Tip of the Week

Tip for: 01.13.03

Adding Patron Pictures

Alexandria has the capability to store and display pictures of patrons. This can help you to quickly identify the correct patron record when checking out books, etc. There are several ways that these pictures can be added: drag and drop, copy and paste, or importing. It is important that you have QuickTime installed on your computer in order to display the pictures. Alexandria accepts most standard image files, for example GIF, JPEG, BMP, and PICT. You should be aware that storing the pictures will take up additional memory and adds to the time it takes to do an archive or a rebuild.

To drag and drop patron pictures:

Open the Patron window by selecting Patrons from the Show drop-down menu.

Then, use the Find command from the Patrons menu to make the patron current whose picture you wish to add.

Next, open the file with the pictures.

Click and hold down the button on the picture file while moving the file onto the patron record.

Let go of the mouse button once the box outline is matched up with the box for the patron picture.

To copy and paste patron pictures:

Open the Patron window by selecting Patrons from the Show drop-down menu.

Then, use the Find command from the Patrons menu to make the patron current whose picture you wish to add.

Next, Open the picture of the patron in the application used to create it.

Highlight the picture and then choose Copy from the Edit menu.

Click back on the Patrons window in Alexandria.

Select Paste Patron Picture from the Patrons drop-down menu.

To import patron pictures:

Many photo companies now offer student pictures on CD. This CD can be used to import pictures into Alexandria. Alexandria will attempt to match these pictures based on the file name (i.e. 1001.jpg), so it is important that the photo company be informed ahead of time how to name the file. When importing these files, Alexandria will look for Barcode, then Govt ID, and lastly, Community ID. If Alexandria does not find a match for any of these, it will ignore the picture and report it in the Transaction log. As with any utility that will make changes to your data, it is a good idea to run an archive or create a backup of your data prior to running the utility. (When the Import window comes up after selecting the file, the Archive First option can be checked in order to create an archive prior to running the import.)

With Alexandria running, select Utilities from the File menu.

Then, choose Utility Type, Patrons.

Under Operation, click on Import Patron Pictures.

If necessary, use the Select By menu to narrow the patrons to have pictures added.

Click Run to start the utility.

This opens a standard operating system explorer window which you use to direct Alexandria to the correct directory folder (i.e., CD-ROM).

Then, click Choose.

The Import window will open with the selected file to be imported.

Click Start Import to complete the import of the pictures. If you checked Archive First, Alexandria will create an archive prior to importing the pictures.

We hope these steps will help you as you go through the process of adding patron pictures to your patron records.

The Alexandria Staff Librarians