News

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.

The Cataloging Users meeting will take place via GoToMeeting on Thursday, June 3rd, from 9:30 to 12:00. It will depend on the agenda if the meeting will last 2.5 hrs ; however, I will be available for the full duration if need be. Please submit topic ideas for the agenda or questions to claudia@swanlibraries.net. We will send out the agenda a week before the meeting. Please note you will also have an opportunity to ask questions or bring up topics during the meeting itself. I look forward to your topics! Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://www.gotomeet.me...

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) presents a unique one-time opportunity for Illinois libraries to apply for funds for programs or services created to help communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have invited Diane Foote, ILA Executive Director, to our June 3rd SWAN Quarterly meeting to provide an overview of the various forms ARPA funds will be allocated in Illinois. Following the Quarterly meeting, SWAN will host regional meetings to generate some ideas for possible application when the funds are available. Full details on how to apply for funds are not available yet, but...

The proposed schedule and selection criteria for removal of patron records and purging of long outstanding bills have been met with concern throughout the membership. Open office hours were provided for discussion. The SWAN Community Forums provide links to the recorded sessions and a discussion thread. Members are encouraged to share their ideas, concerns, and recommendations for moving forward. Concerns fall around these critical areas: Inconsistency of automatic setting of Last Activity Date when accessing digital resources and in-library services Removal of patron records after a period of...

We're excited to announce the launch of the new SWAN Notice Dialer, with an official go-live date of Tuesday, May 25th! The migration to the new dialer on May 25th will require no downtime and all expected patron PHONE notices will be delivered as scheduled. The new phone notices dialer system is a contracted, cloud-based service through Unique Management Services and replaces our aging SVA (SirsiDynix Voice Automation) system. The new system will serve patrons with PHONE set as their notice preference and deliver 1st hold and 1st overdue notices. All other notices are served by alternate...

At the Fireside Chat on April 27th, 2021, we discussed transitioning back to full operations. We ask library directors, or their designate, to complete this short questionnaire to help us gauge moving back to "normal" in regard to your library fines, collections, and fees. Complete Questionnaire We will share the results of the survey at our next Fireside Chat on Tuesday, May 25th. Registration is required in advance. You will receive email confirmation with the personalized webinar link.

As of Tuesday, April 27, 2021 CPL began allowing patrons the ability to choose the name they would like to appear on their library cards. CPL still records the name on the identification in the patron account and can search for a patron using both names in their account, but all communication and the library card list the name the patron has chosen. Please be aware you may see a different name listed on the CPL card from the patron’s identification when patrons apply for Reciprocal borrowing. Continue to use the online verification portal to determine borrower status and assign expiration (1...

Now that RAILS Delivery is no longer asking libraries to quarantine library material before transiting, a majority of our SWAN libraries have stopped their local quarantine practice. Effective immediately, we have removed the mention of quarantine from our notices. Also, we have added language on overdue notices advising patrons that their records may be blocked if items are not returned. See Patron Notices & Notifications for a listing of all notice text.

----------Update at 3:00PM on 5/17---------- See PAUSE - Patron Record Purge news post from May 17, 2021. Based on member feedback, we have placed a pause on this work and will discuss at the June Quarterly. ----------Update at 5:00PM on 5/5---------- Have questions about the upcoming patron record purge? Join us at one of the upcoming Q&A / office hour sessions via GoToMeeting to have your questions answered! You can find the registration and event information on L2: Friday, 5/7 at 1:00PM - Patron Record Purge Q&A / Office Hours Tuesday, 5/11 at 10:00AM - Patron Record Purge Q&A / Office...

The User Lost Card Wizard creates a new, duplicate user record with the patron information and a user profile of LOSTCARD. In our efforts to maintain an orderly patron database, SWAN will run a monthly report purging all the users with a LOSTCARD user profile created two months earlier. This cleanup project will kick off on May 1st, 2021. If you use this Wizard and report on the number of accounts with a LOSTCARD user profile you generate each month, your statistics will remain intact. We have 2 reports available for you, including a new report: Count of LOSTCARDs Created in a Date Range. The...

Update at 9PM on 4/28 The SWAN Support Site and OTRS migrations have concluded successfully. No further downtime is expected for the evening. ------------------------------------ Beginning at 7:00 PM on the evening on Wednesday, April 28th, we will be migrating SWAN’s Support Site and Ticketing System to our Microsoft Azure Cloud servers. There will be downtime of these services involved in the process, but we expect they will be restored and available again by the morning of April 29th. We will post updates to this new post as the migration progresses. The following services will be...

We want to hear from you! What are your questions about Aspen Discovery? Please send your questions in this brief survey, and register to attend the April 14th Aspen Update. We'll answer questions, show off some exciting Aspen features, and share what the Aspen pilot libraries have been up to. We hope to see you there!

Two additional online courses designed for self-paced learning with interactive exercises have been launched. These are great introductory courses for new staff, as well as reminders and reinforcement for anyone involved in cataloging and circulation. Thanks to Claudia Nickson, Bibliographic Services Consultant, and Crystal Vela, User Experience Consultant, for their continued commitment to learning - and making it fun along the way. Cataloging and Serials Creating Pre-Cats Demystifying Serials [New] Circulation Patron Management Circulation Basics [New] Each course includes a course companion...

Our Bibliographic Services team is planning a round of serials data cleanup over the next few months. We want to target item, MARC holdings, and serial control records that are no longer being used. Outdated item and MARC holdings records both present misleading availability to our patrons. Unused serial control records prevent the deletion of discarded items. To better target candidate records, we have created a brief survey on serials topics. We would like to have one representative of each member library fill this out: Serials Collection Survey. If possible, we'd like to receive your...

Many SWAN libraries have requested a limited or restricted user profile to assist their communities in offering library services to the housing insecure. A universal user profile, LIMITEDUSE, is available to ensure consistent services for these patrons. LIMITEDUSE User Profile This profile is available for all SWAN libraries to register patrons for limited use of library resources. The parameters of the profile include: 1 year expiration date Charge Limit = 5 Hold Limit = 5 Bill threshold = $10.00 Libraries may determine internally when and to whom these LIMITEDUSE cards will be issued. When...