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| Makeover FAQsWe are thrilled to announce our Alexandria and Textbook Tracker Dream Makeover! Yep, that's right. We're giving the programs a new look while adding various improvements, such as responsive design and exciting features. Learn more about it!
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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title | When is it happening? |
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| 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. |
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title | What new features do I get? |
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| 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. |
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title | In the makeover, why is the Copy ID field going away? |
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| 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. |
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title | Do I lose any functionality? |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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title | Is the new interface easy to learn for non-tech people? |
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| 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. |
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title | Can I get any training? |
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| 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. |
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title | Can the beta version be used for work in our collection? |
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| 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! |
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title | Where can I access reports? |
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| Reports are accessed from Operations. |
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title | Can I forgive only a portion of a charge in the new interface? |
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| 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. |
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title | Is there a shortcut list somewhere handy? |
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| 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. |
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title | In Charges, if a Patron has multiple charges, can I pay them all at once and print a single receipt? |
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| You can pay multiple charges at once, but they will have separate receipts. |
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title | Is there a way to change the copy status from Items Management? |
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| No. You will need to us the System Patrons in Circulation to change copy status. |
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title | Can I search for items added on a specific date? |
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| Yes, you can specify the date added in the Advanced Search> More. |
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title | How do you add Title cover art? |
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| 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. |
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title | How do you clear the current Patron? |
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| From Circulation, use the X command to clear the current Patron and Item panes. More information can be found HERE. |
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title | Are any changes being made to Researcher? |
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| Not at this time. If there are ideas you want us to implement into researcher, please submit them here: https://www.goalexandria.com/ideas |
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title | Are the reports changing? |
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| 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. |
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title | Will Patrons be able to be added from our Student Information System? |
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| You can add patrons from your SIS by running a Patron Import or with our SIS Integration. |
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title | Where do the Advanced Bookings reports go? |
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| You can access Advanced Bookings from Circulation. Any reports you run can then be accessed in Operations. |
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title | I love the new look and navigation, and have been using the new version for awhile. How can I turn off all the pop-up messages? |
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| Yes, if you are comfortable with the program and don’t want to see so many of the guides and messages this feature can be turned off in User Settings. In the upper right corner where you see “Hi, Username” click on the icon to open the user menu and select User Settings. Set the Tutorials to off and click Save. |
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title | How do I get a file to import my patrons? |
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| Start by exporting the necessary data from your student information system (SIS) in a tab-delimited text format. This file can be imported into Alexandria Librarian to add new patron records and update any existing patron records simultaneously. |
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title | What information can be updated with a patron import file? |
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| Patron imports can be used to change any field in patron records except for the Barcode field. |
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title | How do I update specific patron information? |
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| Patron information can be changed by editing individual patron records in Patron Management. You can also update specific information in multiple records using Utilities. In the Selections tab, choose which patron records will be updated by selecting common piece of information, such as Grade or Security Group, or choose Show Additional Selections to set a barcode range or enter a list of specific patron barcodes. Then specify what will be changed in the Options tab. |
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title | How do I remove teachers from the system? |
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| Teachers are listed in the Homeroom (Primary Location) field. To permanently remove a teacher from Alexandria, first make sure that there is NOT a patron record for that specific person. If there is, be sure to remove it. Next, go to Tools > Authority Control. In the Category pane on the left, expand Patrons and select Homeroom. Locate and select the teacher on the right, then go to the Image Added Actions menu to remove them. |
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title | Is Patron History changed or modified when updating with an import file? |
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| If a patron's information is updated with an import file, all of their historical information will remain on the record as-is. Historical data is only removed from a patron record if the individual patron is completely removed from the system. This means that if you're recycling barcode numbers, you'll need to permanently remove the record of the patron who was previously assigned the barcode before you assign that barcode to another patron record.
