News

Baker & Taylor is experiencing an outage that is impacting services. SWAN has responded by disabling and disconnecting library services for the following: Axis 360 - down & Aspen circulation unavailable eResource Central integration with BLUEcloud Mobile - disabled by SirsiDynix Support SIP2 & Z39.50 access - disabled by SWAN B&T support portal - down TitleSource 360 - down EDI File Retrieval - disabled by SWAN for B&T vendors only Updates from SWAN will be provided under the Known Issues that is linked here to SWAN Support. There is a SWAN Community Forums post for general discussion about...

The Aspen 22.11 release is now live. Highlights for this release include: Export to Excel improvements You can now export lists to Excel, which several SWAN member libraries have requested. The export to Excel features for search results and purchase suggestions have also been enhanced, including previously missing fields. Search result interface change Call number now displays in a column with location information. This provides a cleaner display and better mobile experience for search results. PIN reset changes With this release, when a patron changes their PIN they will be prompted to re...

Kanopy PLUS (Public Library Unlimited Subscriptions) provides unlimited, simultaneous viewing of curated titles per pack. Current and new Kanopy subscribers can take advantage of 20% when buying 2 or more subscription packs. The PLUS packs work differently than the Pay Per Use program. There is an upfront fee and does not use credits. If you currently do not have Kanopy, and are interested, the current discount is 5% of PPU (Pay Per Use) or PLUS cost. The discount increases as more libraries purchase Kanopy! We are very close to the 10% discount. To learn more about Kanopy and Kanopy PLUS, you...

As we prepare for 2022 National Change of Address record submission we will be removing any patron records remaining from the 2018 NCOA run which have not been updated. Since 2018 these patrons have been blocked from check-outs, so the accounts have been inactive for nearly 4 years at this point. Removal of these inactive records (status = BADADDRES) will occur on November 17, 2022. The parameters used for the monthly patron record removal criteria of bills less than $100 will be used as well as a Last Activity Date prior to January 1, 2020. If you would like one final review of these patrons...

SWAN will begin removing Fiscal Cycle 2020 from Symphony on November 17, 2022. Be sure to compile any order, vendor, or fund information you may need with this fiscal cycle before then. Please open a ticket if you need any assistance.

Dear Libraries, Happy Fall! It’s hard to believe this is the last newsletter of the year. I would like to point out a few housecleaning things that have caught our attention lately, this way we transition smoothly into 2023. 1) Vendor records missing the 590 tag: This usually happens when items are ordered using a regular book cart, rather than large print or audiobook, for example, so the wrong template is applied. Just something to watch out for when placing orders! If it continues happening, you may have to contact the vendor to make sure all the necessary tags are included in the grid. 2)...

The Aspen 22.10 release is now live. This release includes the following: Additional formats This release added several new formats that had been on the SWAN priority list and enhanced the detection of others. These formats will display in search results and search filters. 4k Blu-ray Playaway Launchpad Playaway Bookpack Playaway Wonderbook Playaway View Vox Book Nintendo Switch GameCube Pop-Up Book Board Book Search scope redirect when no results found If a patron uses search scoped to author, title, series, etc., and no results are found, they will be automatically redirected to a keyword...

The October 2022 (July- September) 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 help@swanlibraries.net. Feel free to email help@swanlibraries.net if you have any questions about your billing. Please wait until you...

SWAN created BLUEcloud Analytics accounts for each member library to help manage subscriptions, reports, and collaboration in your library. We asked library staff using a personal account to add saved reports and subscriptions to the shared library account. The deadline for this is December 31, 2022; all personal logins will be removed after that date. We added the following Sunsetting BLUEcloud Analytics Personal Accounts Office Hours to assist you in adding saved reports and recreating subscriptions from your personal account into the shared library account. Thu., Oct. 20 - 11:00 a.m. - 12...

SWAN is exploring interest in additional user groups for library members for 2023. SWAN user groups are member-led networking opportunities for you to share ideas and solutions. Each user group requires a chair or co-chairs from member libraries. Chairs are responsible for soliciting discussion items from your group, preparing meeting agenda, and facilitating meetings. SWAN staff will help support any user group by offering Zoom scheduling, online forum topic, posting agenda, notes, and recordings. Let us know what networking opportunities are needed among your SWAN library peers. Go to SWAN...

