End of Year Procedures in 5.5.2.4
By Christopher Plummer
Technical Note Summary:
This technical note was written to assist librarians with the end-of-year process in Alexandria version 5.5.2.4. Although inventory is an end-of-year procedure, it is covered in Easy Inventory Steps v5 found here.
Calendars
In most school libraries, at the end of the year, circulation comes to an end and those items that are still out should be checked back in. Setting the calendar properly in Alexandria can automate this process. To view or change the Calendar preferences, go to Edit and Preferences. From the top drop down menus choose Calendar and Global. The calendar preferences should be examined at least at the beginning and ending of each school year. For end of year procedures you may choose to set a period due date which will create a global due date that loaned items must be returned by. A period due date is set by clicking twice on the desired date in the calendar (it will read “period due”). It is important to select a day early enough to allow all the items to return and overdue notices to be sent out for all outstanding circulation. The period due date will apply only to patron policies that you have set to be affected.
Calendars – Setting a Period Due Date and Closed Days
In some libraries, it may be beneficial to set the days following the period due date to closed. To close a day, click on it once in the calendar. Closeing days on the calendar will stop circulation on those days that are closed. Once the period due date is passed or all the books are turned in, do not check out books until the next school year. In order for a period due date to apply to checked out items the Apply period due dates option inside of the patron policy settings must be checked prior to items being checked out. Patron polices are found under Edit then Preferences, and then choose Policies and Global from the drop down menu.
Patron Policies – Applying Period Due Dates
At this time it may be appropriate to prepare the calendar for next year or, if applicable, for circulation that occurs during the summer.
Hard Due Dates
Some libraries use hard due dates on certain policies to allow items to be checked out all year. If the library is using hard due dates to control check out for extended periods, then before circulation can resume next year, those dates must be changed. The hard due date is set within the specific item policy. You can get to your item policies by going to Edit, then Preferences, and then select Policies
and Global from the drop down menus. Click once in the dot next to Items to display your item policy. It is on this screen you can modify or remove a hard due date. Keep in mind a hard due date will override all other due dates, including a period due date.
Item Polices – Hard Due Dates
Circulation
Before closing the library, it is a good idea to run a Loaned Items Report to see what materials are still in circulation. To see what items are still checked out, go to Reports, select Circulation Reports and click on Run to generate the Loaned Items report. This report will show all items that are out, even those that are not yet overdue.
Circulation Reports – Loaned Items report.
Using the Loaned Items report, a librarian can determine which items should be checked out as lost or discarded and what fees and fines should be assessed for those items.
Checking Out Books to the Lost
If you have decided that it is time for all items that are not checked back in to be set to lost, use the item utility to aid in this process. Go to File and Utilities, leave the Utility Type set to Items, and change the Operation to Check Out. Under Select By choose Copy Status and then under From and Through select Checked Out. This will move all the items that are listed in a Loaned Items report to Lost. If an item is returned, it will show as available once it is bookdropped. It will also automatically change all patrons with those items to be charged the cost of the book. It will not differentiate bettween teachers and students. If you need to be more specific in your selection you can select by individual barcodes.
Check Out Utility – Lost Copies
Super Summary
The Super Summary report was designed to give valuable circulation statistical data after inventory or at year-end. To run the Super Summary, go to Reports and then Item Reports. Select Super Summary under Report Name. If an inventory has recently been completed, include the day inventory started in the Inventory Start Date field. If a recent inventory has not been completed, use the first day of school and ignore all inventory statistics in the report. If you want to know more about the Super Summary report, see the chapter on item reports in the Alexandria manual for more details.
Item Reports – Super Summary
Removing Lost and Discarded Items
Many libraries remove all items, which have been lost or discarded. Before removing lost or discarded items, reports should be run to show which items will be removed. To see reports on lost or discarded items go to Reports and then Circulation Reports. The report name is Special Item Lists. Under format select either lost copies or discarded copies.
Special Item Lists – Viewing Lost or Discarded Items
To remove lost items, go to File and Utilities. The utility type is Items; change the Operation to Remove Lost Copies. Lost copies can be removed based on a date range by filling out the Starting and Ending Dates. Click on Run to start the utility. An archive or backup should be made prior to running this or any utility. The same procedure can be used for removing discarded copies. From the Operations menu, select Remove Discarded copies and follow the instructions listed above. Please keep in mind that any copy or item that is removed through these utilities is completely erased from the collection.
Item Utilities – Removing Lost Copies.
