What’s New

Please Bug Us! Cataloging Edition

The Bottom Line

Curious how the Cataloging Department at RSA can help you?  Check out our cataloging focused Bug Us card!  Also, be on the lookout for October’s Bug Us card, plus RSA sticky notes, sent via RAILS delivery.

Background

Hello!

Resource Sharing Alliance’s (RSA) Cataloging Department has created a Halloween themed “Please Bug Us” card as a friendly reminder for our members to reach out or “bug” us with any of your cataloging questions or concerns.  The card also lists a few of the many services that the Cataloging Department provides to our members.  We will be sending your card, plus RSA sticky notes, in an envelope addressed to either the library’s director or school librarian via RAILS delivery in October.

October '24 "Please Bug Us" card front
Card Front

October '24 "Please Bug Us" card back
Card Back
We hope that you post the card in a prominent place where cataloging staff can see it or access it.

If your library would like more “Please Bug Us” cards, we've included a link to download the PDF file of the spooky themed card for you to print.

Thank you for taking the time to share and post our card!

Please contact the RSA Help Desk at or 866-940-4083 with any questions.  We enjoy hearing from you!

Have a great autumn!

Welcome back, School library staff! 

Are you new to your school, or new to the library? Have you not heard of the Resource Sharing Alliance (RSA)? Do you need help checking out, placing holds, or cataloging materials? Are you having trouble logging into Workflows? Do you not know what Workflows is? Would you like RSA staff to visit you? 

If you have questions, Please Bug Us!  

You can contact us by phone at 866-940-4083 or email the RSA Helpdesk . Our support site can be found at: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/

We are here to help, whether you are brand new or a veteran library staff member. RSA is your library consortium. We provide access, training, and catalog support for library software called Workflows to about 135 member libraries. And your library is a member. 

See below for more important information and some start of school year reminders. 

Closing Dates & End-of-Semester Dates 

You may start submitting your closure dates for the 2024/2025 school year as soon as you know them. Send an email to with the closure dates listed. Please do not send calendars. 

EOS dates for the 2024/2025 school year for ALL school libraries who use them will be set to 5/16/2025 unless otherwise instructed. All check outs will be due on this date. If you wish to set a different EOS date, email the RSA Helpdesk at notifying us of the date that you wish to use. 

If you would like books returned at the end of first semester in December before winter break, we can add that date also.  The End of Semester date is used by the system to reduce your standard loan period when approaching that date.  The End of Semester date becomes the due date when normal loan periods extend beyond that date.  If you provide December and May dates, once the December date passes, your checkouts return to your normal loan length until the May date approaches. 

If you notice your materials checking out for one day, the reason is probably that your last End of Semester date has passed and needs to be updated. Please email with your 2024/2025 End-of-Semester dates. 

Delivery Start Date 

Delivery of materials for schools will resume on Monday, August 26, 2024. Please stay tuned for an email from RAILS Delivery with more information about this. If you have questions about delivery, please email or call Robert Morgan, RAILS East Peoria Delivery Services Manager, at (309) 798-6842. 

RAILS Delivery changed their process about a couple of years ago. Delivery labels should now include the destination library’s Delivery Code rather than the library name. The RSA Membership list has been updated to include these new codes. Please download a fresh copy of the RSA Membership list from: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/about/member-libraries/

RSA has created a guide to new membership list and labeling procedure, available here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RSA_Library_Delivery_Codes-2024-06-28.pdf

Until delivery resumes on August 26, the RSA cataloging department will not place holds on school libraries’ items that are cataloged on brief records, for the purpose of upgrading them to OCLC records with full bibliographic description. 

Request a Visit 

RSA staff can visit your school library and help you review lots of Workflows-related topics, including (but not limited to) configurations, circulation tips and tricks, overdue/ bill/ courtesy notices, hold and circulation rules, inventory, hold picklists, billing, and other RSA-related topics. 

You can request a virtual or in-person visit using this form: https://form.jotform.com/RSAnfp/RSAsite-visit-request 

Your colleagues can sign up for these messages 

Share this link with any of your colleagues who don’t receive these emails. Sign up here: https://form.jotform.com/RSAnfp/rsa-email-groups

Having trouble logging in to Workflows? 

