News

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...

The Aspen 26.07 release is live. It includes the following features and fixes. Full-width theme You can now set your web catalog theme to full-width to display well on larger screens. To turn this on, staff with the OPAC Administrator permissions can turn on the new setting under Themes > Make Content Full Width. This should be used in conjunction with the setting Make Header & Footer Full Width...

SWAN will be performing scheduled maintenance on our indexes beginning the evening of July 3rd, after all libraries are closed. These reports take several hours to run, but we anticipate them concluding before libraries open on Sunday, July 5th. Symphony (WorkFlows and BLUEcloud Staff) will not be available during the scheduled maintenance window. The Aspen online catalog will still be available...

For libraries that subscribed to new supplemental EBSCO resources for the upcoming 26/27 cycle, your links are now available! You can download the EBSCO supplemental links for 26/27 from the EBSCO Databases page, under the section, Supplemental EBSCO databases. Please note that only new resources for the upcoming cycle are listed in the workbook. If you made no changes to the selected resource(s)...

The Aspen 26.06 release is live. It includes the following features and fixes. Changes to holds on non-fiction titles Non-fiction editions will now sort by availability before sorting by publication date. If you place a hold at the grouped work level, and the edition that is first is not the newest edition, you will see a prompt to confirm that you want the older edition with a display of other...

The Discovery and User Experience Working Group identified better, patron-focused language changes in the My Account area of the catalog. These changes now appear in the catalog. Original New (English) New (Spanish) New (Polish) Your Library Card My Library Card Mi Tarjeta de la Biblioteca Moja Karta Biblioteczna Titles You Rated My Ratings Mis Calificaciones Moje Oceny Your Lists My Lists Mis...

The Aspen 26.05 release is live. It includes the following features and fixes. Language filter improvements The language filter now applies only to primary language, instead of all languages. Previously, a search for movies limited to "French" as a language would return all movies with a French subtitle or dub available ( over 13,000 results). Now the same search will return only movies with a...

SWAN will be closed on Monday, May 25th, 2026 for Memorial Day. On call staff will monitor systems and the ticketing system for any critical issues. Other requests received will be processed and responded to on Tuesday, May 26th, 2026.

We are excited to announce the BLUEcloud Analytics Private Intelligence Server migration is complete. The old server will not be refreshed, and reports will be outdated. All updates will take place on the new server. Make sure to change your bookmarks to the new URL as soon as possible and use it to access BLUEcloud Analytics: https://swan-bca.bc.sirsidynix.net/bcanalytics/asp/Main.aspx Your...

Hoopla Maintenance May 6 (1:00–4:00 a.m. CT) Hoopla will undergo planned maintenance on May 6 from 1:00–4:00 a.m. CT to support infrastructure improvements that enhance performance, uptime, and long‑term reliability. During this maintenance window: Hoopla access will be temporarily unavailable Patrons may see login error messages (these are not related to accounts or passwords) Usage and...

The SWAN Board election process received two self-nominations for the two open board positions. Since there are the two candidates who volunteered for the two open seats, SWAN will not have to conduct an election for the 2026 cycle. Congratulations to the two library directors. You can read their submitted statements below. Tammy Sheedy, Berwyn Public Library & Stickney-Forest View Public Library...