Removing Graduated Students
At the end of the school year you may want to remove the senior class and advance your other student’s grade levels. You will also want to update the last day of school setting (assmuming the last day for the current school year has passed). If you want to remove your senior class go to File then Utilities. The Utility Type is Patron, and the Operation is Remove. Select by Grade and put that grade in the “Starting With” and “Ending With” fields. Once you run this utility, the patrons in the grade you selected should be removed from your system.
Patron Utilites – Removing the graduating class
Now you can move your other students up one grade level, preparing the system to import new students next year. This is done by going to Edit then Preferences then selecting Patron Management and Global from the drop down menus, from there click on the Levels tab. By pressing the Advance Grades button, all patrons with a grade will be advanced one grade level according to the Grade Table found in the middle of this screen.
Patron Management Preference
Once you have advanced your patrons’ grades you can set the last day of school for the next school year, which is found under the Grade Table on this same screen.
Updating Patron Policies
In some libraries, the patrons’ policy is set to match the patrons’ grade level. Consequently, each school year, each student’s record must be updated so that their policy matches their new grade level. Such changes can be made at the end of the current school year or at the beginning of the next one. These changes should not be made until the patron record has been updated to reflect the
patron’s grade level for next year. To change a policy for a grade level, go to File and then Utilities. Change the Utility Type to Patrons, and the Operation to Replace Information. Patron Policy will automatically display under Replace. Under “With,” choose the policy that corresponds with the grade you are changing. Under “Select By” choose Grade and type in the grade you want to correspond with the policy. Click on Run to start the Utility. When prompted, archive the database. Follow this procedure with each level, starting at the highest and descending to the lowest.
Patron Utilities – Replacing Patron Policies
Renewing Patron Cards
Patrons in Alexandria have an expiration date in their records (an option that is turned on by default). The number of days before a card expires is set in each patron policy’s settings. The default is 365 days. If your library does not expire cards, you can check the disable expiration dates preference in the global Library Information preferences.
Global Library Information Preferences
After closing the library or prior to opening it next year, it may be appropriate to renew all patron cards. The renew patron card utility will renew any expired cards and will also renew cards that will expire within the next fourteen days. To renew patron cards, go to File and Utilities. Change the Utility Type to Patrons and the Operation to Renew Patron cards. Click on Run to start the utility.
Patron Utilities – Renew Patron Cards.
There is also a utility available to set the expiration date. Go to File and Utilities, change the Utility Type to Patrons and the Operation to Replace Information. Under Replace, choose Card Expiration, and under With enter a date. Click on Run to start the Utility. All patrons will have their cards set to that expiration date. As always, it is recommended that an archive be created prior to running the utility.
Patron Utilities – Renewing Patron Cards to a Specific Date
Removing All Patrons
NOTE: THE PATRON UTILITY LISTED BELOW IS ONLY FOR SCHOOLS THAT REMOVE THEIR PATRON DATA FROM YEAR TO YEAR.
Some school libraries start each new school year by importing all new patron information from a file. They typically remove all the patrons from Alexanidra before they can do this.
To remove all patrons, go to File and Utilities. Change the Utility Type to Patrons and the Operation to Remove. Click Run to remove all patrons. As always, an archive or backup should be created before running this utility.
The Select By option can be used to limit the scope of this utility. The Always Remove selection will remove patrons even if they have items checked out to them or have outstanding fines. If this option is unchecked, patrons with fines or books still checked out will remain in the database. The Clear Patron History option will remove all history for any patrons that are removed by this utility, if the patron history remains it can impact certain statistical reports.
Patron Utilties – Removing all Patrons
Rebuild
The Alexandria database requires routine maintenance to keep it in working order. Periodically a rebuild must be run. Immediately prior to performing the last backup of the year, the database rebuild should be run. To run a rebuild, go to File and then Utilities, change the Utility Type to Database and click on Run.
Database Utilities – Rebuild.
Creating an End of Year Backup
The last thing to do before closing the library is complete a permanent backup of the data for this year. This backup should be stored off campus or in a fire-resistant safe. For instructions on creating a backup, please review chapter one of the Alexandria User’s Manual or read either
or
At the end of the year, it is a good time to review and revise your backup strategy. Examine the media on which the backup is stored as well as the device used to copy the data to that media. Drives and disks may need to be replaced or maintained.
NOTE: IF THERE ARE QUESTIONS ON ANY END-OF-YEAR PROCEDURES, PLEASE CONTACT TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT (800) 347-4942.