Your IP (internet protocol) address that allows your library to connect to Workflows may have changed. Please give us a call at 866-940-4083 or email  for assistance. 

Workflows Quick Reference 

A Quick Reference guide for some common problems is available here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/project/workflows-circulation-quick-reference-guide/. Don’t see your problem mentioned here? Please call at 866-940-4083 or email for assistance. 

Restore your Workflows Configuration Folder onto your computer 

Instructions can be found here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/project/setup-config-backup/#Backup_and_Restore 

Don’t forget to create a back-up of your Workflows Configuration Settings! Once you’ve settled in and (hopefully) have your Workflows configured to your needs, please take a moment to create a backup of your configuration settings. We recommend saving this folder to a thumb drive and keeping it somewhere safe. This backup can be used to transfer Workflows configurations from one computer to another. We also find that many schools lose Workflows configurations over the summer as other updates are made to their library computers. 

Instructions to create and use a backup can be found here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/project/setup-config-backup/#Backup_and_Restore

If you need more information about Workflows Configurations, there are many guides on the Setup & Configuration page of the RSA Support Site. 

Training Videos 

A playlist of short training videos targeted for School Library Staff is available on the RSA NFP YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJoML4XqN84&list=PLt2wA_EbLSx_YcD7YyB2RD1tpAgC6_tI4&pp=iAQB

Is there a Workflows topic you think would be helpful to create as a video? Please email to share your suggestion!  

RSA’s School Cataloging Needs Survey 

RSA’s Cataloging Department is asking that you complete the School Cataloging Needs Survey. Click on this link to complete the survey: https://form.jotform.com/RSAnfp/school-cataloging-needs. Once they have had a chance to look over your answers, one of the team will reach out to you. Just one person at each RSA school library needs to complete the survey. 

Need Help Cataloging an Item?  

If you need to catalog an item, but you are unable to find a matching record in Workflows, or you are unsure if the record you found matches the item, please remember to create a brief record in Workflows. The RSA cataloging request forms are no longer available. Once you create the brief record, the item is ready to start checking out to users. 

For step-by-step instructions how to create a brief record, along with screenshots of example brief records, refer to this guide: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/project/create-a-brief-record/. If you only want to print the instructions and not the example brief records, select pages 1-4 when you print. 

For videos that show how to create brief records, check out this playlist on the RSA YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJoML4XqN84&list=PLt2wA_EbLSx_YcD7YyB2RD1tpAgC6_tI4

If you would like to be guided through creating a brief record, contact . RSA will schedule a Zoom screen sharing session at a time that works for you. 

An RSA cataloger will email you when they are ready to upgrade your brief item to an OCLC record with full bibliographic description. RSA will place a copy-level hold on the brief item, asking you to send it to RAILS East Peoria. This approach avoids the accumulation of a backlog and allows RSA to process items faster, within 14 business days of the RSA cataloger picking it up from RAILS East Peoria.  

Please do not send any items to RAILS East Peoria until you receive an email from RSA that they are placing a hold to upgrade it to an OCLC record. If you do not want to send your item, reply to the email to let RSA know so they can cancel the hold.  

Once the brief item has been upgraded to an OCLC record, RSA will email you to confirm and then return the item in delivery. For more detailed information about what will happen when RSA is ready to upgrade your brief item to an OCLC record, refer to this document: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/project/procedure-when-rsa-is-ready-to-upgrade-your-brief-item-to-an-oclc-record/

Questions about brief records or anything else cataloging-related? Please call 1-866-940-4083 and ask to talk to an RSA cataloger!  

Items Sent in Delivery to RSA Cataloging 

Your library may have sent brief items to RAILS East Peoria last May for RSA to upgrade to OCLC records. If the items were ready to be returned to you, but your delivery had stopped, your items are being kept at RAILS East Peoria until delivery resumes for your library on Monday, August 26, 2024. 

The RSA cataloging department will resume placing holds on brief items created by school libraries on September 9, 2024. You will see these items appear on your library’s holds picklist. Thank you in advance for your cooperation sending items so their records can be upgraded to OCLC records, making them easier to find in Workflows and the RSAcat! 