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title | How do I advance my patron grades? |
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| Everyone updates their patron records differently. Advancing patron grades may already be taken care of if you use imports or a SIS integration. If not, go to your Grade Table Preferences and click Advance All Grades once. Check a patron record to make sure it worked properly. Note |
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Advancing grades does not also change policies. If your patron policies match grade levels, see our Patron Imports Best Practices for instructions on updating those. |
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title | Will the Advance Patron Grades utility also update homerooms? |
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| No, the Advance Patron Grade utility will only update the Grade (Level) field. All other information, including homerooms, will need to be updated manually, with a utility, or with an import file. |
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title | Where do I set up the "next barcode" if I'm importing items without barcodes? |
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| While importing items, look at the Barcode Handling section on the Settings tab. Add a Starting Item Barcode and select Always Assign New Barcodes. |
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title | How do I make sure imported copies go to the right site? |
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| Ensure that your import file has the correct site code for each copy. If a copy's status unexpectedly changes to In Transit when bookdropped (checked in) instead of Available, it may be assigned to the wrong site. |
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title | How do I import patrons or items through FTP? |
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| You'll need to create a saved import. Go to the import you want and click Create Saved Import at the bottom of the window. Then you'll need to enter a name and fill out the Settings tab with your preferences. Lastly, go to the File Source tab and select FTP or FTPS from the Protocol dropdown. Enter your FTP/FTPS server's information. (If you don't have your own server, COMPanion offers secure and private folders on our FTP server!) Want to check if it works? Click Test FTP Connection. From there, you can run the import whenever necessary. Tip |
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We recommend using FTP imports for larger files like patron pictures and BestMARC imports. |
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title | The school year is underway and I’d like to start cleaning up aspects of my patrons and item records. Is there an easy way to clean up homerooms and grades? Also, where do I view my title mediums and genres? |
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| You can do this in Authority Control, which is the part of the program that helps a user manage terms and edit, modify, or even remove them when no longer in use. To access Authority Control go to Tools and select the button with that name and a sheriff’s star symbol. You will find terms listed under both patron and item field headings. By using the gear at the top you can select “Remove unused terms” to clean up some of these fields. This will only remove a term if none are entered into an item or patron record under the corresponding field. If you have any questions about best practices for managing Authority Control terms we recommend you call Customer Support for guidance and advice. |
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title | How can I modify my Grade Table? |
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| Please learn more about modifying your Grade Table here. |
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title | Are there more training workshops that I can view? |
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| Check out our YouTube channel! |
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title | Where can I get more information on the End-of-Year procedures? |
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| Visit our Support Center. |
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title | Where can I get more information on the Alexandria Best Practices for Patrons? |
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| Oh man! We have a great workshop for you. |
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title | Over the summer our IT department wants to add or re-add the Chromebooks and iPads to our catalog. What are the recommended methods of doing this correctly? |
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| If you have used Alexandria or Textbook Tracker to catalog non-book items such as laptops, chargers and other technology it is a good idea to use a specific item policy or policies to manage them. In most cases you will want a title record for something like a Chromebook to include all of the copies instead of 1/1 with titles/copies. If you are using an import file, you will need to create a title record with an ISBN first so the import setting “Title update matching” works for title and ISBN/LCCN. Read HERE about how to catalog equipment in Alexandria. If you have any questions please call Customer Support at 1-800-347-4942 to get help with importing files. |
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title | How do I prepare the patron records for the next year? I need to remove the students who graduated. |
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| 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. |
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title | Are there any recommended best practices to manage items now that the school is closed? I may still have loaned items that were not returned and would also like to clean up lost and discarded copies. |
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| 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. |
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title | Can Alexandria assign barcodes to imported patrons? |
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| Yes, if a barcode is not included within the import file, Alexandria will automatically assign a barcode to those patrons. |
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title | Can I choose the next patron barcode Alexandria will assign? |
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| You can! First, navigate to Tools > Preferences > Patrons > Patron Defaults tab. In the Barcode Settings section, specify the beginning number for auto-assigned barcodes – choose a number that doesn't conflict with your item barcodes and has enough room to continue sequentially for all future patrons. Learn more in Patron Defaults. |
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title | How do I add a new librarian/admin account? |
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| An admin account is simply a patron account with a different security group set (like District Administrator). New librarians should set their security group accordingly, usually as high as they are allowed to select. |
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title | Why isn't my zipped or compressed file importing patron pictures? |
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| Usually, this means the file is larger than 50mb. You need to separate the file into smaller sizes in order to import them. |
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title | When a date is entered to the Advance After field in Grade Table preferences, will grades advance automatically after that date? |
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| This is generally used when importing patrons with SIF. Entering a date will not automatically advance the Patron Grades. Learn more about Grade Table preferences. |
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title | How do I forgive charges? |
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| To forgive a charge for an individual patron, use Circulation. - Make the patron current and go to the Charges tab.
- Select the charge (or by holding <shift> or <command> you can select more than one).
- Click Make Payment. (Or Forgive Charge.)
- Click the box to Forgive remaining balance, and click Process.
To forgive charges in batches, use the Forgive Charges utility. - Go to Operations > Utilities > Patrons > Forgive Charges.
