From the President's Desk

New faces and a new school year . . . We can certainly empathize with you this year. Alexandria has experienced a phenomenal increase in the number of users in the past few months.

Like you, we have many who are old friends we’ve known and served for years and we have numerous new users with whom we are getting acquainted.

COMPanion employees, from Tech Support to Sales to Operations, are committed to providing you the best possible service. While most departments are open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Time, remember that Tech Support is always there — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Sales..................1-800-347-6439
Tech Support.....1-800-347-4942

Thanks
Bill Schjelderup ∞

Tech Article

Converting from Alexandria Version 5 to Version 6

With the release of Alexandria v6 many of you probably have questions on how to upgrade to this new version. Please note that this update will require new registration, and you must contact our sales department prior to beginning the update process to v6. We suggest filling out the form found at http://www.goalexandria.com/v6.html though you are also welcome to contact a Sales Representative at 1-800-347-6439. We also recommend familiarizing yourself with Alexandria v6 by downloading the v6 demo at:
www.goalexandria.com/support/training/demo.html
Once your data file has been imported or rebuilt into v6, it can not be downgraded again. Consider this carefully as it is essential to understand the implications before installing the v6 upgrade.

On Macintosh:
1 - Backup Your Data (Important!)
2 - Install v6 from the installer.
3 - The v6 application will install to “YourHardDisk”\Applications\Companion Corporation\
Alexandria, and will continue storing your data and support folders in Users\Shared\Library\Application Support\
Alexandria Support
4 - The initial launch will require a rebuild to convert your data to the v6 format.
5 - After first checking to be sure the old application is the only item in the folder, move the existing Alexandria v5 Folder on your hard drive to the Trash.

On Windows:
1 - Backup Your Data (Important!)
2 - Determine if your existing installation of v5 stores its data in the same folder as the application by looking in C:\Program Files\Alexandria v5 Folder for the Data, Log and Archive folders.
3 - If it does, rename the Alexandria v5 Folder to Alexandria Support and copy it to the appropriate location. On XP & Windows 2003 that is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Alexandria Support. On Vista that is C:\Program Data\Alexandria Support (may be hidden)
4 - If the Data, Log, and Archive folders are not stored in the C:\Program Files\Alexandria v5 Folder, verify they’re located in one of the two above support locations then put the old Alexandria v5 Folder in the Recycle Bin.
5 - Install v6 from the installer.
6 - The initial launch will require a rebuild to convert your data to the v6 format.

This information is also available in tech videos on our website here.
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Alexandria Answers

Backing up in Version 5

Backups are the most important thing you can do for your library. At the beginning of the school year you spend hours cataloging books and inputting patrons and you don’t want to have all your work gone in the blink of an eye in the event of an accident such as a power outage or computer failure. Therefore, it is critical that you have a backup of your Alexandria data. We recommend backing up at least once per day. It is also a good idea to backup before and after making time consuming adjustments to your database. In addition to your backups, Alexandria will ask you to archive prior to any utility or import. It’s easy to forget to backup when everything is running great, but that isn’t what backups are for. They are a life saver when things aren’t running great, due to human error or things beyond your control. Tech Support’s worst call to take is when something has happened to the computer and there is no backup file for the library. Information is lost and a lot of work is created if regular backup procedures haven’t been implemented and followed.

We have created a video that will walk you through the backup process here. If you have been put in a situation where you need to restore from a backup, please call Tech Support and let us help you. Sometimes there are things we (Tech Support) can do to streamline the process, helping you save time and energy. We have helped many customers restore their data in a variety of situations, and we have lots of suggestions and tips to make recovering from a backup easier.

Tips to remember when making a backup:

• Do not keep all your backups on the same computer
drive. If that computer is broken for whatever reason,
your backups might be gone also.
• Keep a hard copy of your backup,
burn one to a CD-ROM and put it in a safe place.
• Don’t keep just one backup, some-
times that one file won’t have what you need in it. The more backups the merrier.
• When you make a large adjust-
ment to your database, check the
transaction log to ensure there are
no errors. It’s easier to load from a backup right after the damage was done rather than find out days later after circulating that there is a problem.
• Backing up on the fly can be as easy as going to:
“File>Archive Now” on your computer when Alexandria is running.
• Your network administrator may already be making
backups of your Alexandria data, see if this is the case.
• Finally, you can never have too many backups. ∞

Sales Promotion

We appreciate your continued support of COMPanion Corporation and of Alexandria. This year COMPanion Corporation is celebrating 22 years of service and we look forward to serving you well in the many years to come.

