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SpringyNews - Teamwork Edition

June 2022

Recent Updates - Spring 2022

  • We've extended support for our new Hybrid event functionality to various pages - you can now view hybrid event data in the Event Explorer, API, and Homepage Components.
  • We've simplified the process of adding Regular level user permissions to Calendars! Admins can head to Calendar > Calendar Settings > Regular User Custom Access and select "Add Users" to add new regular level users to a given calendar.
  • We introduced a series of new Bulk Update pages, to help admins view and change settings across different areas of LibCal! 
  • We added a new permissions level for Event Registration Editors, who can manage registrations for various events but who will not have access to edit the event details. We also added a new Inactive Account Level, which will remove a user's ability to log in to your system but will preserve all stats related to that user.

Looking for more LibCal features and fixes? Check out the LibCal release notes on the Springshare Lounge!

Recent LibGuides and LibApps updates include: 

LibGuides

  • Our new search engine has been rolled out to all LibGuides sites, with more power, and more intuitive relevancy.
  • We've been hard at work on code housekeeping, and have restructured portions of the LibGuides code base in preparation for some very exciting UI Builder Updates coming soon!

LibApps 

  • Taking LTI to the Next Level (literally!): we've brought support for Desire2Learn Brightspace up to the latest and greatest version 1.3 of the LTI standard, added graceful handling of blocked third-party cookies, and have run an exhaustive battery of tests to obtain official certification of our LTI 1.3 tools through IMS Global.
  • Customers using Google authentication (GSuite-type institutions) can use a simplified, Google-specific process for setting up single-sign on.

Don't miss additional LibGuides and LibApps release goodness in the release notes over on the Lounge!

The LibAnswers team has been hard at work bringing these new features to a computer near you: 

  • We're overhauling the LibChat Widget Builder, to make creating and editing widgets an intuitive and painless experience.
  • You can now require specific Reference Analytics fields and the READ scale field to be filled out prior to Reference Analytics submission.
  • We're simplifying the process of initiating a new ticket to a patron, so it's clearer in the UI that a librarian was the one to initiate a conversation with a patron.
  • LibChat Widgets can now have required custom questions!
  • FAQ statistics have been expanded and broken out into a "Created FAQs" tab and an "FAQ Activity" tab.
  • Users can now schedule changes to their "Out of Office" status in advance.
  • Operators in chat can now delete their messages if they accidentally sent something they didn't intend.

Check out the LibAnswers release notes on the Springshare Lounge for more complete information on past and future updates.

LibInsight has seen some exciting updates this winter! 

  • We've added GET API support for the following dataset types: Acquisitions, Counts/Aggregate, Custom, Google Analytics, Gate Counts, LibGuides, Finance, Calendaring, Circulations, ILL, and Reference. 
  • We've continued our move to Bootstrap 4, and have continued refactoring our data analysis pages with this goal in mind.

Check out more from this release in the LibInsight release notes on the Springshare Lounge!

The LibConnect team has been very busy over the past few months! Here are some highlights: 

  • Now, LibConnect allows you to add content from your other Springshare apps directly into your email campaigns through the Custom Content components added to the email editor. Start promoting your events, guides, databases, books, and FAQs to your patrons!
  • Check out the new Manage Accounts page, and the new abilities to deactivate accounts and transfer their content to others.
  • We've created a full new flow for importing data into the system. It will allow you to Create & Update profiles as well as Create interactions.
  • We've modernized the UI of the platform, focusing on user experience and optimizing site performance for a more efficient experience.
  • We've reworked the Profile pages, Interactions, System Configuration, Projects, and Tasks modules.
  • We've improved the search functionality to support custom fields.

New to LibConnect? Hop on over to the LibConnect section to learn more about ILS Integration and Email Marketing! 

Upcoming Updates

The LibCal team has been busy perfecting Heat Maps!

Heat Maps are a new report, which work with LibCal's interactive mapping module. They'll show you which seats and spaces get the most and least use in your library, using each space and seat's occupancy rating over a given period of time. These new reports will offer greater insights into the space usage in your library, and can even help show how you might organize your seating for more optimal use!  

We are excited to announce that the LibAnswers Chatbot will be hitting the scene this autumn! 

With our fully customizable Chatbots, you can auto-suggest relevant FAQs to patrons before connecting with an operator, recommend they submit a ticket if chat is offline, and easily direct patrons to your other Springshare resources including guides, appointments, spaces, and so much more.

Exciting changes are on the horizon for LibGuides! 

  • We'll be adding the latest and greatest LTI 1.3 support for the Moodle and Sakai Learning Management Systems, bringing them on par with other major providers like Canvas, BlackBoard, and Brightspace. 
  • Over the coming months, we'll be hard at work implementing a radically improved guide editor! The new editor will make it easy to create much more flexible page layouts and will vastly reduce the number of clicks it takes to create and publish content.

Keep an eye out for updates

Keep an eye out for these updates and more by subscribing to our blog and joining us on the Springshare Lounge!