News

As a reminder, the RAILS Delivery count begins next week. The delivery count begins on Monday, November 16. Please physically count every item in each of your delivery containers and complete the online count form for each scheduled delivery day of the count period from Monday, November 16, through Friday, November 20. To access your library’s delivery count form, you must be logged in with your...

The SWAN ILS Search Committee is looking for volunteers to serve on several task forces to help evaluate ILS solutions and provide feedback. Task forces will consist of SWAN member library staff, an ILS Search Committee liaison, and a SWAN staff facilitator. We are assembling five task forces: Acquisitions Cataloging Circulation Public & Youth Services Library Directors A sixth task force on...

UPDATE 11/10/26 12:35 PM We are still receiving reports of credit card payment going through on ProPay but not being paid on WorkFlows. As a work around you can suggest patrons make their payments via Aspen. We are not experiencing these issues in Aspen because it does not use BLUEcloud Commerce and ProPay. If the patron does not want to make their payments via Aspen you can take the payment at...

Circulation Working Group Election is now open. If you are a Circulation Manager, please log in and cast your vote today. There is only 1 vote per library, and the election will close on November 11th.

Scan & Go, the self check feature in the app, will go live as a public beta for Downers Grove Public Library and Lansing Public Library on November 2nd. Any patrons logged in to the Downers Grove or Lansing instances of the app will be able to use Scan & Go. What is Scan & Go? Scan & Go allows patrons to check out items through the SWAN Libraries + app. Instructions for patrons will be available...

This month, we have been updated to the 26.09 and 26.10 release. This release includes the following enhancements and fixes. Customizable font sizes in the web catalog Libraries can set a customizable font size for base themes in the web catalog, with a choice of Small, Medium, or Large. This can be set in Themes > Font Size. Patrons can also set a preferred font size in My Account that will...

The October 2026 (July- September, 2026) 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...

SWAN has posted its request for proposal (RFP) for its next ILS and analytics platform. This document was created in collaboration with SWAN staff and the members of the ILS Search Committee. The committee has held three meetings to prepare this document. It can be viewed on the SWAN webpage dedicated to this process, with a specific page for vendors: https://swanlibraries.net/ils-search/for...

SWAN 2027 meetings are now live on our website and on L2. To view and register for our events, please visit our meetings page and select 2027. If registration is required, click the Register on Zoom button and choose the meetings you would like to attend. Pay special attention to the information; every one of our networking groups has one in-person meeting in 2027. We have implemented a new Add to...

With Aspen having a format filter for Manga, our goal is for this popular material type to be much more easily browsed in the public catalog. While reviewing this format, we found that many items within the same series were assigned different formats, some Manga and many Graphic novel. Aspen is coded to assign the format of Manga if the bib record in WorkFlows contains a 655 genre heading that...

Beginning September 30th, patrons will be able to pay partial payments of fines and bills through the online catalog and app. For example, if you were billed $20 for a lost item, you could choose to pay $5 installments towards the total bill. Currently, you would have to pay the full $20 bill. This is a helpful service for patrons to give them more options for paying fines and fees. SWAN will turn...

Do you want to join a SWAN working group? Self-nominations are now open! Working group members complete special projects and assist SWAN staff in decision-making. Working groups require a commitment of at least one year. Learn more about each group and sign up: Circulation Working Group - Self-nominations due October 21, election October 22-November 11th Cataloging Working Group - No sign-up...

The Aspen 26.09 release includes major updates to the underlying code for grouped works. To allow further testing and quality assurance time, this release is delayed until late October. We will receive the 26.09 and 26.10 release on October 21, 2026. For any questions, please open a ticket with SWAN support.

ILS Search Committee personnel After much discussion, the SWAN board has approved the makeup of our ILS Search Committee. We had an overwhelming response to our call for volunteers from many talented member staff. The selection process was not easy, and we are grateful to all who put their names forward. Our final committee consists of five member staff and five SWAN staff: Allyson Renell...

OCLC has shared a list of upcoming training opportunities prepared for the Illinois State Library. However you use OCLC, there's something there for you! Register in advance to receive the recorded session. SWAN Staff have also been busy planning discussion events. These three are fast approaching: SWAN Discussion: Choose the Fate of the Item - Use It or Lose It Wednesday, Oct 14, 2026 | 9:30 am -...

Update: Tuesday, September 8, 2026. We have concluded the scheduled maintenance on our authority indexes. WorkFlows is available for your to resume your normal functions. We will be rebuilding our authority indexes over Labor Day. The rebuilds will start after all libraries are closed at 7 PM Sunday, September 6th. WorkFlows will not be available when the rebuilds start and there may be a delay in...

Update 9/1/2026: The 26.08 update of the SWAN Libraries + app is live. You may need to update the app through the app store to see the new performance improvements. The Aspen 26.08 release is live for the Aspen Discovery web catalog. The release of the SWAN Libraries + app, which includes major performance improvements, has been delayed. SWAN will provide an update when the app release is live...

SWAN is officially undertaking a search for its Integrated Library System and analytics software platforms and we need your help! The search process will form a group of member library staff and SWAN staff to complete a written draft of the request for proposals and later evaluate the proposed solutions based on the written responses and software demonstrations. The search timeline is outlined on...

Patrons can now update their phone numbers in the Aspen web catalog, in My Account > Contact Information. Updating phone numbers in the catalog will update the phone number in Symphony and WorkFlows. Automated formatting will properly format phone numbers, enforce a 10-digit number, and require numeric characters. Thank you to the Circulation Networking Group for their input on this configuration...

The July 2026 (April- June, 2026) 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...