News

There will be two seats open July 1, 2023 and the process to elect representatives begins with individuals self-nominating. Library directors and administrators should use the self-nomination form on the link below to submit your name and written statement of interest. The self-nomination form can be found on the Board Election page. The timetable for the election is provided on that webpage as...

The final negotiated price for the EBSCO group-purchase for 84 SWAN member libraries has been set. Participating libraries can see the final cost posted under the Budget & Fees page on SWAN Support. We have added some detail on how the purchase formula is created step-by-step. The pricing is lower than presented in February. RAILS completed negotiations with EBSCO last week and clarified the add...

The Aspen 23.03 release is now live. This release includes the following enhancements. If you have questions about this release, please attend our next Aspen office hour. Filter searching When many filter options are available in a search, you can now search filters. In the filter options, select More and search the additional options. Admin interface searching In Aspen Administration, you can now...

SWAN has negotiated a group discount for Comics Plus from Library Pass. With Comics Plus, readers have unlimited, simultaneous access to digital comics, graphic novels, and manga. Patrons can access using the Library Pass platform on a smartphone, tablet, or within a web browser. This discount is available for public libraries at this time. The details and pricing are available on the SWAN...

The release 23.02 is now live. In this release, we saw a few enhancements for BLUEcloud Circulation and BLUEcloud Acquisitions. BLUEcloud Circulation Circulation staff can now clear a current checkout and check the item out to a new user in one step. Staff now can permit a check out of a checked-out item. Previously if an item did not get properly scanned at check-in and another patron wanted to...

The pricing for the SWAN group-purchase of EBSCO subscription database package was presented at the Committee of the Whole membership meeting last week on February 7th. That pricing is included in the meeting packet, and I have pulled out that pricing which is linked directly to the PDF below. EBSCO renewal year-4 pricing This group purchase is going into its 4th year renewal, which starts July 1...

The Aspen 23.02 release is now live. The most notable highlight of this release is that Aspen will now update the Use Preferred Name checkbox in Symphony. This means that when a patron updates their preferred name in Aspen, the WorkFlows staff client and patron notices will reflect the patron's preferred name. View the full release notes.

As part of SWAN’s 2023 commitment to require PIN access for all SIP2 connections, beginning March 1, PINs will be required to access ComicsPlus. Library staff will not need to make any changes. SWAN will coordinate the necessary changes with ComicsPlus. As a reminder, if patrons have difficulty with their PIN when accessing ComicsPlus or any SWAN services, they may use the self-service "Forgot My...

Addison Public Library has requested to join SWAN, and the vote for approval will take place Monday, January 23rd through February 20th via electronic ballot. The addition of a full member library to the SWAN consortium requires 2/3 membership approval. The SWAN Board recommends approval of Addison Public Library for membership, and has issued an Impact Study about the benefits to SWAN member...

The SWAN Online Learning user interface has been updated. You may notice changes in layout of the course catalog as well as your own dashboard. This update will not affect the courses you are already signed up for. Please put in a help ticket to the SWAN ticketing system if you have any issues.

The January, 2023 (October- December, 2022) 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...

The Aspen 23.01 release is now live. Highlights for this release include: Aspen now updates charge history rule settings in Symphony When a patron updates their checkout history in Aspen, Aspen will now update the Charge history rule settings in Symphony to either ALLCHARGES or NOHISTORY. For example, if a patron turns off checkout history in Aspen, Symphony will update their Charge history rule...

The Aspen server migration is now complete. You can now log into the catalog and perform account functions as usual. We are aware of an issue migrating over uploaded cover images. These will be restored by this afternoon, so there is no need for any action on your part. If you are not seeing the option to log in, you are still viewing the catalog on the old server. Try restarting your computer...

In August 2022, we were made aware of usage count errors in our COUNTER report for EBSCO databases. We now know that this issue extended a much longer period. EBSCO has shared with us that a series of defects tied to the new UI, rolled out in May 2022, were both overreporting and underreporting usage counts. EBSCO has corrected the defects and, as of November 2022, the usage counts reported should...

Mark your calendars! Our Aspen instance is migrating to a new server to provide better performance and stability for our catalog. The catalog will be in maintenance mode from 7 p.m. Sunday, January 15th until the migration is complete Monday, January 16th. We anticipate the migration should be complete by 11 a.m. During this time, the catalog will still be available to search, but My Account...

The changes for our National Change of Address run for 2022 are complete. As of tomorrow, January 7, 2023, the Symphony function to update Last Activity Date when a patron's address information is changed, will be re-enabled. Final counts of updates: 38,364 recorded address changes 4,860 of those patrons were inactive (LAD before 1/1/2021) and moved out of state 1,497 of those patrons moved out of...

We have received the address change data from Unique and will be updating patron records starting on January 3rd. The number of patron records sent for processing was 939,395. Of those, 38,364 were returned with address changes for a change rate of 4%. In preparation, on December 30th, we will temporarily disable the Symphony function to update Last Activity Date when a patron's address...

The SWAN service area is under a winter storm watch. We want to remind libraries of the following in case your library makes a decision to close due to the storm. Catalog Alerts You can create System Message page banners to inform patrons of news and alerts in the Aspen Catalog. See our how to page Reporting closings SWAN does not need to be notified of temporary weather closures. You can view and...

SWAN Support is limited over the holidays with on-call staff available for emergencies. Friday, December 23rd CLOSED Monday, December 26th CLOSED Friday, December 30th CLOSED Monday, January 2nd CLOSED When to Call 844-792-6542 (844-SWAN-LIB): A service is down Circulation is impacted Unable to perform key job functions When to Open a Ticket: Questions and troubleshooting Report request Enterprise...

The Courses on the Learning Management System have now been updated. This update is part of our annual review, to ensure that we have accurate information in our courses. If you are enrolled in a course and have not yet finished, you will be prompted to start the course from the beginning. This process included the following: Updating content, as needed (e.g., references to our online catalog, now...