The Technology Committee met on Wednesday, March 12 and approved the proposal (pptx) to move from SCLS-hosted email to Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365 for email and calendaring. We're very excited about the upcoming changes!
All libraries with @scls.lib.wi.us addresses will be affected, and you probably have tons of questions --- "What's the timeline? What do I have to do? How will I learn about the features? When will my library transition? What if we're using Gmail instead of Thunderbird?"
More information can be found about the project in this Office 365 overview (pdf). Here are some quick highlights:
- The O365 project is HUGE.
- Everyone with a @scls.lib.wi.us will get a new address.
- SCLS staff are developing timelines.
- Our initial O365 rollout will include email, calendar, and contacts features.
- Old Thunderbird email will not be brought into O365, but will be accessible for some amount of time while the transition occurs.
- There will be a period where both @scls.lib.wi.us email and new email will both be accessible while libraries switch over to their new email addresses.
Libraries can take some action now while SCLS staff are finalizing the details and timelines.
- Read the O365 Overview and pay close attention to the "Next Steps" section at the end.
- View the archived April 8th "Office 365 Sneak Peek" webinar to see what the O365 interface has to offer.
- Join us for Tech Day on April 29 - in addition to lots of fun techie topics, there will be O365 demos in the afternoon.
- Directors can fill out the O365 form for their library to opt in, opt out, or let us know if they have questions.
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