TRUST THE PROCESS
To All Library Staff:
Thank you all for your continued patience and flexibility. We understand the importance of holds in our system, and want to resolve these issues as quickly and as cleanly as possible. After many hours of work and brainstorming, SirsiDynix has developed a plan to resolve our holds issues. In short, all holds will be set to unavailable, and libraries will have to check in every item that is currently on their hold shelf. Please read on for an overview of tasks libraries should perform tonight and tomorrow, as well as a detailed explanation.
Overview of Responsibilities at Member Libraries Tonight and Tomorrow
Tonight:
* Immediately stop filling holds from your hold shelf. These will all be checked in tomorrow. Consider removing all wrappers and slips tonight to save time in the morning.
* Continue operating in offline for the rest of the day
* After completing your day in offline, log into the production server to upload offline data on each workstation that operated in offline mode today
Tomorrow:
* SWAN will open access to the Symphony production server at 7 am
* Consider bringing library staff in as early to check in all items from the hold shelf and all incoming delivery. Library staff may come in as early as 7 am to start this process.
* Resume circulation at your regular opening time
* Continue reporting issues to help(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:help@swanlibraries.net>
Details
Tonight, libraries will continue to operate in offline mode while SirsiDynix runs a script in the background to set all holds to "unavailable." This is basically pressing the reset button on all of our holds that have been problematic. Because holds are being set to unavailable, please stop circulating items currently on your hold shelves immediately. Libraries with open hold shelves will want to physically remove those items, or otherwise make them physically unavailable to patrons.
Much like this past weekend, libraries should only be checking out or renewing in offline mode. At closing today, libraries will need to log into the production server on each machine that circulated any items in offline mode. This will upload the files to our server, and we will process these transactions over night. Please upload these files as close to 9 PM or your scheduled closing time as possible so we can begin processing them as soon as possible.
In the morning, all libraries will need to do the following, in this order.
Everyone must do as instructed or this process to fix all the holds across SWAN will fail.
1. Check in each item on the hold shelf (or that was removed from the hold shelf on Thursday night). Follow whatever prompts the system gives you, printing a new hold slip, hold wrapper, or routing label as prompted. Trust the process.
Follow the prompt even if it will not fill the hold for the current patron. It may tell you to route an item back to the home library, or to another library to fill a hold. Even if the system requires you to fill a hold that you normally would not, please follow the prompts exactly. It is important to follow the instructions from Workflows in order to complete the reset that SirsiDynix is starting on our system tonight.
2. Check in each item in your incoming delivery and other items that you have held during this process. Again, it is imperative that you trust the process and follow the prompts given by Workflows. It is possible that it will prompt you to send your nonholdable items to another library to fill a hold. Please follow the instructions and send the item.
You may wish to make a note of the barcode to submit to SWAN for review later, but in this case, please send all items as instructed by Workflows.
Again, it is imperative that all prompts from Workflows are followed. *If prompts are ignored, this process to fix all the holds across SWAN will fail.*
You may want to consider bringing staff in early to begin processing these items. SWAN staff will be available beginning at 7 AM. Processing these items prior to opening the library may help relieve confusion after opening, and will give you a chance to get some of your hold shelf repopulated. After processing your hold shelf and incoming delivery, you may resume regular library operations.
Please note, the pull list will not be run until we are confident that these hold issues have been resolved and libraries have successfully completed the tasks listed above. Similarly, we will not run the clear hold shelf report tomorrow or until further notice.
Please continue to report any anomalies to SWAN at help(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:help@swanlibraries.net>, being sure to include item and patron barcodes or control numbers where you encounter issues. Without these barcodes, we are not able to troubleshoot your issue.
Please note: SIP connectivity will remain down tomorrow morning. That means that any services or equipment that are not authenticating or functioning today while in offline mode will continue to not authenticate or function tomorrow morning. We will send a SWANcom when SIP connectivity is restored.
Thank you again for your patience. Please continue to direct questions and reports to help(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:help@swanlibraries.net> or 630-734-5153. We will continue to send updates via SWANcom and will begin an FAQ about this process at https://support.swanlibraries.net/content/migration-hold-fix-instructions-f…
Aaron Skog
SWAN Executive Director
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5122
Fax: 630.734.5056
aaron.skog(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:aaron.skog@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
To All Library Staff:
If you are contacting patrons about holds which appear to be available for them, stop and await instructions we will provide you.
