Pardon the mess! The Support Center is undergoing construction. 
21.4 Release Notes
25 September 2021
Highlights
Check out the updates to GG4L, Registration, and Patron Details!
GG4L School Passport is a solution to ‘so many apps, so little time’—when students log in to Passport, they’ll see all the apps you’ve set up for them, and can log in directly by clicking on a button. This means that students only need one login.
Starting with this release, you’ll be able to configure the Alexandria app in the Passport Marketplace with your library URL (e.g. mylibrary.goalexandria.com). As long as Alexandria and GG4L are syncing students and teachers, your patrons can access and log in to Alexandria from their Passport portal!
Talk to our Sales team to learn more about the GG4L/Alexandria integration: 1.800.347.6439 or sales@goalexandria.com (Alexandria Librarian only)
You may have seen the new license expiring notices we added in the last release. They’ve brought to light some peculiarities with our systems—thank you for your patience as we update our records!
Another change you will notice has to do with your Sites. You’ll no longer have to manually add sites; when registration is up-to-date*, all licensed sites will automatically be added and can be reviewed in Sites Management. We also added a handy ‘refresh’ button in Sites, so if your license changes, you can get those changes sooner.
*For sites with invalid licenses, you’ll use the actions menu to Re-Register Site.
If you have Alexandria with Textbook Tracker, you can now turn on Circulation Preferences to show both Library and Textbook information in your Patron Details.
New & Improved
GG4L
- If student records have more than one homeroom, they are now importing the first homeroom to Alexandria.
Preferences
- Mitinet BestMARC now links accounts per user (instead of per site).
Reports
- The help links for some of the newer reports now open the correct Support Center page.
- You can now sort your Reservations List report by call number.
- The call number has been restored in the Loaned Items Information report.
Researcher
- Browse is now showing all results on mobile and desktop.
- Slideshow results for predefined searches are now hiding titles set with “Don’t Show in Researcher.”
Circulation
- In-Stock Hold receipts are now showing the patron name and barcode, as expected.
Utilities
- Mitinet BestMARC utility now has a checkbox to update state awards.
- Declare Missing Copies Lost utility is once again working as expected. All copies in the selection will be declared lost, and fines are automatically charged.
Self-Hosted Notice
If you self-host on a Mac, hold off updating your servers to macOS 10.15 Catalina. Alexandria will be 64-bit compatible in a future release. We highly recommend you consider Cloud Hosting.
This page has been moved over to https://support.goalexandria.com/release-notes/
All release notes 23.9 and onward are on the new Support Center.
Cloud-Hosted Updates
When you host with us, we take care of all updates! During these updates—the second to last or last weekend every month (Saturday and Sunday)—please plan for possible downtimes with Alexandria. And if you need to contact Customer Support over the weekend, please call us (emails are only responded to during regular business hours Monday–Friday).
Self-Hosted Updates
Once all of the Cloud-Hosted servers have been updated, we will make the update available to Self-Hosted servers.
We highly recommend you consider Cloud Hosting.
Not every version is able to update to the newest version, so the Available Updates window will only include those versions that meet your machine and version requirements.
Self-Hosted Notice - Mac
If you self-host on a Mac, hold off updating your servers to macOS 10.15 Catalina until you can update to Alexandria 22.8 or later (64-bit compatible releases).
If you self-host on a Mac, here's how to install the update on your Self-Hosted server:
- Log in to Alexandria.
- Append /admin to the end of your Alexandria URL.
- Click the Actions menu, then select Check For Updates.
- Select the update version from the list, then click Update. Your update will now download.
- The update screen will close automatically and you will be redirected to the login window.
Self-Hosted Notice - Windows
As of 2023 our self-hosted update process has changed.
If you self-host on a Windows machine and are on Alexandria 22.6 or earlier: Contact us for instructions and assistance updating to the latest version.
If you self-host on a Windows machine and are on Alexandria 22.12 or later, here's how to install the update on your Self-Hosted server:
- Log in to Alexandria.
- Append /admin to the end of your Alexandria URL.
- Click the Actions menu, then select Check For Updates.
- Select the update version from the list, then click Update. Your update will download to the Updates folder in your Alexandria Support folder.
- The download may take several minutes.
- The update screen will close automatically and you will be redirected to the login window.
- Once the installer has downloaded, and not before, quit Alexandria.
- Remove your existing Alexandria application using Add or Remove Programs in System Settings.
- Run the newly-downloaded Alexandria Installer.
Important Information
Version Numbering Change
As of 20.1, we've simplified our versioning scheme by dropping the series version. We now use the following:
- xx = academic year, beginning in June; yy = month
For example, 20.1 means:
- 20 = 2020 academic year
- 1 = The first monthly update (June)
Centralized Catalogs
If you have more sites than you are licensed for, contact our Sales team immediately at 1-800-347-6439. You can check this in Sites Management; the number of total sites plus the Union Site shows at the top, and the number you have licensed is at the bottom. The Union Site does not require an additional license.
Data Conversion
These Data Conversion notes are for Self Hosted users updating from v7 and switching from v6. If you are cloud-hosted or moving to cloud-hosted, we do everything for you!
Data conversions from older versions may not be supported. Before updating, please check the version you're currently running.
Updating from v7
If you're already running 7.17.12 or newer, you can update to the latest version. But if you're running an older version, you'll need to update a few times.
- Running 7.16.3? Update to 7.17.12 before updating to the latest version.
- Running 7.16.2? Update to 7.16.3, then to 7.17.12, before updating to the latest version.
- Running an even older version? Contact COMPanion Support for assistance. Depending on your current version, your upgrade path may go through one or more of the following: 7.15.3 → 7.16.2.6 → 7.16.3 → 7.17.12 → Current Version
Upgrading from v6
The process to update from 6.23.1 to v7 is quite a bit different than updating from a more recent version. Check out our v6 to v7 Conversion Guide for more information.
Running 6.22.9 or older? Update to 6.23.1, then to 7.17.12, before updating to the latest version.
Data conversion can take up to 10 minutes for a single database of average size or longer for larger collections and Centralized Catalogs, during which time the program will be inaccessible in your browser. Do not fear; it's still working. If you're concerned, check your server logs for a progress update.
