Tip of the Week

Tip for: 04.17.2006

Some Copy History Changes

Summary: Many of you, who have updated to v5.5.1, may have noticed that some of the entries in a copy's history on the Copy Stats tab are showing as only a barcode. This is due to a change in how these history entries are indexed. This tip will discuss how to find a copy's history as well as the reason for this change if you are not familiar with where this information is located.

To view Copy History:

• If the item is current or you can scan the barcode of the copy to make it current, click on the Title in the Current Item pane of the Circulation window.
• If not, use the Show drop-down menu to select Items.
• Choose Find from the Items drop-down menu and type in the title of the copy you wish to view.
• Click the Find button.
• With the item selected, double click on the Copy to view.
• From the Copy window, click on the Copy Stats tab. You will notice that the tab shows the current status of a copy, as well as up to the last three patrons who have used the copy.

In earlier versions of Alexandria, the way the copy history was indexed could cause an issue if a barcode was reused for a new patron. The copy history would show the new patron's name, as if they were the one who had checked the copy out, when it was actually a patron who had been assigned the barcode number previously. For example, Johnny checks out an item and his barcode is 1078. After Johnny returns the book, he transfers schools, so the librarian assigns his 1078 barcode to Suzy, who is a new student. If you were to look at the status of the copy that Johnny had checked out, it would now seem as if Suzy checked it out.

Alexandria doesn't care if there are gaps in barcode ranges, so there is no need to reuse barcodes unless desired. To alleviate this confusion, the way this information is indexed has been changed. In order to accommodate this change, older entries will just show the barcode of the patron, rather than both name and barcode. New copy history entries will still show both the patron's name and barcode.

By making the change to the way copy history is indexed, we hope to make it less confusing when patron barcodes are reused and we hope this tip has helped to alleviate the confusion about why only barcodes are showing for stats prior to updating to v5.5.1.

Thank you,

The Alexandria Staff Librarians

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