Update 10/31/2022: OverDrive has completed the conversion of the MediaOnDemand collection. We will be verifying everyone's parameters and addressing any outliers. Update 10/6/2022: Our representative from Hoopla has confirmed that they have migrated all Hoopla subscribers to the new encrypted port. OverDrive is currently working on the Media on Demand libraries as well. Library Market had also reached out to us with some connectivity problems. We used this opportunity to move Library Market to an encrypted port as well. Update 9/30/2022: OverDrive has successfully moved all eMediaLibrary...

The Aspen 22.09 release is now live. This release includes the following: Indexing speed improvements for Overdrive Indexes for Overdrive are significantly faster, which means you will see updates to Overdrive content and availability more immediately. Bug fix for spotlights Previously, the "View More" link in tabbed spotlights linked to the list or search used in the first tab only. Now, it will link to the list or search for the tab you are currently viewing. Ability to hide subject terms In past usability testing, we've seen that certain subject facets can be confusing or redundant in...

The Weeklies 2023 list has been posted to the support site. The serial controls can be transferred to the new records once 2022 issues are no longer expected, or new controls can be created in the 2023 records. See Transferring a Control Record. Quick reminders: Do not attach the Consumer Reports Buying Guide to the Consumer Reports serial record. The Buying Guide gets a new monographic record every year. Do not attach Crain’s Book of Lists to Crain’s Chicago Business serial record. Crain’s Book of Lists also gets a new monographic record every year. Weeklies use Chronology only, except for...

The BLUEcloud Central 22.05.00 release is now live. This release included an update for BLUEcloud Circulation as well as a shortcut to easily search for a page by name. MobileStaff is also considered part of the BLUEcloud staff suite. Mark Claimed Returned Circulation staff can now use the mark and item Claimed Returned for a patron in BLUEcloud Circulation. Withing the patron checkouts the 3 vertical dot icon will have the Mark Claimed Returned option. Then you select the date the patron said they returned the item and Save. The Claimed Returned count will increment and display within the...

Want to discover innovative ways to put your ILS to work? Interested in collaborating with fellow librarians in the region? Join SirsiDynix at SLUI (SirsiDynix Library Users of Illinois) on September 29, 2022, for the annual user group meeting. This free, online meeting is a fantastic way to collaborate with fellow librarians, discuss topics specific to the interest of the user group and stay up to date on the latest news and product developments happening in your favorite SirsiDynix products. Virtual meeting September 29, 2022 9:30am CT hosted by Joy Anhalt, Tinley Park Public Library...

The Aspen 22.08 release is now live. This release includes: Layout changes to editions information in search results My Account menu changes "New" flag for titles added in the past week Performance improvements to handle indexing from bots Layout changes to editions information in search results The information found under "Show Editions" in search results now features a compact, mobile-friendly display that displays more clearly on both mobile and desktop devices. My Account menu changes You will see several updates to the My Account menu. Your Library Card (A) appears more prominently in the...

The July 2022 (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 help@swanlibraries.net. Please wait until you receive your statement before making payments or requesting a credit.

SirsiDynix will decommission our Enterprise server on Monday, July 25th. Any links to swanlibs.ent.sirsi.net will no longer redirect to Aspen. Libraries updated these links with their Aspen go live, so you should not need to take any action at this time. You may get questions from patrons if they saved the old Enterprise links as bookmarks. If so, they just need to update their bookmarks.

The Aspen 22.07 release is now live. This release includes: New closed caption icon for video formats Xbox Series X format Additional MARC fields in indexing Additional layout options for browse categories Closed captions icon Movie records will now display a closed caption icon for records that include the subject heading "Video recordings for the hearing impaired". The icon will appear at the top of an individual record detail page and in the Physical Description area under Show Editions in a grouped work. Note that a grouped work contains multiple records, so some records in a group may...

Starting with the July 2022 Monthly Patron Record Removal reports, patrons with a last activity date greater than 9 years ago will be eligible for consideration. This is part of the automation procedures put in place last year to provide monthly review and removal. Libraries receive their reports on the 2nd of the month and have until the 15th of the next month to review the reports. If a patron is validated as a current resident, the library can update the patron's record. Review the support site documentation for details on the process for the Monthly Patron Record Purge. The following data...