The Makeover includes brand new interfaces for Circulation, Patrons Management, Items Management, Tools, Operations, Message Center, and Preferences. It introduces Builder, your hub for customizing Researcher for your patrons, as well as Dashboard, a collection of widgets that show information about your library and let you jump to the functions you use most. You’ll also see a consistent top bar and side navigation that allow you to navigate the program and access critical functions from anywhere. Eventually the entire program will be updated.

To read about more specific changes, check out the Changes tab. You can also look at the Overview tab for information on the Top 5 Features and Changes You Need to Know.

With Version 7, which was released in 2014, we made the first big step to a modern, web-based product. But the computer world advances fast! With the Dream Makeover, we definitely want to improve how it looks and feels, but we are also updating the code to follow modern standards and be more usable on tablets and phones. This is a switch we slowly started with your Researcher interfaces back in 2015 with the release of Slideshow. And after addressing Scout, Patron Status, and Self-Service, we realized we needed to start updating Librarian interfaces as well.

Betas for these interfaces have been released. This means you can switch between using the new interfaces and the old interfaces in your own Alexandria library. This will be a great time to give it a try and take a look at all of the cool new features!

See the Timeline section on the Overview tab for more information.

Check out the Changes tab for a comprehensive list of what's changed and what's new in each module. You can also look at our Top 5 Features on the Overview tab to see what we're most excited about.

Copy IDs are not unique or searchable, and there is not a report that you can run which shows Copy IDs. Copy IDs have become irrelevant, and we encourage using barcodes instead. 

*However we have decided to retain copy id, now called Copy Tag, to allow you to individually mark a copy. 

Overall, you won't! We are, however, removing some unused options and moving some things around. Check out the Changes tab to see specifics. One thing you may want to be aware of is that there will no longer be a button linking to Researcher from the Librarian side navigation. If you use this often, a quick fix is simply bookmarking Researcher on your internet browser.

Feel free to contact Support at 1-800-347-4942 or support@goalexandria.com if you feel like something is missing.

Nope! This upgrade is included in your Alexandria subscription, as long as you are current. Still on v6? Learn about switching to 7! This is also a good time to consider switching to Cloud Hosting if you don't already have it.

We think so! With the addition of new in-app tutorials, What’s New highlights, and rollover help text information, we think learning the new interface will be a breeze. And, you’ll have videos and our 247/365 Support available to help you along the way. 

Yep! If you missed the webinar, you can watch it now, and see all the videos on our YouTube channel. We will also be hosting a free Q&A webinar. You can also purchase additional training by contacting our sales team at 1-800-347-6439 or sales@goalexandria.com.

Yes they can! From the old Circulation, Items, or Patrons, click on the purple warning icon on the top right. This will open the beta for you to work in. If you find any issues, please send them to uxteam@companioncorp.com! 

Reports are accessed from Operations. 

You can! The checkbox makes it easy to forgive an entire charge all at once, but you can easily forgive only part of the charge by unchecking “Forgive Remaining Balance,” and select “Forgive as a Payment Option” method. Enter how much of the charge you’d like to forgive, and click Process.

Yes! Our printable System Hotkeys Reference is in our Support Center Getting Started Resources, and has been updated. Also, you can find ALL shortcuts on the Hotkeys page. These have been updated.

You can pay multiple charges at once, but they will have separate receipts. 

No. You will need to us the System Patrons in Circulation to change copy status. 

Yes, you can specify the date added in the Advanced Search> More.

With the image saved to your computer, you can either drag and drop the image into the cover art space, or use the + icon and choose a file from your device. 

From Circulation, use the X command to clear the current Patron and Item panes. More information can be found HERE.

Not at this time. If there are ideas you want us to implement into researcher, please submit them here: https://www.goalexandria.com/ideas

No. Over the last several months, we have been working on improving and consolidating the reports–but any of those changes are outlined in the release notes. The functionality of the reports will not change in the makeover.

You can add patrons from your SIS by running a  Patron Import or with our SIS Integration.

You can access Advanced Bookings from Circulation. Any reports you run can then be accessed in Operations. 

Please learn more about modifying your Grade Table here.

You should consider advancing patron grades even if you update the students each year with an import file. Advancing your last grade to “Graduated” will allow you to remove students who have moved on to bright futures. Don’t worry, you will be able to keep records for any who have outstanding material or account balances. Read about End-of -Year procedures HERE and call Customer Support at 1-800-347-4942 if you need help with your Patron Grade Table or running utilities.

Of course you want to run reports on loaned or overdue items, and before you close the library for the summer you should consider cleaning out any lost and discarded copies. Run reports for lost and discarded material first before using utilities to remove them. One great feature of the Remove Lost/Discarded Copies utilities is that you can control which copies specifically to remove. This means you can retain copies from a specific date range, and choose between material that is lost or discarded from inventory, weeding or patrons. Read about best practices for lost and discarded copies HERE and as always, contact Customer Support if you have any questions or need assistance.