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Scheduled Maintenance

WHEN: Tue, April 30th, 11:00 pm - Midnight EDT

DURATION:  1 hour

WHAT: SAILS Enterprise and SAILS Mobile App

IMPACT: My Account will be unavailable. Online payments in Enterprise, viewing digital checkouts, and checking out and placing holds on digital items will be unavailable during this window.

Thank you for your patience while our system is updated.

The SAILS app is back!

We received wonderful news from our vendors today. The SAILS app is back up and running. If you did not remove the app from your device, you can open it, log out of your account and log back in. You should see all the features you had been accustomed to using.

If you removed the app from your device, it is still available to download from the app stores so you can add it back to your devices and log in. You should see all of the information from your library account, including checkouts and holds.

Thank you for your patience!

Library Closings

Libraries need to close for various reasons and it's always best to look at the individual library's announcements. At the network, we try to share a group posting when we know of several libraries closing together. Here is a spreadsheet of libraries we know of, who will be closing because of the upcoming bad weather - SAILS Library Closings.

Intellectual Freedom and Censorship

SAILS membership votes to support the Joint Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Censorship

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC), The Massachusetts Library Association (MLA), The Massachusetts Library System (MLS), and The Massachusetts School Library Association (MSLA) support library staff’s efforts to ensure free, equal, and open access to information, guaranteed to everyone regardless of age or citizenship status, under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. To view the statement in its entirety, visit: https://mblc.state.ma.us/censorship-freedom/joint-statement.php

Password/Login Changes

When we start anonymizing your pins/passwords on October 6th, if you forget your password, you'll have two options. If you have an email address in your library account, you can go to our password reset link, and request a new password. If you don't have an email address in your library account, you'll need to get in touch with your library so they can reset it to the last four digits of the phone number in your record.

As of October 6th, library staff will not have access to view your password.

If you add your email to your account, you'll be able to go to the password reset link and create a new password, which is advisable. At that point, only you will know your password to access your library account. So be sure to ask your library to put your email in your account. Then you'll be sure to have 24/7 access to the system.

World Languages Collection in Overdrive

We are excited to announce that we have made titles available to borrow on Libby and OverDrive platforms in seven languages in addition to English and Portuguese! You can find them all here: https://sails.overdrive.com/library/world-languages or here: https://libbyapp.com/library/sails/guide/world-languages. 

We have made sure to modify our curated collections to reflect English titles so as not to overwhelm them with the new content. However, if you are used to searching in Libby or OverDrive simply by browsing “ebook” or “audiobook” for example, and you do not want titles in languages other than English to show up in your results, you will need to modify your preferences. If you are using the Libby app, this is a one time change that will prevent any content other than English from showing up for them. Here’s how: 

  1. Search for anything in the search bar.Select Preferences
  2. On the results page you will see a circle with a + next to “Preferences”. Click on it.
  3. The options for all of the different preferences will pop up.
  4. Click on language.
  5. Select English.
  6. Make sure to click “Apply Preferences” or it won’t save.
  7. Search again and notice the number in a white circle next to the word “Preferences”. That means you have successfully saved that preference (in addition to any other preferences you may have already saved).

In the OverDrive app, you will need to make this change each time you search. Here’s how:

  1. Click on the search bar.
  2. Underneath the search bar an “Advanced” option will appear. Click on it.
  3. In the Advanced Search screen, scroll down to the language menu.
  4. Under languages, select “English” and then “done”.
  5. This search will only return titles in English.
  6. To confirm this or to view another way to filter searches you can see a drop down menu labeled “Filters”. This will include the language filter and should show you anything you have set as a filter for your search.

New search result display – Enterprise

Today we are working to turn on a new feature in Enterprise. It gives an extra way to view what material formats are available on a title. Here is a pdf explaining what to expect. This is available only in Enterprise, not on the app or in the mobile version. This is something that's been requested and we'll certainly update if it becomes available. 

Managing available holds with “deliver later”

When a hold becomes available for you, you'll receive an email and a notification in your library's OverDrive collection. You have three days to borrow the hold or have it delivered later if you're not ready to read it.

Delivering a hold later means you stay at the front of the wait list, but pass the current copy to the next person in line.

Find details at: https://help.overdrive.com/en-us/2265.htm