On May 1, 2025, RSA will pause placing holds on school libraries’ items that are cataloged on brief records until delivery resumes in the fall. These holds are placed for the purpose of upgrading the brief records to OCLC records with full bibliographic description. More information about the procedure RSA follows when they are ready to upgrade a brief item to an OCLC record is available here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/When-RSA-is-Ready-to-Upgrade-Your-Brief-item-to-an-OCLC-Record-Procedure-2023-05-10.pdf. RSA will attempt to catalog and return any items prior to delivery stopping on May 24th. If that’s not possible, items will be held in the East Peoria delivery hub until delivery resumes in the fall. 

Holds and Picklists – a refresher 

There has been a lot of staff turnover at RSA’s school library members, so we thought it would be a good time to provide you with an update on Holds and Picklists. 

The best place to start is the documentation we have on our support site that cover Holds and Picklists. 

Our guide on How Holds Work can be found here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/How-Holds-Work-Guide-2017-07.pdf 

Our guide on How Picklists Work can be found here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/How-Picklists-Work-Guide-2021-04-05.pdf 

The most important thing to remember is to be checking your RSA Gmail address at least once a day. This is important not just you may receive other vital communication at this account (questions from other libraries, email failure notices, etc.), but because this is also where you will receive your library’s Clean Hold Shelf List. A cheat sheet on the Clean Hold Shelf Report can be found here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Clean-Hold-Shelf-Report-Cheat-Sheet-2017-07.pdf

RSA staff run a Holds Workshop on a Monthly basis. You can sign up for the next one on September 16,2024 from 3-4:30pm here: https://librarylearning.org/event/2024-09-16/rsa-basic-workflows-holds-workshop. Please note that you must log into L2 to sign up for our workshops. We send monthly notices about upcoming workshops by email. Feel free to sign up to these workshops when those announcements are sent out. 

RSA’s cataloging team will resume placing holds on your items for brief record upgrades will start on September 9th 

Our cataloging team will start placing holds on items belonging to our school members which need an upgraded catalog record. Please review this procedure so that you know what to expect: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/When-RSA-is-Ready-to-Upgrade-Your-Brief-item-to-an-OCLC-Record-Procedure-2023-05-10.pdf

They will place a copy-level hold on your item.  If other staff at your library pull items to fill holds (and are unaware of our cataloging process), you may want to give them a heads-up that this item will be sent to RSA for cataloging, so they understand the hold is not a mistake.  

When you fill out the RAILS delivery label, please write 200-EP on the “To” line, your full library name on the “From” line, and circle “Hold.” No need to fill out anything else on the delivery label.   

Please be aware that RSA is only accepting physical items to upgrade brief records to OCLC records.   

If your library needs additional delivery bins to send items to RSA for cataloging, please email the RAILS Delivery Help Desk at .   

RAILS delivery to schools will resume on August 26th, 2024 

RAILS will resume making deliveries and collections from school libraries next Monday. If you have questions about RAILS Delivery, please email the RAILS Delivery Help Desk at . You will be receiving communications about this resumption from Robert, the East Peoria delivery manager. 

An up-to-date list of RSA members with delivery codes can be found here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/about/member-libraries/

Information on RSA’s Independence project 

Information on RSA’s new governance structure, and fee structure for Fiscal Years 2025-2029 has been sent to school librarians and administrators. This information can also be found at https://support.librariesofrsa.org/independence-project/.  

Information from RAILS 

We thought we’d pass on some information that RAILS recently shared. RAILS recently shared two updates with their members which we wanted to ensure RSA school libraries had seen.  

ISL Statewide E-Resource Package: What Schools Need to Know. See https://railslibraries.org/news/114189 for exciting news about the new Statewide E-Resource package and how schools can make it available to their faculty and students. 

What Schools Need to Know About PA 103-0100. See https://railslibraries.org/news/113339 for important information about a recent state law. 

RSA’s Bug Us Campaign Goodies on their way to you. 