As an added benefit to our customers, we will be sending out monthly e-mail announcements to ensure you are notified of the exciting options available with Alexandria, which will help increase the value of your libraries. This month, we have chosen to highlight the wonderful capabilities included in the “A” License bundle.

Why move from the “M” License to an “A” License?

The “A” License includes:

Enhanced Web Capabilities for librarians and patrons: with Web Librarian, accomplish key librarian tasks such as circulation, cataloging, and reporting by using a normal web browser. Patrons can easily search your library collection from any computer with internet access, including their home computer during non-library hours.

MARC Search allows you to find, choose, and easily download MARC records seamlessly into Alexandria without ever leaving your program!

WAN (Wide Area Network) allows libraries within a district to search each other’s collections while maintaining autonomy.

Cross Platform functionality allows Alexandria to work natively in a PC, Macintosh, or mixed computer environment.

Explore is a fully customizable, icon-based search interface for more visual learners to use when searching your catalog. This option also allows you to create reading lists, highlight awards lists, launch applications, and even open websites and documents with the click of a button.

Z39.50 helps your patrons easily search other library collections, such as public and college libraries, using the familiar Alexandria interface.

For additional information regarding the “A” License or questions regarding enhancements to your Alexandria program, please do not hesitate to contact our sales team at (800) 347-6439 or sales@companioncorp.com. ∞

Kaaren's Corner

By Kaaren Linton, Librarian/Alexandria Trainer

What’s New?
Alexandria Version 6!

The word is out—Alexandria v6 has been released and will be available to our existing customers this fall. This upgrade includes many new enhancements as well as a new look and feel that we believe will be enjoyed by all. This is an exciting time for us at COMPanion and we have been looking forward to introducing you to the new Alexandria!

The release of the new version will be controlled, which means that current customers will not be able to switch immediately by going to the update server. The switch to v6 will require new registration codes. Before receiving the new codes, we want to be sure that you are prepared for the changes you’ll find in v6.

Many new and beneficial features have been added. Certain areas of the program have been changed drastically and some have even been relocated to different places. This will take some getting used to and we want you to have a chance to see and familiarize yourselves with Alexandria’s new look and feel before you jump right in. For this reason, before you make the switch, we want you to download the v6 demo and work with it for a while. Familiarize yourself with the new features and with the changes that have been made. This will make your transition to v6 much smoother.

Preparing for the Change to v6

To download the v6 demo:
• Go to
www.goalexandria.com/updates/index.html
• Click on the Alexandria 6.0 update link.
This link will take you to
www.goalexandria.com/updates/redirect_alex_6.html
• When you get to this page, click on the
“Current Alexandria v5 Users” button which will take you to www.goalexandria.com/v6.html
• Fill out the form, which will then open
another web page:
www.goalexandria.com/v6thankyou.html, which will allow you to download the demo, and view a small video.

Filling out the form allows us to have your contact information and get you on the list to receive the new registration codes for v6 when the time comes to make the switch to v6.

Following these simple steps and downloading the demo to play with will put you well on your way to being ready for v6.

What’s New in Alexandria v6?

• You no longer have to be fluent in “icon.”
The first thing that you notice is that icons are gone and real words are back! Tabs now have sub-tabs to select instead of icons.

• Inventory Assistant will make inventory
a breeze. Even for the novice, inventory is now a guided activity that makes this task so much easier and less confusing.

• MARC Search has been given added
power in Title Assistant which checks your own collection first to see if the record already exists in your database before adding a duplicate title record.

• Tools is a new menu item and many func-
tions of Alexandria are now under Tools— Utilities, Reports, Imports, Exports, etc.

• Reports and Utilities have a whole new
look. There are tabs and sub-tabs now in these areas. One feature of particular note is that reports can now be scheduled to run at a specified time of day and interval of time and be sent to email addresses as attachments. Just set it once and forget it. Isn’t that a dream come true for handling your overdue notices?

• Gone is the installed Researcher. It is all web-based and even the web Researcher has a new look and new features such as search filters and results filters that are so useful for your patrons.

• No more printed manual. Both the manual
and the help are Wiki. You are able to purchase the Alexandria v6 Getting Started Guide in our online store,
www.goalexandria.com/store.

There are so many more features that it would take a book to tell you about all of them. So, when you have time and are ready, download the v6 demo and check it out for yourself!

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COMPanion Tradeshows

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