Archive
New in LibCal – Edit Room Bookings and Clone Availability
You asked for it – we’ve made it possible!
Do you need to change room booking info for your patrons? Maybe you need to update the information they entered in the room booking form, or change the time they’ve booked. Well now you can! Head to the Room Availability tab; click on any Confirmed room booking, and edit away.
And we didn’t stop there!
Need to apply the same availability to more than one room? You can clone room availabilities too, that’s right, CLONE! Head to the Room Availability tab and click Clone Existing Schedule to copy availablity from one room to another.
New in LibCal: the Hours Module is here!
Unlike our last post, this post is no joke! We’re really excited to announce a big new LibCal feature – the Hours module is here! We’ve fielded lots of questions from LibCal users on customizing the calendar display to show open hours for libraries and library departments. We decided to create a new module in LibCal just for this purpose – hence, the Hours module was born!
Here’s a quick overview of the new features – for detailed instructions, check out the new help guide on Using LibCal Hours:
- Hours Templates – Simplify the process of displaying library hours – create templates for different libraries, services, branches, and time periods (like Semester Hours, Holiday Hours, etc.).
- Open Past Midnight? – No problem! The Hours Module handles any and all time spans with ease.
- Manages Multiple Locations & Services – Our new tools help you set up and manage multiple locations and departments.*
- Widgets & APIs – This is where the magic happens! We’ve created a bevy of new Widget and API options to help display your library hours anywhere, including:
- Today’s Hours – Live in the now! Display today’s hours with a simple API call.
- Weekly Grid View – Show hours for multiple libraries and locations in one beautiful display.
- Monthly Calendar View – Display a full month’s hours on one screen.
- Weekly/Monthly View – One calendar to rule them all. Combine the weekly and monthly views in one widget, and include location and directional info too! Here’s a screenshot:
Ready for a better way to manage your library hours? Head to Admin Stuff -> Hours to get started! For more help with setting up this new feature, head to our help guide. And as always, thanks a million for your ideas and feedback!
*Sites on any of our paid pricing tiers have access to unlimited libraries and departments; 3-for-free sites can manage hours for a single library.
Tick Tock, Time is Running Out! Submit your SpringyCamp Proposal Today
We’re seeking SpringyCamp proposals and there are only two days left to get your submission in!
What is SpringyCamp, you’re probably asking yourself! SpringyCamp is Springshare’s bi-annual virtual conference where you can learn how colleagues from around the world are using Springshare tools. Springshare4Everyone is this year’s conference theme and we’re looking for submissions on how you’re using Springshare products – easy peasy!
Submit your proposal by March 10th.
Holiday Breaks Approaching? Let your patrons know!
Winter breaks and holiday closures are just around the corner. Here are some cool tips and tricks from the Springy Elves to help get the word out on holiday changes to your library hours.
LibGuides:
- Change your System Tagline – You’ve got 140 characters to communicate info on holiday closures. Instructions
- Create a custom “Closed” Banner – Sometimes words just aren’t enough – hang up the “closed” sign! Instructions
- Remind Staff via Admin Alert Box – Even elves need the occasional reminder that your site is going on break. Instructions
LibAnswers:
- Set an “Away” Success Message – Questions submitted via the question form can trigger a “hey, we’re away!” alert. Instructions
- Dont forget the SMS Auto-Responders – Make sure to let folks submitting questions via SMS know you’re away. Instructions
- Hide the question submission form – Allow patrons to search for questions, but prevent them from submitting new questions until you’ve returned from break. Here’s how
LibCal:
- We have a slew of suggestions on things to keep an eye on in your LibCal site.
We hope these suggestions and ideas help make it that much easier for you to relax this holiday season. Happy holidays from all of us at Springshare!
LibCal Update Now Live!
The LibCal Update is now live! Check out our previous post or the video walkthrough for an overview of all the Calendar changes we’ve implemented. In addition to the major Calendars overhaul, we’ve added several frequently requested features:
Keep Track of Patrons with Room Bookings
We’ve added new tools to the Room Bookings area to help you keep track of the users that book rooms in your system! There’s a new checkbox option to help track whether users show up for their booked appointments. We’ve also added a “Notes” field to Room Bookings, making it easier to add internal notes about a booking.
Visibility Status for Individual Rooms
Do you sometimes need to take an individual room temporarily offline? Maybe the room is down for maintenance, or needed by staff members. Whatever the reason, we’ve added a way to hide individual rooms in a group from the public display, so you can toggle their visibility! Head to the edit room screen to see the new option.
Thanks for your feedback!
This is a major update for LibCal, and as always, we couldn’t have done it without your help and insight! For the full rundown of new features, check out our previous post and video walkthrough!
LibCal Update, Coming Soon!
Awesome new LibCal calendars are coming your way. We’ll perform a code update on November 5th, to introduce many new features to LibCal. There will be no downtime. The biggest change you’ll notice is the way Calendars display – they’ll be much more flexible, super customizable, and a whole lot prettier. View a video walkthrough of the awesome new features.
jQuery Calendars – yeah!
The new Calendars are based on the jQuery library, so they’re standardized and look a lot nicer and more functional right out of the box – the most popular customizations will happen by default. In addition, you’ll have greater flexibility in customizing individual calendar elements. View the new features.
Important to know:
If you’ve customized the CSS for your calendar display, those customizations will no longer work. We are very sorry for the inconvenience – due to the complete overhaul of the Calendar displays and standardizing on jQuery, the old methods of customizing elements won’t work. We’re at the ready to help you customize the new calendars – email us at support@springshare.com and we’ll help you with anything you need.