RSA has put together a collection of goodies to welcome you back to school as part of our “Bug Us” Campaign. Delivery starts up on Monday, August 26th and in your first delivery bin you will find a gray envelope with a Bug Us postcard and some RSA themed sticky notes, a printed copy of the Documentation Index (which can be downloaded here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/project/documentation-index/), our new Operations Manual (downloadable here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/handbook/operations-manual/), and a postcard inviting you to complete the School Cataloging Needs Survey, (a copy of which is attached to this email). 

We hope you will find these items useful, and we would encourage you to Bug Us when you have questions about RSA, WorkFlows, BLUEcloud Analytics, Cataloging, or RSAcat. 

Batch uploading students to WorkFlows 

If you would like us to batch upload your students to WorkFlows, you just need to send an email to with an Excel spreadsheet or a .csv file attached. 

At a minimum, the file should contain the following details: 

Barcode, User Profile, First Name, Middle Name or initial (if applicable), Last Name, Library, Expected Graduation Year 

You can also include other information. Many of our libraries find adding a student ID number, Group ID, Preferred Name, and email address.  

Before you prepare the file, you may want to read over the Patron Registration Standard for School Libraries which can be found here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/project/users/#Patron_Registration_Standard_for_School_Libraries

RSAcat Mobile App Is Back Online

The RSAcat Mobile App is back online for both Android and iOS.

Complete functionality including search, holds, bill pay, and viewing accounts on the mobile app on Android and iOS has been restored. If patrons uninstalled the app, they will have to reinstall it to begin using it. Links to download the app are below and are already posted to everyone’s RSAcat homepage’s sidebar.

Patrons that did not uninstall the app will have it working again as soon as they open the app. The app will have saved the previous login state, so if the patron had logged off, then they will have to login again. If they remained logged in, then no new login should be necessary.

Please report any new issues to the RSA help desk at

Outage Background:

Last week, SirsiDynix announced that they’ve come to terms with the 3rd party developer of our RSAcat Mobile app (BLUEcloud Mobile in Sirsi terms) to get service restored. The app has been down for all SirsiDynix customers world-wide since late November.

The app’s features should now all have resumed working for patrons.  We will soon be modifying the message text on the main pages of RSAcat (in a browser) to both link the app once again and remove the outage notice.

RSAcat Mobile App Outage (resolved)

27 February 2024: The most recent update about the mobile app service may be found in the news post entitled, "RSAcat Mobile App Is Back Online."

Mobile App Currently Out of Service

The RSAcat mobile app is currently down and we have been told by SirsiDynix (the developer) to expect that most functions of the app will not be available for the foreseeable future.

The connection between the app and our catalog servers is broken so any information it now shows is out of date and will not be updated in the future. The catalog, check outs, holds, and even hours and locations may be incorrect.

We know that the app is valued by many patrons and that the loss of its functions is a frustrating obstacle to using the library. RSA can only apologize for the inconvenience caused by this situation.

Unfortunately, there is not another app that can be used in its place at this time. The developer is working on a new app to replace the functions of the existing app and we are told that this should be ready early in 2024.

Mobile pages now live

You may want to add a shortcut to the catalog on your device. RSA staff has activated a mobile friendly version of the catalog page for each RSA member library.

The link for your library’s catalog can be found here on this list: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/project/rsacat-link/

For Apple devices, a shortcut can be saved by following these instruction

  1. Look for the “Share” icon in the bottom bar on the page, next to the forward and back buttons
  2. With the share menu open, look for an option called “Add to Home screen” and tap it
  3. A box called “Add to Home screen” will appear
  4. A new icon will appear on your device’s screen; you can move it around using the standard home screen press & drag options, or leave it where it is
  5. Tap the icon at any time to launch the mobile website.

 For Android devices

  1. Look for a three-dot Settings icon in the top-right of the page
  2. With Settings open, look for an option called “Add to Home screen” and tap it
  3. A box called “Add to Home screen” will appear
  4. A new icon will appear on your device’s screen; you can move it around using the standard home screen press & drag options, or leave it where it is
  5. Tap the icon at any time to launch the mobile website

Thank you
Antony Deter
RSA Operations Manager

The above message will be posted on the homepage of each library’s RSAcat page.