Some holds that appear to ready are not correct.
We should have another update around 3pm.
Aaron Skog
SWAN Executive Director
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5122
Fax: 630.734.5056
aaron.skog(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:aaron.skog@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
To All SWAN Library Staff:
Please continue to work in offline mode today. While SirsiDynix has made progress on resolving our holds issues (and others, see below for details), they are not resolved and we are not ready to resume regular circulation. We will notify all libraries via SWANcom and the SWAN support site when the issues are resolved and we are back online.
Thank you for all of the calls and tickets you've sent in over the past two days. Your feedback has helped us identify and troubleshoot a number of issues. We appreciate your patience as we continue to work towards resolutions.
Updates:
Holds: The two main concerns are that Many holds are appearing as available when they are not, and multiple items are trapping for the same hold on in transit items. These issues appear to be affecting all libraries. SirsiDynix has worked through the night to identify the source of these errors, and we hope to have a resolution soon.
Patron Address Changes: We learned yesterday that during our patron cleanup, a number of patrons who reside in cities that share zip codes with neighboring cities had their addresses incorrectly updated to their neighboring city. While this does not pose a problem with mail delivery, we understand it is confusing to both staff and patrons, and have been working with our vendor to resolve the issue. We have received a file contain a list of users potentially affected, which we will review today before SirsiDynix updates the user records to reflect the correct city.
Items with autogenerated barcodes: A number of items were loaded into Workflows with autogenerated barcodes. This produces an "Item Not Found" in catalog error when scanning barcodes during check in and check outs. These items have been identified, and a list of correct barcodes has been supplied to SirsiDynix.
Items with missing call number pre- or post-stamps: The cause of this problem has been identified, and a list of affected items has been developed. SWAN has supplied SirsiDynix with a list of corrections to make.
Item Types Unknown: These items have been identified and will be remapped to their proper item types.
Patrons with incorrect barcodes: A small number of users had their barcodes changed last week between April 6 and 10th. They were loaded with their previous barcode. They should now be updated to reflect the more current barcode.
Patron names displaying in wrong order: Users entered into Millennium without punctuation separating Lastname Firstname are not displaying properly in Workflows. SirsiDynix has developed a list of affected users with middle initials, and is working on a list of users without initials. The next step is to review the list and properly parse the data to update the records in Workflows.
Item Status: Items with current locations like Missing, Display, and Repair should be checked out to a corresponding system use user. Migrated items came over with the proper current location, but were missing that corresponding check out. A script has been run to correct that issue for all system use users.
Offline Exceptions: Each library should have received an offline exception report last night, sent to their library email alias. See last night's SWANcom for more details.
Rebecca Malinowski
SWAN Special Projects Coordinator
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5157
Fax: 630.734.5056
rebecca.malinowski(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:rebecca.malinowski@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
To all SWAN library staff:
Thank you for your cooperation and patience throughout the day. Our team is continuing to work through the holds issues, and are making progress. We do not yet have an estimated completion time. Please plan to continue offline circulation in the morning. SWAN will notify all libraries via SWANcom when we can resume normal circulation. There is no need to log into production tonight to upload offline files. We will collect and process them tomorrow once the holds issues are resolved.
Rebecca Malinowski
SWAN Special Projects Coordinator
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5157
Fax: 630.734.5056
rebecca.malinowski(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:rebecca.malinowski@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
From: swancom-bounces(a)list.swanlibraries.net [mailto:swancom-bounces@list.swanlibraries.net] On Behalf Of Aaron Skog
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 4:30 PM
To: swancom(a)list.swanlibraries.net
Subject: [SWANcom] *Action Required* Your Help Needed: Circulation Offline Starting Tonight, 5PM
To All SWAN Library Staff:
Please plan to operate in Offline Mode starting at 5 PM tonight, through closing. At 5 PM tonight, the production server will be restricted and all libraries will lose their connection to Workflows. At that time, please reopen Workflows and check the "Operate in Offline Mode" box. Please only perform check outs and renewals. *Do not check in items or register patrons.*
Enterprise will continue to be accessible, but users will not be able to place holds.
