Broadcast notices

Discover how to send a specific notice to all users or a subset of users in OLIB.

►Alerting> Notices

OLIB can be configured to send a broadcast email notification to all users who have an email address in the user record. Emails can be sent to everyone with a specific user category, everyone at a specific location, or a specified list of users.

Broadcast alerts can be used, for example to announce the introduction of a new service in the OPAC, or to indicate that the library is closed for building works.

The notice can be sent automatically by the Daystart program, or manually from the Notices domain.

 Caution: the broadcast notice will be sent every time daystart is run if Enabled remains set toYes - so ensure you set to No the day after it is run in daystart.

Notes regarding users:

If a Broadcast alert email is sent to a User, a record of this transmission will be included in the Broadcast Notices list box on the Users Notice History sheet and in the Notices Notice Alert History screen.

Create new broadcast email

OLIB does not have a sample Broadcast message, so create a new message. For example to announce that the library is closed for stocktaking:

  1. In Notices click New Record.
  2. Set Notice Type to Broadcast Email.
  3. Complete the following fields as required.
Field Instructions
Locatie

Use these if the notice is to go only to users at a specified location, or who belong in a specific category. Use both fields if the notice is to go only to users who are at the specified location AND in a specific category.

Use Search if you want to link the notice to specific users. If you use this field, the message will be received only by these users.

If the message is to go to all users on the system, leave these fields blank.
User Category
Users
Organisations Optionally, search for the organisations to whose members a broadcast email will be sent.
Subscription Service Optionally if you from the drop down, the broadcast email will be sent to whoever has an active subscription to this service.
Limit Membership Status Optionally, used to specify whether the notice is to be sent to users with a status of Current or Expired membership.
Brief / Full Description Describe and identify this notice.
Notice Text

Enter the fields, text and punctuation you wish to include in the email. This is using the same syntax as is used for configurable export formats to define the main body of the email. The OLSTF Tags table indicates which User and Copy tags are available for you to use in the Notice Text field. For example, to include data from a field in the user record, enter the User OLSTF tag surrounded by angle brackets. E.g.

<body><basefont size="3" color="blue" face="Arial"/>Please note that the library will be closed for stocktaking from 1 - 14 August <br/><br/>We will re-open for normal service at 9am on Monday 15th August.</body> Yours sincerely,<br/>Derek Taylor<br/>Application Services Manager<br/>Library Name<br/>

 Note: you cannot include User and Copy OLSTF tags if you want to send emails to the To List - there will be no user record to extract the data from.
From Address Set this to a valid email address, e.g. a generic address for your library.
Transmit Type

Set to To user - a Broadcast email would normally go to the users' email address. Alternatively use To To list. If so, the email will only be sent to the email addresses in the To List field.

If Transmit Type is set to To user's email address an email will be sent to users as follows:

  • if there are any users listed in the Users list box, an email will be sent to each of them, and only to these users
  • if there are no users listed in the Users list box, an email will be sent to each user with the specified User Category and/or Location.
  • if no user category or location is specified, an email will be sent to all users in the database
To List

Configure the recipients of the email:

  • In To List enter an email address the broadcast email should be sent to if not received by the User. If you have specified To user's email address in the Transmit Type and a user record does not include an email address, the notice will be sent to the email address in To List
  • In CC List enter an email address to which a copy of the broadcast notice should be sent
  • In BCC List enter an email address to which a blind copy of the broadcast notice should be sent

 Tip: in all three of the above fields, multiple email addresses can be entered. Multiple addresses should be separated with a semi-colon (;)
CC List
BCC List
Subject Line Enter suitable text to be used as the subject line of the broadcast notice.
Enabled

Set to Yes to cause OLIB to send the broadcast notice in daystart. If Enabled is set to No or is null, the broadcast notice will not be sent in daystart.

 Caution: the broadcast notice will be sent every time daystart is run if Enabled remains set to Yes - so ensure you set to No the day after it is run in daystart.

Send a broadcast email manually

The email can be sent immediately if required, without Daystart:

  1. In the Notices domain Enabled should = No.
  2. Retrieve the notice in the Notices hitlist, select it and in Other Options choose Send Now.
  3. OLIB confirms that the Alert is sent.

Any users with valid email addresses will receive the email. If there are problems with email addresses the emails will be returned by the mail system administrator.

Note that you cannot re-apply the Send Now action to a broadcast notice until the original Send Now has completed, and the Alert Sent message has been displayed and acknowledged.

An Are You Sure? message appears when sending a broadcast email that would be sent to more than 10 recipients, advising how many emails would be sent out.

These emails can be cancelled immediately as described below.

Cancel a broadcast email

Either:

  1. In the Notices domain obtain the Notice in the hitlist.
  2. To cancel it , check the box and select the option from Other Actions: Cancel Notices.

Or:

  1. In the Notice details go to the Notice Alert History sheet.
  2. Click Refresh in order to see the row in the Ready To Send Alerts list.
  3. Check the box to select the notice and from Actions select Cancel Notice.

OLIB cancels the email immediately. When you Refresh, the row is removed from Ready To Send Alerts and is displayed in Not Sent Alerts instead.

Send broadcast notices with attachments

It is possible to send a Broadcast Alert with an object attached to the notice record. This is sent as an attachment with the email.

 Note:  before saving it, ensure that both In Database and Import Now? are set to Yes so that the object is imported into the database when you save the new object. Ensure Incl As Attachment? remains set to Yes.

  1. Create the broadcast notice record as above and locate the Object field. If you click Search you can retrieve an existing object in the OLIB database and Insert it into the Object field. If you click New a screen is displayed for adding the details of a new object.
  2. On the new Object record screen, select the file Type, Version, Title and Status.
  3. Choose Locate By Filename to add a file.
  4. Set In Database to include the object in the OLIB database and Import Now fields to immediately import.
  5. Click the File check box and Save and Close..
  6. Browse to the files for adding and select them.
  7. Save and Close. The item appears in the Object field of the Broadcast Notice. Save the Notice.
  8. Set Incl As Attachment to Yes.

Send the email with attachment either automatically via Daystart or manually.

Send broadcast notices to users linked to an organisation or with an active subscription

OLIB can send broadcast emails to a subset of Users:

Users belonging to an organisation

This is recorded in the Organisation field in OLIB's User record. The Organisations domain is set up with your own predefined reference data.

In the Users domain ensure the users belonging to this organisation also have the Opt In? field set to Yes in the User Services sheet.

  1. Create a Broadcast Notice as normal.
  2. In the Organisations field search and insert the relevant organisation whose members are to receive the email.
  3. Set Transmit Type to To user.
  4. Set Enabled = Yes for Daystart to send the email.

Users with an active subscription

A broadcast notice can be configured so that the email is sent to all users with an active subscription to the subscription services specified in the Notice record: Subscription Services field. Ensure the Opt In field on the Users Services sheet on the user record is set to Yes.

Set the Transmit Type field to To user.