Hi SWAN Board reps-
The agenda and packet for Friday's meeting is now posted. Our meeting will be held at Roselle Public Library District.
Link to the packet:
https://support.swanlibraries.net/sites/default/files/meeting/24_02_16/9446…
This is a large packet due to it including the full results of the platform survey. I have provided some initial analysis and the individual responses from the 75 library submissions.
Let me know if you have any questions! I look forward to seeing you all Friday.
Regards,
Aaron
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hi SWAN Board reps-
I have a few updates for you on next week's Committee of the Whole meeting and the SWAN platform survey.
First, make sure you register for the COW. We have 37 registered. I will send another reminder out on Monday that advance registration is needed for this meeting:
https://swanlibraries-net.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrc--vqjgvHtbg1G6Vdc_c…
The meeting agenda & packet are here, along with the Zoom registration link:
https://support.swanlibraries.net/meeting/94438
In my SWANcom last week, I requested that if a library has negotiated its bond or debt service to report this schedule to SWAN. Thus far I have heard from Northlake. I will remind directors at the COW about this.
Secondly, the platform survey was extended until next week Friday, February 9th. We have 53 responses thus far. I have included a reminder in two January SWAN newsletters, at the Fireside meeting this week, and an email reminder sent to the directors we have not heard from (and I also sent confirmations to those that have responded). I will send one more email reminder directly to those library directors next week on Monday.
Lastly, I do not think this is controversial, but I would like to have our March 7th Quarterly meeting with budget approval include an amendment of our current budget so that we can move forward with implementation of the single sign-on project. SWAN IT & System Support Manager Ian Nosek is eager to get started with this project. The FY25 budget has this one-time cost set at $35,000 and we would amend the current FY24 budget line #5430 Server Infrastructure from $105,200 to $140,200.
I will include an update for you to review at the February 19th SWAN Board meeting about this budget amendment. I didn't want to surprise you if I mention this intention at the COW!
Regards,
Aaron
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hello SWAN board reps---
The agenda and packet for this Friday's board meeting is now posted. The good news is that we have a completed audit for FY23! There are two other items on the agenda that have a large page count-the RAILS FY25 LLSAP agreement that requires approval, and the FY25 SWAN budget. I have the EBSCO group purchase fees completed for the year-5 renewal included.
Link to meeting & packet:
https://support.swanlibraries.net/meeting/94464
Thank you all, see you Friday at Homewood Public Library District.
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hi everyone,
I am going to send some calendar appointments for our meetings and hosting libraries for January through June 2024.
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hello SWAN Board reps-
The meeting agenda and packet are now posted for you. The meeting on Friday will be held at Homewood Public Library District.
https://support.swanlibraries.net/meeting/92506
This packet is 77 pages and has the draft of next year's budget. Unfortunately, the audit is still not complete so we will have to wait until the January meeting. See you Friday!
Regards,
Aaron
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hello SWAN Board reps-
Thank you for replying to my last email message. We will have an in-person quorum for a SWAN Board meeting to be held after the Quarterly membership meeting at Oak Brook Public Library. I have posted an agenda for the meeting, which has two topics for the meeting, the first being a discussion about the SWAN proposal for a new mobile app, and the second being approval of the recommendation.
Meeting agenda (no packet just yet):
https://support.swanlibraries.net/meeting/94511
The recommendation for Aspen LiDA is coming together. I will have a written memo overview of my recommendation and the ByWater Solutions agreement to share with you tomorrow.
I will meet with Berit Nelson from SirsiDynix this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. to discuss the BLUEcloud refund.
I have not received a reply yet from Klein Thorpe Jenkins about a review of the SirsiDynix agreement for breach of contract.
Regards,
Aaron
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hello SWAN board reps-
It has been a roller coaster week, but I wanted to update you on a recommended solution for our "dead" BLUEcloud Mobile app.
First off, we have removed the BLUEcloud Mobile app from appearing in the Google Play and Apple App stores. There is unfortunately nothing we can do about the app that is already installed on a device. It will continue to display outdated information to users.
SirsiDynix and its partner on the BLUEcloud Mobile app continue to lay blame on each other for the situation. I will approach our legal firm KTJ to look over our SirsiDynix contract to see if there is anything we should know around legal recourse.
