SLA Connect FAQ and Cheat Sheet
This document provides some background and basic information on Connect.
About SLA Connect
Welcome toSLA Connect the new online community for SLA members, which will become the main avenue for communicating and collaborating--eventually replacing or presenting new interfaces to the current listserves, wiki, and member directory. Here you can share ideas, discuss challenges, post questions, read and share blog posts, search for other SLA members, and more. Full access to this essential resource is for SLA members only; non-members should be encouraged to join to receive the full suite of benefits of this platform.
Basics to get Started
There are a few basics you should understand to use this tool most efficiently.
"Communities" are the groups to which you are automatically subscribed as a member. These include general membership (Open Forum), and your primary units based upon your membership criteria (Chapters, Divisions, Caucuses, etc.), as well as any unit-level boards or committee positions you may hold (Leadership, unit offices, SLA-wide task forces, etc.).
If you are an officer in your chapter, division, or caucus you will have a separate community that includes only your fellow unit leaders. Unit-specific task forces and committee groups (those not directly recorded in the SLA membership database) are not populated in this initial launch, and such groups will be evaluated for inclusion as the rollout continues in subsequent phases. For now, these groups should continue using other SLA and outside tools for desired functionalities (i.e. the SLA wiki, Google Drive, Google lists, etc.).
"Participate" is how you add material – post a message, start a discussion, add a file or a link.
Within each Community site you will find the following sections:
· Latest Discussion Posts: these Discussions can serve as collaboration spaces, SIG archives, or as an email distribution tool for units.
· Latest Shared Files: these Libraries can house reliable unit archives (both public and private).
· Profile, Preferences and Email messaging: from the top right corner pull-down you can set your Profile, your preferences, and send email to other SLA members using the My Account tab and the Inbox option. (Under My Connections you can create frequently used Contacts.)
A few details:
1. You’ve been subscribed to the “Daily Digest” version of Connect, which means that you will receive one email each morning containing all of the previous day’s post in an easy-to-digest format. You can change your preferences to
· “Real Time” to get an email every time there is a new post or
· “No Emails” and you won’t receive emails from the community but you can still view discussions online.
You can manage your subscriptions by going to Profile, My Account, and then Community Notifications.
To respond to a question, use the “Reply to Group” link to send your reply to the group (we encourage this if your response will help others and add to the SLA body of knowledge) or “Reply to Sender” to send a private offline message to the author of the message.
2. Missed a couple of posts in a discussion? Click the “View Thread” link at the bottom to see the original question and all replies.
3. Take a moment to search for your friends in the Member Directory (found under the “Network” dropdown at the top menu) and send them a Contact request. You can also add someone as a contact by selecting the menu underneath his or her photo in the discussion post.
WHO/WHAT/WHEN?
The SLA Connect communities are populated directly and immediately from SLA’s member database. All members in good standing can utilize this tool. SLA has officially switched from current list serves and wiki’s to SLA Connect. Please post all messages to SLA Connect rather than the list serves and wikis.
· List serves still be accessible until July 1, 2016.
· Wiki’s will remain active until August 1, 2016.
More information and instructions on wiki migration will be distributed soon.
HOW-TO SECTION:
Find Your Communities / Select your desired Community using "My Communities" from the Communities drop-down option. NOTE: You can also perform most functions across communities using the Participate Tab ... selecting where and what as you build your message/document. / Home > Communities > My Communities
Message (Post or reply to) / SENDING (and responding to) MESSAGES Once in a community, select the Discussion Tab and use Post New Message. (The message will appear always in the community, and will also be delivered via email to those opting for email forwarding.)
Respond to a message through either the email prompt or using the Reply to Discussion or the Reply to Sender option.
FAQ: Do I need to login every time I want to reply to an email?
If you have logged into your account once, and you are on the same machine, you can simply reply from the email ... without a password or need to log in again. You would only need to go to the interface to browse other discussions that are not directed to your email. (That depends upon how you set your preferences.) / Post:
Go to your community >
Add button
Reply:
Go to your community > latest discussions > Select message > Reply to discussion OR
Reply to sender
Library / Add an item to a Library (for shared files or links) by selecting the desired Library using the Library Tab.
Choose Create New Library Entry ... then enter the metadata and attach the material.
How to create new folders within a Library.
· Go to the Folder icon.
· There you can create new parent/child relationships as you add new folders. / Participate > Share a … (see options)
From library > folder icon > create new folder
Preferences
(set up) / You can change your personal information and control settings for all your communities from your individual account preferences … the pull-down is found on the top right corner.
In addition, when within any community (from the "My Communities" option), you will see a button to the right of the community name that says "Settings." There you can change email notifications from "real time," to "daily digest," or "not at all." / Home > Drop down (top right) > Profile > My Account
Your Contributions
(find them) / Put your name/term in the Search box (upper right) and the results page has facets by Community, by type of entry, etc. / Search box > Enter full name > search
Use “Reply to Discussion” when you think the community will benefit from the discussion between you and other members.
Use “Reply to Sender” for discussions that have to do with only the sender
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