The Support Center has moved!! See the new website https://support.goalexandria.com/ 
7.18.6 Release Notes
What's New in Alexandria?
17 November 2018
Important
Your data is important!
Ensuring your data is archived daily is critical. When running daily maintenance operations, Alexandria will shut down if it finds any database integrity issues or an archive fails to complete, and it cannot be restarted until the problem is corrected. This precaution is intended to avoid further damage and ensure your system is configured properly so you are covered in the event of catastrophic failure. If Alexandria shuts down or refuses to start, the administrator of the system will receive an email (if configured), and the server log will include additional information to help you identify and correct the problem.
We strongly encourage your system administrators to review your archive and backup strategies upon update to 7.18.6, and correct any problems before they cause downtime. Contact Customer Support at 1-800-347-4942 if you have any questions or require assistance.
Data upkeep is important!
Alexandria is designed to run 24/7, unlike smaller desktop applications that are typically closed at the end of the day. Because it has so many moving parts that are integral to a database management system, and it must be responsive to users when it's busy, much of the data upkeep is deferred to less busy times, like overnight. If your system isn't running 24/7, these important maintenance tasks cannot be performed, which can cause information in your system to be outdated until the tasks can run.
Please treat Alexandria as you would any other mission-critical database or web server you rely on, and keep it up and running around the clock!
New & Improved
Items Management
- New! Search by Subject.
- Increased character limits. Funding Source now allows up to 45 characters, and Patron Notes can accept up to 2000 characters.
Import
- MARC records now recognize and support the .dat file extension
- Corrected an issue which was causing Mackin Automatic MARC Record Imports to be processed multiple times.
Patrons
- New! Search by Other, which looks for less common fields like Address and Phone.
Reports
- The Study Program Test Number can be printed on Application Label reports.
- Improved the Unused Barcode Report so it will produce accurate results for libraries using maximum barcode lengths.
Researcher
- We've improved viewing on a phone, and now patrons can switch between Researcher interfaces with the same login.
Utilities
- The Remove Titles utilities now include a Publisher selection.
Self-Service
Updated! Faster check-in and check-out on the touch-compatible interface.
New style options and emailed receipts.
System
- Improved performance and reliability throughout the system.
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.
