Network Down Blues

 So the system is down at my Library system....the catalog, the internet, basically nearly everything, with no estimate when it will be back yet.  Apparently the fault of a malicious cyber attack; rumor has it some dunderhead in maintenance opened and email attachment they shouldn't have and....blam, hostile virus took everything down.  We literally just had cybersecurity training that drilled into our heads NOT to do this, but I guess some people have trouble transferring sample lesson into real life or whatever.

Only as strong as our weakest (dumbest) link, I guess.

Anyway, my options are extremely limited as far as workday activity.    I receive the incoming courier deliveries and open and sort them but I can't actually receive them in the ShareIt system because ShareIt is unable to communicate with the OPAC because it is down and thus it can't properly create temporary bibs, can't trigger automated holds, etc.  I also can't properly check-in returned materials yet, so those go in another pile. 

I did apply a lot of goo gone & elbow grease to remove a lot of sticky adhesive from many of the TAE courier delivery bags, and I do that with some of the incoming stock as well.

I can't even properly print TAE bag labels since they require the internet to produce a unique QR code before you can actually print them.  Can't check email, can't even work on existing patron requests because with the OPAC down, NCIP cannot verify patron eligibility at this time.

I did need to return a handful of non-ILL items accidentally returned to our library but needing to be returned to the actual owners, e.g. other area libraries nearby.  The bulk of which being from a neighboring county and a neighboring metropolis.  I tried to see if I could print directly from my phone (I could not)  and if I could use my phone as a "hotspot" to connect my work PC to the Internet via cellular data but this was also a #fail.   

I then happened to remember the Fax Zero web service.  I looked on our telephone list and saw that our business office upstairs has a fax number that's not an eFax; they have an old fashioned actual fax machine there.  I was able to generate a PDF file of the desired shipping labels and messaged a friend of mine in Seattle, Washington a link to Fax Zero and then a copy of the desired PDF and gave her the fax number of the business office.  Asked my friend to kindly fax the PDF back to me via the business office with a coversheet addressed to me in Interlibrary Loan.

And it worked!  I retrieved the fax printout from upstairs, used the paper cutter to properly size the TAE address labels and put them in the correct sized purple courier bags for tomorrow morning.  Crazy work around but that's my autistic specialty at work.

Got a friendly call from TSLAC inquiring about our status and I was able to tell them about our internet woes and that we're down for the immediate future.  The expressed their sympathies and asked if they could help.  I said I'd let them know and thanked for their concern.  They agreed roping in my PNW friend to help out via Fax was praiseworthy as an outside the box solution.  Low tech fix FTW!

I'm asking my boss if I can get some training on how to do "offline circulation" for regular FBCL materials and if I can shadow some circ people while they work while ILL is basically on hold for now.
She said she'd think about it and we can discuss the next workday.  I just wanna help out and not just be surfing TikTok all day.  

I was also able to do some ILL returns of already checked-in material by logging on to ShareIt via my Phone and processing three returns like that.  I will have to manually delete the hold record from each of these patron's accounts when the system is restored.  Luckily most of the items on my return shelf aren't due back until next month.

I really do hope we get the system restored by next week.  It will be disastrous for ILL and the library system as a whole if we're down for several weeks in a row.  Most of my borrowing requests are going to expire because they're very time sensitive and that is distressing.