In order to resolve the hold issues we have experienced over the past two days, we need to halt activity on the server and give the SirsiDynix team time to identify and correct the problem. We plan to resume normal circulation in morning, and will notify SWAN libraries when we are ready to resume circulation. Please do not attempt to log in until hearing from SWAN.
We will send an additional SWANcom about 3rd party services which will be affected. Self-checks will not work, but reservation systems will be left running.
We will keep libraries updated via SWANcom. Please continue to monitor your email.
Aaron Skog
SWAN Executive Director
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5122
Fax: 630.734.5056
aaron.skog(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:aaron.skog@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
+++ Please route to appropriate personnel +++
Everyone-
Attached is a pdf document with all the Offline exceptions from the weekend. You will notice that the pages are sorted by individual library. It appears that the exception message is rather simply stated. If you should have any questions after you review the printout, feel free to contact SWAN Member Services at 630-734-5153 or send us an email: help(a)swanlibraries.net
Kate Boyle
SWAN Member Services Manager
Reaching Across Illinois Library System
Burr Ridge Office
Phone: 630.734.5162
Fax: 630.734.5056
kate.boyle(a)railslibraries.infous<mailto:kate.boyle@railslibraries.infous> http://www.railslibraries.info
SWAN Library Staff:
Just a quick correction - SIP2 access will be disabled entirely for the evening to prevent circulation or changes to patron records. During that time, your self-checks, AMH's, integrated vendor services (such as Axis 360, 3M Cloud Library, etc), and local vendor services (SAM, PC-Res, etc) will not authenticate against the ILS server.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Steven Schlewitt
SWAN IT Manager
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5130
Fax: 630.734.5056
steven.schlewitt(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:steven.schlewitt@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
From: swancom-bounces(a)list.swanlibraries.net [mailto:swancom-bounces@list.swanlibraries.net] On Behalf Of Aaron Skog
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 4:30 PM
To: swancom(a)list.swanlibraries.net
Subject: [SWANcom] *Action Required* Your Help Needed: Circulation Offline Starting Tonight, 5PM
To All SWAN Library Staff:
Please plan to operate in Offline Mode starting at 5 PM tonight, through closing. At 5 PM tonight, the production server will be restricted and all libraries will lose their connection to Workflows. At that time, please reopen Workflows and check the "Operate in Offline Mode" box. Please only perform check outs and renewals. *Do not check in items or register patrons.*
Enterprise will continue to be accessible, but users will not be able to place holds.
In order to resolve the hold issues we have experienced over the past two days, we need to halt activity on the server and give the SirsiDynix team time to identify and correct the problem. We plan to resume normal circulation in morning, and will notify SWAN libraries when we are ready to resume circulation. Please do not attempt to log in until hearing from SWAN.
We will send an additional SWANcom about 3rd party services which will be affected. Self-checks will not work, but reservation systems will be left running.
We will keep libraries updated via SWANcom. Please continue to monitor your email.
Aaron Skog
SWAN Executive Director
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5122
Fax: 630.734.5056
aaron.skog(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:aaron.skog@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
To All SWAN Library Staff:
Please plan to operate in Offline Mode starting at 5 PM tonight, through closing. At 5 PM tonight, the production server will be restricted and all libraries will lose their connection to Workflows. At that time, please reopen Workflows and check the "Operate in Offline Mode" box. Please only perform check outs and renewals. *Do not check in items or register patrons.*
Enterprise will continue to be accessible, but users will not be able to place holds.
In order to resolve the hold issues we have experienced over the past two days, we need to halt activity on the server and give the SirsiDynix team time to identify and correct the problem. We plan to resume normal circulation in morning, and will notify SWAN libraries when we are ready to resume circulation. Please do not attempt to log in until hearing from SWAN.
We will send an additional SWANcom about 3rd party services which will be affected. Self-checks will not work, but reservation systems will be left running.
We will keep libraries updated via SWANcom. Please continue to monitor your email.
