Oh boy, we have some fun MyScheduler updates to share! With this release we’re aiming to make life easier for admins, and what better way to keep your sanity intact than to add centralized MyScheduler management and a whole new way of presenting your MyScheduler appointments to the public? We’re excited to hear what you think, so let’s get right to it!
MyScheduler Groups
Have you ever wished for more control over the way your site’s MyScheduler appointments are shown? Maybe you’d like to display appointments with librarians based on higher level groupings, like showing all librarians from a particular branch/campus together, or show a breakdown of librarians by subject speciality. Well we have good news – now you can now create “Groups” of My Schedulers within your LibCal system!
When you create groups using the new options, patrons will see an accordion list of all of the “groups” you create. Patrons can browse available groups, select an individual librarian within a group, or use the “No preference” option to sign up with any available librarian in that particular group.
To try out the new MyScheduler groups, admins can head to Admin > MyScheduler Groups. And when you’re there, you’ll also find a couple of additional new MyScheduler features, including…
Centralized MyScheduler Management
One of the most frequent requests we hear from Admins is for a way to centralize managing MyScheduler settings and appointments for other users. We’ve heard you loud and clear, so today we’re thrilled to make life easier for site Admins and announce this new feature – Admins can now view and edit MyScheduler availability and appointments on behalf of other users. You’ll find these new options in two places:
- In the MyScheduler Groups page – Admin > MyScheduler Groups
- In the Manage Accounts page – Admin > Accounts
With these new options, Site Admins can now add and delete appointment availability on behalf of other users, so you can make sure availability information stays up to date. Site Admins can also view upcoming appointments, and can edit/update appointments for other users in case of a staffing emergency.
Even better, we’ve also added centralized statistics tracking for MyScheduler appointments! Admins can now view individual MyScheduler stats reports for each librarian. We’ve also added a consolidated MyScheduler stats report to give you the full picture of appointment bookings in your library on a year by year basis. You’ll find these stats reports under Stats > MyScheduler > Overview / Per User.
Room Booking Updates
We also have a couple of small-but-helpful settings updates for Room Bookings:
- Allow a single user to reserve multiple rooms in the same booking – This setting is key for folks who have flexible meeting spaces – perhaps 2 smaller rooms that can be combined into one larger meeting space. Previously, LibCal would prevent booking multiple rooms with the same email address – but now, you can control this behavior with a new system setting! Head to Room Bookings > Settings > Edit Group > Restrictions and look for the checkbox – “Multiple rooms can be booked at the same time by same user”.
- Customize Room Capacity Ranges – We’ve added an option to control the room booking capacity ranges that are displayed in your LibCal Room Booking page. This setting filters rooms based on the “capacity” setting you enter under Rooms > Edit Room > Capacity. Head to Room Booking > Settings > General Settings to create custom ranges.
As always, thanks to everyone who pitched in ideas and thoughts on this update. We’re very excited about the new MyScheduler features and can’t wait to see the new features in action and hear what you think!
YES!! The new “Per User” statistics for My Scheduler are A-MA-ZING!! This is exactly what I have been wanting, so that I can report not only the actual number of appointments made, but the number of appointment slots made available. Thank you, Springshare!!