From the President's Desk

As Alexandria enters its 21st year, it’s a good time for reflection and appreciation. We experienced record growth in 2008 and added more Alexandria customers than ever before. And growth projections for 2009 look even stronger!

I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to the Alexandria family of users who continuously provide feedback to improve our products and services. Our customers have been unfailing in their support, generous with their time and committed to helping us provide the best library automation and customer support in the industry.

We are looking forward to an exciting year, exponential growth and continued product enhancements to help you be successful.

Thanks
Bill Schjelderup ∞

Alexandria Answers

How do I print a discarded items list? How do I remove discarded items?

Inventory season is fast approaching and many of you have already started to weed items from your collections. We will go over how to view the items that you have discarded and how to remove them.

To view discarded items type the number 2 where it says Enter a Command or Barcode on the circulation screen and hit enter. This will bring up the discarded items system patron. To quickly view the items in discarded click on the patron details icon (looks like a person in front of a piece of paper).

To get a printed list go to Reports and Item Reports. Change the report name to Copy List and change the select by option to Copy Status. Two drop down menus will appear. Change both of them to Discarded and click print.

To remove discarded items go to File and Utilities. The utility type is going to be Items and the operation will change to Remove Discarded Copies. If you leave the date range blank it should select all items in Discarded status. Alternatively you can input a date range to only remove items that were put into the discarded status within that date range.

How do I enable/disable Capstone Interactive in Researcher?

Many of you who have upgraded to the most recent version of the program may have noticed a new icon on the Researcher for Capstone Interactive.

Capstone Interactive has interactive ebooks. Patrons can click on a book on the Capstone website to view and read the book on the computer. There are many features such as being able to have the book read to you and additional information on topics in the book that can be accessed instantly. You can click on the Capstone icon and see firsthand how it works. Simply click on one of the books and you are on your way.

To activate or deactivate this feature in Alexandria go to Edit, Preferences, Library Information and Global. Under the Capstone Interactive tab you will see a check box that says Show Link in Researcher. If this is checked the icon will be visible, if unchecked the icon will not be shown. ∞

Did You Know?

Did you know that your patrons can access book cover images, summaries, reviews, and more within Alexandria?

With Sneak Peek you can easily enhance your current library data with:

Cover Images—view cover art for books in your OPAC and Circulation

Book Reviews—read professional reviews from the

Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal, among others.

Book Summaries, Chapter Excerpts, & Annotations

Table of Contents

Awards

For pricing information or questions please contact sales at 1-800-347-6439. ∞

COMPanion Tradeshows

Click here for the list of tradeshows COMPanion will be attending for the rest of the year!

Kaaren's Corner

By Kaaren Linton, Librarian/Alexandria Trainer

eBooks and Alexandria

With this digital world in which we live, is it any wonder that ebooks are becoming more and more appealing to readers? Now, Alexandria users can take full advantage of trying some sample ebooks provided by Capstone Publishers.

You might ask what some of the advantages are of ebooks? First, your patrons are no longer limited by your library hours. eBooks have unlimited circulation with 24/7 access even from home. The use of ebooks promotes multi-sensory learning and, with the Capstone offerings, you will have engaging content that you can trust in a digital library format that also includes bilingual versions.

Capstone publishes non-fiction, fiction, picture books, interactive and audio books, databases and literacy programs for students in Pre-K to high school. In partnership with Alexandria, Capstone Publishers is providing 24 interactive ebook titles for FREE to Alexandria users. Hard to believe? Maybe, but it’s true! Of course, if you find that these titles are a hit with your library users, Capstone will be glad to sell you additional ebook titles.

Give it a try!

Importing the eBooks

Several simple steps are involved in getting these ebooks into your Alexandria system. These directions are based upon version 5.5.6, so you may want to update to that version if you have not already done so. (A current support subscription is necessary to update to a newer software version.)

Set Preferences

1. Go to Edit on the menu bar and select Preferences.

2. On the Preferences window, set the first drop-down menu in the upper-left corner to Book Vendors and the second drop-down menu to Default Local.

3. Click on the Capstone Interactive tab, then click on the box for Enable Capstone Interactive.  click on Save.

4. Change the first drop-down menu to Policies and the second drop-down menu to Global.

5. Create a new policy called eBooks and be sure to set it to No loan period, no Holds, no Reservations and no Fine Amount.  Click on Save and close Preferences window.

Download Microlif Records

6. Go to our website, www.goalexandria.com and click on the Capstone Interactive icon in the left frame. 
   This will open a form for you to fill out.

7. When you have filled in the form, click the Submit Query button at the bottom of the form.  A new web page will open allowing you to download both the microlif file with the MARC records in it and the Library Book Covers.

8. Click first on the Microlif file link and click on Save File on the window that opens.

9. Click on the link for the Library Book Covers and, when the window opens to save the file, click on the Save File button.

Import Item Records

4. Drag and drop the Microlif.001 file onto Alexandria.  This will open the Import window.

5. On the Item Settings tab, select your eBooks  policy from the Item Policy drop-down menu and from the Copies drop-down menu, select Never Add Copies; then, click on Start.

6. Close the Import window.

      Importing Book Cover Art

7.  Unzip the cover art file.

8. Go to File on the menu bar and select Utilities.

9. On the Utilities window, set the Utility Type to Items and the Operation to Import Item Pictures, then click on Run.

10. When asked if you want to Archive, click Yes.

11. Select the cover art folder.  Remember that the Transaction log will show errors for all pictures in the folder for which you do not have item records.  That's OK.

Accessing the eBooks

1. Open your researcher and search for the title, The Moon.

2. Double click on the title in the Search Results  to open it, then click on the Capstone Interactive icon.  Your Internet browser will open to the book.
   

3.            

Show Your Teachers!

I can see the k-3 and special ed teachers going wild about this.  No more Big Books  —   they can just connect their computer to a projector and the whole class can see the book and read along together.  What fun!

Enjoy!  —   And, THANKS, Capstone!