Fixed in WorkFlows: “Database Error”

To: All staff

The Bottom Line:

You should no longer see a pop-up box that says, “Database error –unable to process request” if you are discharging an item from WorkFlows or scanning it into the Check Item Status wizard. Please reach out to the RSA Help Desk if you continue to see this error.

Background:

You should no longer see a pop-up box that says, “Database error – unable to process request” if you are discharging an item from WorkFlows or scanning it into the Check Item Status wizard.

Thank you again for your patience as we worked with SirsiDynix to resolve the issue. According to SirsiDynix, it is a rare error that stems from the number of holds set to a negative number in the WorkFlows back-end.


Please reach out to the RSA Help Desk if you continue to see this error.

RSAcat Update Sunday Evening will Include Downtime

Audience: Everybody
Action: Information Only

The Bottom Line:

SirsiDynix will be installing the latest version of their software on RSAcat this Sunday, Oct 22nd, starting around 8 PM.  The upgrade is expected to take 4 to 6 hours to complete.  After it is completed, a full system harvest and processing need to complete prior to showing complete search results.

We have a SirsiDynix consultant standing by for Monday morning in case anything odd happens Tony and Kendal can’t figure out.  Normally there are a couple minor things we need tweaking or rebuild, and many of the various widgets we’ve added over the years will need to be reworked a bit.

Background:

This upgrade will fix many issues we see on the backend, and many smaller things patrons might have noticed.  It also tweaks the screen layout to make it more responsive on mobile devices and meet updated accessibility standards.   After the upgrade is complete, it will require some additional time on our part next week to tweak the CSS files and widgets to fully re-integrate the RSA look-and-feel.

Major issues fixed include:

1 – Preferred pickup library changing to the first library in the list bug.

This has been an issue for a bit now.  If your library closed for more than a few days and we removed it from the list to block new hold pickups there, RSAcat might change that library’s patron’s pickup library.  Also, sometimes if the patron clicked anything else in the RSAcat My Account, Personal Information tab, Preferences screen, it would often set the default pickup library to Alpha Park.  

This has been fixed so that if the patron’s preferred pickup library is no longer available, the patron will be prompted to select a new preferred library when saving their My Account preferences.

2 – Allowing ALL records to be sorted by pub date, not just a select few.

To provide more search flexibility to patrons, the sorting of search results is no longer limited to a configured size, regardless of the sorting option selected. Previously, only relevance was sorted without limits.  RSA’s limit was something like 300 to 500 records max.


For example, rather than limiting the sorting to the first several hundred results, RSAcat will now handle sorting for all of the search results for a specific author, even when thousands of results are returned.

3 – Date range display for continuing resources

To prevent confusion over whether or not a publication ended in the current calendar year, date ranges for continuing resources have been enhanced to append the  message “(Ongoing)” to the date range display.

For example, the date range display for a continuing resource that began in 2005 would appear like this: 2005-2023 (Ongoing)

4 – New ‘Continue my work’ popup display for patrons

RSAcat will now better detect user activity, and timeout messages only appear when no user activity is detected. Any user activity detected prompts the session timeout counter to reset. When no user activity is detected, the session timeout messages appear as configured for your library’s profile.  Many of you will not notice this.  On the backend it’s a huge win because I’m constantly getting kicked out in the middle of something and losing all my work when I take a phone call.

Boundless IP Address Changes – Information Only

To: All RSA Libraries
Action: Information Only

The Bottom Line:

Baker & Taylor sent an email to all Boundless libraries about IP address changes. RSA made the changes in our firewall. Libraries DO NOT need to make any changes for Boundless to authenticate.

Background:

From Baker & Taylor:
”To ensure a stable hosting environment that is not impacted by maintenance periods, B&T will deploy new server communications for all our Boundless customers. This will require libraries that use real-time authentication methods such as SIP2, Patron API, LDAP, NCIP, and other protocols to allowlist new server IP addresses for the Boundless services as soon as possible.”

The IP address changes are made at RSA for all RSA libraries. We added the new IP addresses to our firewall so patrons using Boundless should continue to be able to use the app with no interruption in service.

Please contact RSA or eRead Illinois support at for any issues.

