Contacting the SCLS Automation Office

The SCLS Automation Office is the support center for LINK and is the registered Network Operations Center (NOC) for the SCLS Internet domain (scls.lib.wi.us). The office is staffed nearly every hour that LINK member libraries are open, except on Sundays. You may call the Automation Office at any time to request support.

The Automation support team is divided into 2 groups. One group handles issues that are specific to LINKcat's cataloging and circulation functions. The other groups handles general hardware, software, and networking problems.

For general hardware/software support, help with the Internet, for any help after 5:00 p.m. or on Saturdays, or if you're just not sure who to call, please call (608) 266-6394.

For problems specific to Circulation, Cataloging, Serials, Aquisitions or Telecirc, please call (608) 261-9109.

Please leave voice mail if no one is available to answer your call. In an emergency, you may use the pager to reach the Automation team member on call.


Support staff are in the office during the following hours:

Weekdays 8:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m.
Saturdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Sundays Closed

Please call the Automation Office for support if:

Don't hesitate to call if your documentation instructs you to.

In these cases, there is either no way for you to work around the problem or the problem is serious and requires the immediate attention of the system administrators.

For problems that are not urgent, you may also contact members of the Automation support team through LINKcat MAIL or send us Internet email.


Support Staff Voice Mail

During open hours, there are periods when all phone lines are busy or when no one is available to answer the phone. Your call will then be diverted to our voice mail system. The voice mail system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please leave a message if you are connected to the voice mail system. Voice mail is the most effective way to contact us if we are busy or not at our desks.

As soon as you hear the voice mail greeting message, you may press the <#> key on your phone to bypass the greeting and leave your message. When using voice mail, please identify yourself and which library you are calling from, and leave a detailed message regarding the nature of the problem. If appropriate, include your LINK station number in the message. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

In an emergency, you may reach the person on call by dialing our paging service (see below). Before using the pager, please do leave voice mail and allow at least fifteen minutes for the office staff to return your call. Often, the office is staffed but the operators cannot take your call directly because they are on another phone line or are otherwise occupied.


Emergency Support: When to Use the Pager

An emergency exists if any of your workstations stop functioning and you are unable to resolve the problem. Error messages regarding the system process known as TAP also constitute an emergency because TAP is responsible for recording and indexing all database changes. Please note the exact wording of any TAP error message you receive.

Please call the Automation office before using the pager (see above). If no one is available in the Automation office to answer your call, you should leave voice mail and wait at least 15 minutes before using the pager. A staff person is usually on hand but may have their hands full with another problem at the time of your call. Even if no one is in the office, the person on call is able to retrieve your voice mail message from any phone, and this may expedite the resolution of the problem.


Step by Step: Using the Pager

  1. Dial (608) 275-6213 from any touch-tone phone. If you do not have a touch-tone phone, please call another LINK site and ask them to page for you.

  2. You should hear the instruction "Please enter your numeric message after the tone" followed by a tone.

  3. After the tone, dial <your site's phone number>, followed by the <#> key. If you do not enter your phone number or if you forget to press the <#> key, the page will not work correctly.

  4. After you press the <#> key, the paging service should say "Thank you".

  5. Hang up. Your phone number is then flashed to the SCLS Automation staff pager, alerting the person on call of your request for assistance.

  6. Wait up to 15 minutes for the person on call to get back to you. If they do not, please page again.


This document is maintained by sclweb@scls.lib.wi.us and was last updated October 2, 1997.