The Awesome Details:
Here are some of the customizations that are now super-duper easy:
- Event Title Height in the Monthly calendar view will re-size automatically
- Day Height in the Monthly calendar view will re-size automatically to accommodate all events
- Color Customizations can be done using the new Color Settings menu
- Time Display Customizations can be done using the new Display Options menu
In addition to the vast improvements to the display, we’re also rolling out several frequently requested features, including:
- View multiple calendars & events in one display
- Event Mouse-overs show key event information, including categories, location, presenters, and description
- Event Explorer lets you search, filter, display, and export event & registrant info for an entire calendar
- Display Filters - filter events by multiple libraries & categories
- Print Friendly View makes it easy to print calendars
We’re way excited about these new calendar display options and features – we’re confident that this update will make your LibCal system easier to manage, prettier, and more user-friendly!
Onwards and upwards,
Slaven Zivkovic & the Springshare Team
Back to School Checklist
The telltale signs are starting to show. Campus orientation tours are rolling past office windows. Freshmen are enrolling in classes. The energy on campus is starting to build. These are all signs that school is about to start! It’s time to spruce up those guides, ready the study room sign-up, update the FAQ, and give a lift to the digital branch. We’ve put together a quick check-list to help you get organized.
- First things first: guide cleanup time!
- Summer’s come to a close; time to unpublish LibGuides about summer programs and readings.
- Update your student employee/volunteer LibGuide with this year’s shifts and policies. LibGuides CMS users: remind students and volunteers to sign up for email alerts, then send out alerts any time you update the guide.
- It’s time to kick that E-Reserves program into high gear!
- Remind teachers and faculty to send in their E-Reserves with our handy E-Reserves Request Form.
- Get those E-Reserve items and courses loaded; check out our help guide for tips!
- It’s a great time to freshen up LibAnswers, too!
- Review any policy-related LibAnswers, to make sure they’re up-to-date.
- It’s a great time to advertise your LibAnswers service! Post an ad in the student newspaper, create promotional materials, check out our session on Advertising LibAnswers, and grab more tips on Advertising your SMS service.
- Get those dates and schedules in order with LibCal!
- If you’re using the Room Booking tool, now’s a great time to post fresh QR codes outside available study spaces – they make booking with mobile devices super easy!
- Make sure your personal scheduler is up to date & publicized - make it easy to consult the experts!
- Create a calendar for special events, & publicize it – share the iCal subscription link, and anyone who subscribes will see newly added events automatically!
- Make sure your LibAnalytics data collection is ready to go! Check out our Dataset Ideas for suggestions on what types of data to capture.
What are you doing to get ready for school? Share your suggestions and strategies in the comments!
LibCal – New Features (already!)
For those of you who haven’t experienced the wonder of LibCal yet, we’re offering a great deal – our 3-for-free deal gets you 3 Calendars, 3 Schedulers, & 3 Room Bookings for free! In the 2 months since LibCal was released, we’ve already installed over 250 systems, and added more than 20 new features based on user requests. Here are a few highlights:
- The Wait List feature is here! If more people want to register for an event than you have space for, enable a waiting list
- Calendar APIs and RSS feeds continue to expand – we’ve added support for pulling events from multiple calendars in the Event APIs, and better diacritic support for RSS feeds
- Email templates are fully customizable - customize the automated emails when patrons register/are waitlisted for/cancel events!
- We’ve added a location field – when people book appointments, they’ll know where to go!
- Do you have LibGuides? When you customize your profile, click the checkbox to add the Schedule an Appointment widget!
- Embed the widget multiple times on the same page – show the availability of everyone on your team in one public interface!
- Email templates are fully customizable – send automated confirmation and cancellation emails when patrons book appointments, and customize their text!
- Room Booking Explorer – view booking history, filter on tons of options, search on patron information (name, email, group nickname, etc.) and export information to Excel!
- We’ve added patron “nicknames” for their own bookings – this nickname shows up in the public Room schedule, so individuals can see where their group is meeting
- New Photo field - show patrons which room they’re signing up for.
- Better yet, that room photo, as well as the entire room booking process, is included in the Mobile Optimized Room Booking view!
Plus, we’ve tweaked the Room Booking permission settings, based on your feedback:
- More Booking Duration values – whether you’re working with 30 minute time-slots or 54 minute periods, LibCal’s got you covered!
- Patrons can sign up for a room “Before Slot’s Ending Time” (ie halfway through a slot)
- We added an option to restrict “Booking in Advance”, so admins can choose how long into the future a patron can book a room. 1 week? 1 Month? 3 Months? OK!
Whew – that’s a lot of features! We hope you’re enjoying LibCal – from early user feedback, we’re hearing it’s the easiest, most intuitive calendar/event management/personal scheduler/room booking tool available. If you haven’t tried it yet, sign up for your 3-for-free today! http://springshare.com/libcal
Free LibCal and LibAnalytics – Sign Up Today!
We’re so excited, and we just can’t hide it! What’s got us so hyped up, you ask? We’re announcing *Free* subscriptions for our two newest products: LibCal and LibAnalytics. Pretty awesome right? We thought so too!
A free subscription to LibCal comes with all the bells and whistles – event registration management, personal schedulers, and room booking management. You get 3 calendars, 3 personal schedulers, and 3 room bookings – all free!
And our free LibAnalytics instance is also the whole enchilada – collect data points, record unlimited transactions, and view/download awesome reports.
We say this all the time, but we want you to know – we love being a part of the library community. We love working with clients and creating web apps that solve real problems for libraries. Giving something back for free, especially in these difficult budget times, is a way for us to say “thank you” for your continued support, and the trust you’ve placed in us.
With that in mind, we hope you’ll check out LibCal and LibAnalytics and sign up today!
