By Wally Johnson

Technical Note Summary:

This document was written to assist Librarians in preparing Alexandria v.5 for a new school year.

Updating your Preferences

At the beginning of each year the Calendar and Last Date of School preferences must be updated. It is a good idea to review all of your preferences in Alexandria to ensure that no other changes need to be made for the new school year.

Last Date of School:

The last date of school preference, along with the starting and ending grade settings, control the patron grade level. To update the last date of school preference, go to Edit-Preferences and choose Library Information from the pull-down menu. Click on the School tab and look for the field titled Last Date of School is. Enter the date for the last day in your new school year, and then click Save in the upper right corner. Refer to Image 1

Image 1

NOTE: PATRON GRADE LEVEL IS ONLY UPDATED IF THE PATRON RECORD CONTAINS A GRADUATION DATE

You may sometimes want to select a date other than the last day of school. An example is inventory. If you shut down a month early to conduct an inventory, your last date of school preference should be set to a date before you start your inventory.

Another example would be to allow time to close the library. Many librarians will stop circulation a couple of weeks before school lets out so they can close down the library and collect materials that are still checked out to patrons.

You may also want to choose a date later than the last day of school. For example, your school may be open year round, conduct summer school, or you may wish to leave the library open for teachers.

Calendars:

To update your Calendar go to Edit-Preferences, and choose Calendars from the pull-down menu. The calendar should show the current month. You will want to go through the calendar month by month closing the days that the library is not open. Click once on a date field to close that day. The word Closed should appear in red letters. If you accidentally close a day that should be open, double click on it to reopen it. This should remove the word Closed, indicating your library is open that day. Refer to Image 2. To close a day for the entire year hold down the Alt key and click on the day of the week you wish to close.

Image 2

NOTE: WHEN CLOSING A DAY FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR, BE AWARE THAT THIS IS ONLY FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR. MOST SCHOOL YEARS ENCOMPASS TWO CALENDAR YEARS, SO YOU WILL NEED TO DO THE SAME OPERATION ON NEXT YEARS CALENDAR.

While setting up your calendar you may want to also include Period Due Dates. Period Due Dates are days that books are required to be returned by, regardless of when the book was checked out. Period Due Dates do not override circulation preferences, except when the preferences allow for a due date beyond the Period Due Date. Typically, one Period Due Date near the end of school is sufficient for most libraries. An example of when to use a Period Due Date is if your library closes in the middle of the year for inventory. Another example is if books must be collected at the end of a semester or term.

NOTE: PERIOD DUE DATES ONLY APPLY TO PATRON POLICIES THAT HAVE THE APPLY PERIOD DUE DATES OPTION ENABLED. CHECK YOUR PATRON AND CIRCULTION POLICIES TO ENSURE POLICIES THAT NEED PERIOD DUE DATES HAVE THIS OPTION CHECKED.

NOTE: IF YOU USE HARD DUE DATES IN YOUR POLICIES, NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO CHECK AND POSSIBLY UPDATE THEM.

The Calendar can also be used to keep notes and display alert notes. To create a note hold the Shift Key down and click on the day you wish the note to appear on. There are three types of notes available: Alexandria Researcher Alert Notes; Alexandria Librarian Alert Notes and General Date Notes. Notes entered in the Alexandria Researcher Alert Note field or the Alexandria Librarian Alert Note Field will be displayed on the appropriate client machine when it is started. General Date Notes appear only in the Calendar Notes Report and in the Calendar itself as a note pad on the date the note is set on. Alert Notes are great for reminding both patrons and librarians of important events occurring on specific dates, such as assemblies, meetings, scheduled library close time, holidays, upcoming due dates, library events, and after school activities. They can also be used to remind patrons or librarians of rules, policies and procedures.

NOTE: THE CALENDAR NOTES REPORT IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN VERSION 5.4.4 AND LATER.

Updating Patron Information

Each school year, new patrons must be entered into the system. Patrons can be entered manually or through importing a tab-delimited file. Current patrons can be also be updated using either method. For details on importing patron data see the section of the Alexandria User's Manual titled Importing Patron Information.

If your patrons have graduation dates, their grade or level should automatically update when you update the last date of school preference. If they do not have a graduation gate, they will not update.

All patron utilities can be found by going to File-Utilities, and choosing Patrons under the pull-down menu titled Utility Type. Most batch changes to patron information can be done through the Replace Information operation. The most common operations are replacing the patron policy or changing the patron location. The problem most often encountered when updating patron information is finding an acceptable selection range with which to make the change. Due to selection range issues, importing patron information is usually the best way to go. Refer to Image 3.

If your patrons have a graduation date, their Grade Level will change to Graduated once they graduate from school. To remove these patrons, go to File-Utilities and choose Patrons under the pull-down menu titled Utility Type. Choose Remove under the pull-down menu titled Operation. Under Select By choose Grade and type Graduated in the field titled Start With. Then click Run. Refer to Image 3.

Each year, you should renew your expired patron cards. The easiest method is to renew all your patrons at once. Go to File-Utilities and choose Patrons under the pull-down menu titled Utility Type. Choose Renew Patron cards under the pull-down menu titled Operation. Then click Run. All your patron cards will be renewed for one year. Refer to Image 3.

Image 3

Alexandria has two built in utilities that assist you in updating a patron's location or homeroom, and their policy. To modify the location of a group of patrons, type NP in the command line of the Alexandria circulation screen, followed by the new location. Then press Enter. Any patron barcode that is typed or scanned while in this mode will automatically be updated to the new location.

Changing a patron's policy is accomplished in a similar manner. Type UP in the command line of the Alexandria circulation screen, and then press Enter. This will bring up a list of your patron policies for you to select from. Select the appropriate policy and click OK. Any patron barcode that is scanned or typed while in this mode will automatically be updated to the new policy.

To exit either mode type a period and then press Enter.

Utilities and Backups

When starting a new year, it is a good idea to make sure your backups and utilities are on schedule. The rebuild should be run once a month. If you did not rebuild at the end of last year, it is a good idea to start the year off with one. You will also want to make sure your backup schedule and hardware are in order. It may be time to purchase more CD's or replace worn out Zip disks. For details on how to back up or creating a back up schedule, refer to the section in the Alexandria User's Manual titled Backing Up Your Data, or technical notes Creating a Backup of Alexandria for Windows and Creating a Backup of Alexandria for Macintosh. This is also a good time to double-check your archive options. Go to Edit-Preferences, and choose Archive from the pull-down menu. Refer to Image 4. Make sure that your computer will be on and Alexandria will be running when your database is set to archive.

Image 4

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, PLEASE CALL TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT 1-800-347-4942.