Written by Jeremy Putnam

Technical Note Summary:

This guide will walk you through performing circulation using a Palm Scanner equipped with the SmartScan software. The information is compatible with all versions of Alexandria in the Macintosh and Windows environment.

Getting Started:

The Palm Scanner has the ability to do circulation when your computer systems are down. It can perform most of the circulation commands available on the Alexandria circulation screen, with the exception of those requiring additional input, like reservations. For an example of circulation commands, you can print a list of circulation command barcodes within Alexandria. In Alexandria version 3 go to Reports-Other Reports and choose the Command Bar Codes report. In Alexandria version 5 go to Reports-Special Reports and choose Command Barcodes from the pull-down menu.

NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT HAVE SMARTSCAN INSTALLED ON YOUR PALM SCANNER, PLEASE REFER TO TECHNICAL NOTE T0007.01. IT WILL WALK YOU THROUGH THAT PROCESS.

Please be aware that when using the Palm Scanner to perform circulation any alert notes that would pop up, such as an overdue alert or a fines alert, are ignored and the command is processed. Because of this, it is possible to check out more items to a patron than allowed, or allow them to check out an item when they have fines that would otherwise prevent them from doing so.

To set up your Palm Scanner for circulation, make sure you have SmartScan running and tap the menu button in the lower left of the screen. Under the Options menu, choose Category Setup. Under Description, name it ‘Circulation'. Under Command enter a ‘.' (Period), without the apostrophes. This will tell Alexandria to set circulation to check in/out mode instead of inventory. Tap Save in the lower left part of the screen, then OK. Please refer to Figure One.

Figure 1

You will now be back on the main SmartScan screen. Look on the right side of the screen under the Scan Category heading. Click on the Circulation category you created and you are ready to begin scanning barcodes into your Palm Scanner. The order you scan the barcodes is very important when performing circulation with your Palm Scanner.

To get used to the process, scan one or two items out to yourself or a test patron. Make sure to scan your patron barcode first, and then the barcodes of the items checked out to that patron. Please refer to Figure Two. Barcodes 1001 and 1002 are patron barcodes, while barcodes 2001, 2002 and 2003 are for items.

Figure 2

Once you finish scanning barcodes into your Palm Scanner, you are ready to HotSync the palm and import the Circulation.txt file into Alexandria.

Importing:

Place the Palm Scanner into the cradle and press the HotSync button, located on the front of the cradle. The Palm Scanner will now connect to your computer and download the Circulation.txt file into your Users folder.

NOTE: BEFORE DOING ANY TYPE OF IMPORT, IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A CURRENT BACKUP OF YOUR DATA FILE.

The next step in the process is to import the Circulation.txt file into Alexandria. If you are using Alexandria Version 5, in the circulation screen press the * key (shift + 8), and then press Enter. The Import Commands window will appear. Click on Add File to locate the Circulation.txt file. Once found, click on Open, and then in the Import Commands window click on Run. Please refer to Figure Three.

Figure 3

If you are using Alexandria Version 3, in the circulation screen enter *@ (shift +8 and shift +2) and press return. The Add File window will appear asking for a script file to process. Once you have selected the Circulation.txt file to import, simply click on Open. Please refer to Figure Four.

Figure 4

If you are using SmartScan Conduit V1.1, the file will be found:

Windows - c:\palm\(your user name)\SmartScan\Category (This is the category where you scanned the barcodes. For all of our examples it is the Circulation category)

Macintosh - Hard drive\Palm Folder\Users Folder\(your user name)\ Category (This is the category where you scanned the barcodes. For all of our examples it is the Circulation category)

If you are using SmartScan Conduit V2 (released winter 2002), the file will be found:

Windows - c:\palm\(your user name)\SmartScan\(date the file was hot synced)\ Category (This is the category where you scanned the barcodes. Will include the time it was hotsynced. For all of our examples it is the Circulation category)

Macintosh - Hard drive\Palm Folder\ Users Folder\(your user name)\(SmartScan with date the file was hot synced)\ Category (This is the category where you scanned the barcodes. Will include the time it was hotsynced. For all of our examples it is the Circulation category)

Clearing Barcodes:

The final step in the inventory process is to clear the barcodes from the Palm. You do this by selecting the Circulation category and then clicking on the menu button. Tap on Clear Category under the Options menu, and then click on Yes, when the question to remove all barcodes appears. Please refer to Figure Five and Figure Six. The barcodes are erased from your Palm Scanner's memory and you are ready to begin scanning barcodes again.

Figure 5

Please note that scanning barcodes with the Palm Scanner is quite battery intensive. Leaving the Palm Scanner in the HotSync cradle will drain the batteries, even when not in use. SmartScan has a built in warning system that will notify you before your batteries are completely drained. When the low battery warning is displayed, you must change the batteries immediately to prevent data loss. Please note that while changing the batteries, you have approximately two minutes before the Palm Scanner will lose all information saved in its memory. If the batteries drain completely, or you take too long changing them, you will lose the SmartScan program and all scanned barcodes saved on the Palm Scanner.

To avoid losing data, it is a good idea to HotSync your Palm Scanner before changing the batteries. If you do lose the SmartScan program from your Palm Scanner, simply HotSync and SmartScan will be reinstalled.

NOTE: IF THERE ARE QUESTIONS ABOUT SETTING UP YOUR NEW DATA STATION OR ABOUT CONFIGURING YOUR CLIENTS, PLEASE CALL TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT (800) 347-4942.