Aaron Skog
SWAN Executive Director
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5122
Fax: 630.734.5056
aaron.skog(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:aaron.skog@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
+++ Please route to appropriate personnel+++
SWAN has made the decision to have the User "Phone" include hyphens. We have edited the "Phone" field to only accept 12 characters, the format must be (xxx-xxx-xxxx) with no leading +1.
Please when entering a User Phone number make certain to use the hyphens, otherwise the phone number will not be stored in the user record.
Thank you for your understanding.
Kate Boyle
SWAN Member Services Manager
Reaching Across Illinois Library System
Burr Ridge Office
Phone: 630.734.5162
Fax: 630.734.5056
kate.boyle(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:kate.boyle@railslibraries.info>
http://www.railslibraries.info
To All Library Staff:
We have been working to resolve many problems you have experienced with holds.
Libraries checking in materials that have arrived from other libraries to fulfill a hold are definitely experiencing the worst of the problems.
As a first step to correct the problems, we need all libraries to not check-in any material transited to your library. Please set aside this material.
Check-in of your home library material should continue.
We recognize this a burdensome step for you to take. We are doing further testing, and we will keep you posted. We are hopeful we can resolve this issue before tomorrow.
Aaron Skog
SWAN Executive Director
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5122
Fax: 630.734.5056
aaron.skog(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:aaron.skog@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net
To All Library Staff:
Thank you all for the tickets and reports you sent in yesterday. Together we identified a number of issues-some affect individual libraries and users, and some had an impact across the system. Below you'll find a brief summary of those items that appeared to be system-wide.
Please continue to report issues to help(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:help@swanlibraries.net>. Please include specific examples with barcodes wherever possible.
Today SWAN and SirsiDynix will continue to resolve issues, and work to schedule notice reports. We will continue to send SWANcom updates throughout the day.
Thank you again, and happy tax day!
Holds: A number of holds were displaying as unavailable when they should have been available for pickup. Our first attempt at a fix reversed the problem, and all holds were displaying as available. Our second attempt seemed to resolve the issue for most users. At this point, holds should display accurately in the user account. Please report any inaccuracies to help(a)swanlibraries.net<mailto:help@swanlibraries.net>, including a brief description, the user barcode, and the item barcodes.
On Shelf Item Wizard: A number of non-holdable locations were appearing in the onshelf item wizard. We have worked to restrict these from appearing on the pick list. You may still see on order items in your lists if you are not using the on order location. The list can only be restricted by location, so items that are listed in Adult New, or Stacks, or any other regular, holdable location will appear, regardless of an "on order" call number. The wizard is ready for you to use this morning to process your pick lists. We will be scheduling this to run automatically from today into the future.
Serials: Date number in weekly periodicals is missing. This will be corrected.
Serial Call Number: Many item records for serials are pulling a call number from the bib record when no call was present in the item record. Our data loader is working to isolate those records and replace the Dewey call number from the bib record with PERIODICAL. Moving forward, each control record should list base call number as PERIODICAL.
Acquisitions: We are aware of the ACQDUMMY item IDs and investigating. They were required if no on order item record was present to link the order to the bib. As libraries receive materials, the ACQDUMMY item ID should be updated with a proper barcode. This will not be an issue moving forward, it was a byproduct of the migration.
Call Numbers: We are aware of an issue with call number poststamp (Millennium subfield f) and poststamp (Millennium subfield e). They have not all migrated properly, and we are looking into this issue.
Barcodes: A number of items appear to be missing from the catalog when searching by barcode (or checking out, placing holds, etc. by barcode). We are aware of the issue, and its cause and are working to resolve it. These items are in the catalog, and you should be able to find them using Item Search and Display or the Item Search Helper. Search by standard number or title to locate them. We will notify all libraries when the issue is resolved.
Name Order: User names in Millennium were housed in one field. Entries without punctuation (last name, first name)
Unknown Item Types: A number of item types have migrated as unknown instead of the proper item type. This is causing the items to circulate under the wrong rules. Our data loader is working on correcting this mapping.
Rebecca Malinowski
SWAN Special Projects Coordinator
125 Tower Drive
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Phone: 630.734.5157
Fax: 630.734.5056
rebecca.malinowski(a)railslibraries.info<mailto:rebecca.malinowski@railslibraries.info>
http://support.swanlibraries.net