The Support Center has moved!! See the new website https://support.goalexandria.com/ 
23.8 Release Notes
20 January 2024
This page has been moved over to https://support.goalexandria.com/release-notes/23-8-release-notes/
Welcome back to the new year! The 23.8 release of Alexandria contains some important fixes and improvements.
You don’t want to get locked out of Alexandria! In order to reset a password, you need an email. So going forward, all operator (patron) records with a security level of 2 or higher (2, 1, or 0) are required to have an email address.
Also, if you haven’t yet, check out our Password Management Best Practices !
When you use the topnav > help menu > Contact us to send us emails through Alexandria or Textbook Tracker, you’ll be able to attach a screenshot to help us understand your questions/feedback!
When a patron scans their barcode in Self-Service, they’ll be able to see how many items they have checked out as well as number of overdue items. Now maybe they’ll remember to bring those books back!
IMPORTANT: In order to use Offline mode when there is a network disruption, you'll need to load it once when you still have connection. Take a moment now to open Tools > Offline.
New and Improved
Builder
If you are in a centralized catalog you can now save site-specific Builder preferences across all of your sites at once using the new Save To All Sites button.
Items
- When you realize you have a duplicate title, you can use the new Merge Titles function. Yet, if you added copies to the wrong title, you don’t want to merge, you want to MOVE the copies. Now when you move copies, the destination title updates the last use date and lifetime usage based on that copy you moved.
Fixed
Items
- You can now add a new xxx-Other tag in MARC view.
- It's easier to find and select copies when you have more than 1000 copies for a title.
- We've fixed some bizarre instances of not being able to save a title.
Import
- We've increased the timeout on Import Patron Pictures so that slower networks can complete the file upload.
Reports
- Circulation Notice 2-per page is now showing the proper site name.
Preferences
- BestMARC licenses now clearly are enabled or disabled and let you link your accounts.
Search
- The ability to add site-specific URLs to ebooks was causing physical titles to show up at sites where they have no copies. We've made adjustments and titles should be shown/hidden properly once again!
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.
