Tip for January 28, 2019

When you're in Circulation and you need to find a patron fast, use the Lookup command. No, not the Lookup button — that is useful, but the L command will help you find your patron and make them current in fewer steps. 

For example...

1. In the command line, type L anderson <enter> to bring up a list of all patrons with the last name Anderson.
2. From there you can tab to the list of results, and tap <enter> to open the first result or key through the results and press enter. Viola! Darla is current in Circulation.

That was 2 steps and no clicking. 

As a comparison, if you press Lookup, you have to:

1. Press Lookup.
2. Type "anderson".
3. Select the name.
4. Then press <enter>.

That's 4 steps with clicking. 

So pull up your patrons the fast way—use the Lookup command.

Tip for January 22, 2019

You know you can go to /slideshow to view a slideshow of items as determined by your settings in Preferences > Researcher > Slideshow.

You know you can create an Explore button that links to your Slideshow.

But did you now that you're not limited to a single slideshow? You can set up as many custom slideshows as you want, each with a specific URL.

Here's how:

1. To get your primary Slideshow URL, add /slideshow to the end of your login URL. For example, https://demo.goalexandria.com/slideshow.
   • If you're in a centralized catalog, the URL will also include your site code at the end, like https://cudemo.goalexandria.com/slideshow?site=JES. 
     
     
2. Now, let's add a search string. At the end of the Slideshow URL, add ?search=search string. For example, if you want a slideshow with books about space, you'll enter ?search=((smart::space)). 
   
    Search strings can be complicated, but they don't have to be. For an easy way to get a search string, go to Search and perform a search or open the list you want, then click Share and copy the search string. You can paste the whole thing at the end of your Slideshow URL. 
   
   
3. But wait, there's more! You can add the parameters for speed, layout, and transition. 

• • For speed, add &speed=3 for 3-second intervals. 
  • For layout, add &layout=split or &layout=preview.
  • For transition, add &transition=fade or &transition=drawer or any other transitions that you can see in your Slideshow preferences.

•  Go to your site's Slideshow Preferences and tap View Slideshow. Copy that URL and manipulate the settings in another tab or window to see what works.

• Here's a breakdown of what your URL could look like:
   

Now you can use that custom Slideshow URL with any Explore button to lead your patrons to your beautiful Slideshow.

Read more about Custom Slideshow URLs in the Support Center.