further evaluated this consortium-wide console game limit and have decided to move forward with the Circulation Advisory Group recommendation to lower the limit to 5 checkouts. Starting tomorrow, patrons will be limited to 5 checkouts of each console game item type -5 CONSOLEGAM, 5 CONSOLENEW, etc. It is important to use the correct item type for these limits to apply. SWAN will be reaching out to any libraries cataloging console games with an item type other than CONSOLEGAM or CONSOLENEW so the system can work properly. Please send any questions to the SWAN ticketing system. ---------...

As data has shown, patron behavior is consistent regardless of the method used for overdue blocking. Patrons return material on time at a high percentage. Approximately 1% (.86% at 22 days; 1.33% at 15 days) of 522,000+ items checked out were overdue, as reported on June 28, 2021 at our last Fireside Chat. We want to allow libraries to determine the best patron experience for their community. A poll of Fine Free libraries conducted in April-May, 2021 shows the following preferences: Fine Free Library: Which of the following blocking conditions does your library prefer? Results Percentage Block...

---Update on 2021-09-07 at 11:00 a.m.---- This process has been delayed to better prepare our libraries and patrons for the change. Watch for upcoming news post announcements including recorded instructions for processing these accounts and an updated timeline. ----Original Posting on 2021-07-13 at 11:15 a.m.---- Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, SWAN had suspended a process to purge expired temporary online cards in order to provide online-registered patrons with additional time to verify those cards with library staff. Now that many libraries have reopened and online-registered patrons have...

In an effort to ensure our catalog represents diverse groups of people respectfully, SWAN's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force has launched our first batch of updates to subject headings. For this phase of the project, we have updated subject headings using the terms "illegal aliens" and "aliens", mirroring recent changes in government terminology and many other library systems. We performed the change with an automated script that will continue to update subject headings as new bibliographic records enter our catalog. For more information on these changes and guidance for catalogers...

Are you interested in purchasing the Kanopy streaming service for your patrons? SWAN is working with Kanopy to offer a group discount for SWAN libraries. Please join Paula Roman, Senior Account Executive, for an overview of Kanopy's streaming video patron interface and a live Q&A session. This session will not be recorded. If you are interested please register and plan to attend the live webinar. Register through L2 and Zoom

Please visit the Graphic Novels page for best practices on cataloging graphic novels. This is brand new documentation that arose from tickets and questions on how to handle these types of materials. It's worth mentioning that the confusion usually revolves around the 245 title tag. One of the recommendations is that SWAN records should contain series, volume, and numbering in the 245 field. We hope you find it useful and would love to hear your feedback, suggestions, and include any examples you may have.

I hope everyone is enjoying Summer! Here are just a few updates on cataloging practices and what’s coming. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force A new working group was formed in late Spring with the objective of analyzing subject headings deemed obsolete and biased, and selecting a new controlled vocabulary to replace these terms. The group is in the process of working out the technical details of executing the project. The outcome will enhance the visibility of items pertaining to diversity topics and assist with collection diversity audit. Stay tuned! A panel discussion is schedule...

Today is the start of the second year of the EBSCO group subscription. If you made changes to your subscriptions, you’ll want to update the URLs on your website. The attached sheet contains the links for every library. Scroll across the bottom to find yours. If you have any questions about the subscription, the links, or anything else, please send a help ticket to the SWAN ticketing system.

This evening, SWAN is migrating the SWANcom mail service to a new server. This migration will only disrupt SWANcom service for a brief period as the server is migrated. No other SWAN services will be impacted. ACTION NEEDED: If you have not already, please whitelist the @list.swanlibraries.net domain and/or swancom@list.swanlibraries.net in your email client. This will ensure emails from the new server are not routed to spam/junk folders. If you're using Microsoft Outlook, you can do this by right-clicking any SWANcom email message (including this one) and selecting Junk > Never Block Sender's...

Are you planning a diversity audit of your library’s collection? Do you think you might plan one in the future? Are you curious to know more about the topic? SWAN’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Metadata Task Force is hosting a panel discussion about performing diversity audits. We’d like to learn from you and help you learn from each other. Our panelists will be members of the Illinois library community who have finished or are in the midst of audit projects. They will share their methods, but we also want to hear from you! If you plan to attend, try to think ahead and prepare to share...

Your Shelf Check for MISSTRNSIT and MISSHLDSHLF report for tomorrow (Wednesday, June 16th) will be blank since nothing was checked out to these users in May, 2020. We are taking advantage of this opportunity to instead have you check your shelves for MISSING and CLAIMSRETD items checked out before June 1, 2020, as relating to an ongoing record cleanup project. The attached report lists any MISSING and CLAIMSRETD items you might find on your shelves. If you find any of these items, use the Fine Free Discharge wizard to check the item in, then follow the instructions on the screen. Any item on...

--Concluded Successfully on 2021/07/28 at 7:10AM-- Essential overnight maintenance reports have concluded, so we’ve reenabled the VPN connections to your libraries. You’re free to login to the Symphony/WorkFlows server immediately (Offline mode is no longer necessary). A few important things to remember: You will be prompted to update your staff client upon logging in. Click “No” on the automatic update option. The latest SWAN WorkFlows 3.7.1 client is available in the Software Downloads & Setup section of our support site, and should be installed by August 30th. Following the update of all...

The election concluded this week on Monday and the final vote tally has elected 2 new representatives to the SWAN Board, with terms starting July 1st. Charity Gallardo, Executive Director, La Grange Public Library Tim Jarzemsky, Library Director, Bloomingdale Public Library We would like to thank those library directors that were part of the 2021 election. It was exciting to see a large group run for the two open seats. Dorothy Koll, Director, Acorn Public Library District Jorge Perez, Director, River Grove Public Library District Laura Maye Van Cleve, Library Director, Richton Park Public...

The agenda and documentation for the meeting on June 3 are available. No registration necessary. Thursday, June 3, 2021 9:30am to 12pm GoToMeeting Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://www.gotomeet.me/SWANLibs/cataloging-users You can also dial in using your phone. United States: +1 (571) 317-3112 Access Code: 652-340-613 New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts: https://global.gotomeeting.com/install/652340613 See you on Thursday!

Monday, May 31st is Memorial Day and SWAN will be closed and there is no RAILS Delivery service. We will have staff on-call should any emergency arise. When to Call 844-792-6542 (844-SWAN-LIB): A service is down Circulation is impacted Unable to perform key job functions Otherwise please use the SWAN Help Desk or email the SWAN ticketing system if you require assistance.