I will be meeting on Monday next week with SirsiDynix representatives to determine our refund for the BLUEcloud Mobile app.
Secondly, I have a recommendation for a replacement app for SWAN, which would be to move forward with Aspen LiDA. I will be meeting later this afternoon at 3:30pm with ByWater reps to review an addendum to our existing agreement. I won't sign off on anything yet, but I want to have a solution ready to go next week.
If you think there should be other app options explored, we can talk about that, but at this point, it makes tremendous sense to work with the company that is supporting our current discovery solution, Aspen Discovery. The LiDA mobile is our best candidate for a solution, and we can move forward with this quickly. I have requested that ByWater Solutions shift any up-front costs for the app to instead occur on our May 1, 2024 renewal of the Aspen hosting and support.
What will happen is on May 1st the SirsiDynix renewal will decrease and the ByWater renewal will include additional costs for the LiDA mobile app. I do not expect there to be any increase in cost to SWAN.
Tara Wood and I will present as our first topic at Quarterly this proposed solution, which will cover the LiDA app features and when we estimate it will launch. I will outline the costs and what should be a net result to SWAN.
I suggested to Jennifer that we also post a SWAN Board meeting to take place at Oak Brook Public Library after the Quarterly meeting. That would be just in case some action needs to be taken. We would need to make sure we have a board quorum for a possible meeting after Quarterly. *Please reply to me if you are able to attend next week at Oak Brook in person.*
I will be sending out a membership update about the Quarterly meeting and that we have an app solution in the works.
Best,
Aaron
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hello SWAN Board reps-
The agenda and packet for this week's meeting at Palos Heights Public Library is now posted. The packet is large-130 pages! This is due to the SWAN employee handbook revisions being included for approval.
https://support.swanlibraries.net/meeting/92358
One important note is that the financial audit that is due for acceptance at this meeting has not been delivered yet. If I am provided the audit documents before Friday, I will update you. I requested our auditor Selden Fox to provide us the final audit by November 8th. I have left the acceptance of the financial audit for fiscal year 2023 on the agenda for now.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Regards,
Aaron
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hello SWAN board reps-
The agenda and packet for Friday's meeting at Acorn Public Library District are now available.
Meeting details with PDFs of the agenda and packet.
https://support.swanlibraries.net/meeting/92357
The meeting has a somewhat complex series of action items to approve amendments to the LIMRiCC agreement. I have included a memo detailing the recommended changes, and our agenda has the resolutions to approve those amendments, plus the final, revised intergovernmental agreement.
Also, we have the draft of the membership survey ready for discussion. The document on exhibit page 96 provides an overview and two suggested directions for the survey.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
Hello SWAN Board reps-
I have a draft of the survey we discussed at the September 15th SWAN Board meeting. I have included my thoughts on the approach in the overview document shared via Google Drive below.
Overview of the survey
Please feel free to share your thoughts about the drafted survey in the document. Anyone with this link will have full editing rights to the document.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ozPpDYhspGu2w_o-o488BXVgXZ-I0vj7/edit?u…
Survey Link
This is read-only, and as I note in the overview, the platform used is Qualtrics, which is free to use with a single account. There are other features in a paid subscription, but Qualtrics is often favored in academic research. This link is in a preview mode, and it will record submissions that can be discarded later. It is mobile friendly.
https://qualtricsxmdnfv2mpsq.qualtrics.com/jfe3/preview/previewId/26586490-…
I have noted that Jennifer, Dorothy, and Colleen offered to help with the survey and represent the board for the disastifaction diagnosis. The environmental scan step we discussed will include Jesse and Anna. Jennifer wanted to make sure both teams could provide input. I suggested to Jennifer that I share this draft with the full board and see what additional steps are needed from all of you before the October 20th SWAN Board meeting.
Best,
Aaron
Aaron Skog
Executive Director
aaron(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:aaron@swanlibraries.net> * 630-326-7022
My pronouns: he/him/his
SWAN Library Services
800 Quail Ridge Drive, Westmont, IL 60559
swanlibraries.net<https://swanlibraries.net/> * catalog.swanlibraries.net<https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/>