Update your local RSA codes list

Subject: Updated RSA Library Delivery Codes list – 22 Sep 2023

To: Member library staff who process items for delivery

The Bottom Line:

We have updated the RSA Library Delivery Codes list with a couple additional bits of information.  You can always see the most up-to-date list on the RSA Support Site here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/about/member-libraries/

We have also created a version specifically to print out and use when you are filling out labels for delivery.  Get that list here: https://support.librariesofrsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/RSA_Library_Delivery_Codes-09-22-2023.pdf

Background:

The list has an entry right at the top for RSA Cataloging and Staff requests.  It’s the same as the AG_ALS-PDC listing a bit further down the list.  Having it listed at the top again was a frequent member library request.

We also added in the user barcode you should be using to check items out to the three RSA Union Listing libraries who request items.  We hope this helps libraries to process items more quickly and lists everything needed right there.  It also acts as a reminder that holds for these three libraries are checked out to that user ID, labeled and put in a bin rather than put into transit in workflows.

Thank you.

New Domain for Support Site

We’re happy to share that as of this week, this support website is live at the following domain!

support.librariesofrsa.org

There are a few more steps involved to getting the site into more of our member’s hands. However, if you are reading this you are among some of the first to be using it. Your feedback is extremely important. Please let us know if something isn’t working how you think it should by contacting Member Services through the RSA Help Desk.

We can be reached through the usual email — though we ask that you please include “New RSA support site” in the subject.

Feel free to offer your suggestions on how we might improve the new site by using the help desk email address above.

Welcome to the New RSA Support Website

Here’s an overview of what to expect from our new support site. Read on for a description of how to use the site and how it is organized.

Layouts of Pages

You will notice a table of contents on the left side of many pages throughout the site. This can be used to navigate and jump within the current page to the section title of your choice. This contents sidebar is accessible on most pages with at least 3 sections and will follow you down the page even after you scroll.

Because some pages like the Handbooks are quite long, this can be a fast way to navigate within a page.

Screenshot of typical page with arrows denoting how the table of contents can be used.
Screenshot showing side menu navigation within current page.

Main Menu

The menu across the top of every page is the Main Menu and can be helpful in getting you directly to the information you need.

Handbooks

Hanbooks are lists curated by RSA staff to help RSA library staff and are grouped by specific roles. If you are interested in learning more about being a Director or Administrator in an RSA library, you may want to start with the Directors & Admin handbook.

If you are a cataloger, the Cataloging handbook is a good place to see an organized overview of all the cataloging info on the support site.

Are you trying to learn more about our rules and procedures on circulation? Check out the Circulation handbook and find various subpages grouped by their uses.

There are also handbook pages for school libraries and for those new to RSA. If you have an idea of how to expand these, please let us know at and include “New RSA Support Site” in the subject.

Pages by Topic

Within the Main Menu, you’ll see options to browse the site By Topics. This can be a useful way to search and browse the site for information. We suggest you start with the All Topics page. Notice that items in these pages and sub-pages are arranged alphabetically. If you want to see things by their category, there is an option to click on a tab within the All Topics page or you can simply go to the By Topic > Specific Topic

Screenshot showing how to filter a list by clicking the category tab.
Screenshot showing how to filter a list by clicking the category tab.

There are a variety of categories that the pages in the By Topic menu are sorted into. They include:

Cataloging

Circulation

Monthly Statistics – direct link to the page with monthly reports.

Parameters

Reports

Setup & Configuration – setup for WorkFlows and more.

Support for Other Products – includes eBook information, and other services outside of WorkFlows.

Search

Finally, if you haven’t found what you’re looking for after using your preferred method, you can always try searching the site. Just click the magnifying glass in the very top right of the page anywhere on the site, type your terms and press Enter/Return to start a search.

Screenshot with arrow showing the search option at the top of every page
Search from the top of every page.

Contact

Hours

Call
866-940-4083

Email

Address
715 Sabrina Drive
East Peoria, IL 61611

Fax
630-734-5051

Monday - Friday | 8am - 5pm

 

After Hours Support
309-369-6422
For Member Library Staff

Dedicated to Engaged, Efficient, and Effective Service