- Use the Selections tab to choose who you are forgiving the charges for.
- Use the Options tab for what type of charges to forgive, or in a specific date range.
- Click Run.
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title | What's the best way to automate my patron overdue or hold notices? |
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| How do you want notice to be sent? If you'd like the program to do most of the work for you, try Automatic Email Notifications. Go to Preferences > Circulation. In the Circulation Settings tab, click the Enable automatic email notifications checkbox. This feature automatically sends email notices to the patron's email address for in-stock holds, overdue fees, and a number of other things. Read more about it in Circulation Settings.
For those of you who want greater control over your notices – such as when they go out and to whom – use scheduled notice reports. For example, you could set up an Overdue Items and Unpaid Charges Notice report for each grade or homeroom and schedule it to email the teacher every month so they can help remind students. 1. Go to Operations > Reports, and choose the Circulation category and Notices subcategory. 2. Test out a few of the reports to see which ones work best for your situation. When you’ve found one, click Create Saved Report at the bottom right. 3. Next, go to the Saved tab, select the report, and unlock it for editing. 4. Build your report in the Selections and Options tabs. 4. In the Schedule tab, schedule the report to run at a specific frequency and time. 5. In the Notification tab, enable email notifications and specify to whom the notices will be sent. Separate email addresses with a comma. And if you find it meets your needs, you can even use both methods at the same time! |
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title | Where can I find the Patron Count, and how many Patrons/Items am I licensed for? |
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| To find your license and system information, go to your Circulation page, then select Special. In its sub-tabs you will find information like the Status Info, System Info, and License Info, which includes your Patron Count and details about your license. In the Makeover, go to the help menu in the topnav and click About Alexandria. This will show you your patron/item count and how many you have left in your license. |
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title | How do I update Patron records with a file on my computer? |
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| - First, make sure the file is tab-delimited (not a csv file).
- Make sure you have a way to match the patron information with the info in the file, such as barcode, RSN (Record Sequence Number), GUID (Gobally Unique Identifier), Government ID (SSN), Community ID (Student #), or Primary Email, First Name, and Last Name (all 3).
- See Patron Imports Best Practices for more information.
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title | How do security groups limit access? |
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| Each level has the access of all the groups below them, but does not have access to any security groups on the same level or above them. See Security Preferences for additional information. |
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title | How do I remove old Homerooms from my Homeroom list? |
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| Once there are no patrons listed in a homeroom anymore, the homeroom is removed. So, updating the homerooms manually, via import, or through authority control will remove any homerooms with no patrons. Contact Support for additional assistance. |
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title | How do I import patron pictures? |
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| Go to Imports and select Images > Choose File. Choose a ZIP file containing the images to be imported. If the file is larger than 50 MB, schedule an FTP import in the Saved tab. For best results, images should be approximately 186 x 240 pixels in size and either .jpg or .png format. |
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title | Where is the genre information located within Alexandria? |
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| Genre information is pulled from the 655_a MARC tag. You can view and modify the data in the Items module using the Items Editor or MARC View Editor. |
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title | Can I enter more than one 655_a genre field to my Item records? |
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| Yes! Add as many genre fields as you need for your patrons to find the item in Search. Keep in mind that only one genre will be displayed in the Items module, but you can click on the pencil icon to open the Genre Editor and view the rest. |
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title | How do I get genre information into my item records? |
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| The easiest way is to ask your vendors to include genre information in the 655_a field of the MARC record, so it's added upon import. You can also add it by editing your records manually or by using the MARC editing tools, such as certain Utilities or Authority Control. |
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title | When running a utility, how can I make sure that only the items or patrons I want affected are removed? |
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| We recommend running a report, first! The Copy Information Report and Patrons Information Report can show you exactly which items and patrons will be affected–just make sure the selections in the report match the selections in the desired utility. When in doubt, reach out to our support team at support@goalexandria.com. |
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title | Why does it say my Import file is not the correct file type, even though they are .mrc? |
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| Usually this means the wrong import type is selected on the left. Make sure you have Items selected, and the import should run correctly. |
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title | When are RDA mediums (text-unmediated-volume) |
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This WeekHere are the most common questions Customer Support answered this past week! Expand |
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title | Why isn't my report keeping the selections I used before? |
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| You probably used a quick report last time! Open Links in New Window |
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Quick reports are used for running one-time reports and do not save selections. However, saved reports are frequently-used reports with saved selections and options that can be favorited, shared, and scheduled. If you want to save a report, select a report and click Create Saved Report at the bottom right-hand corner of the window. |
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title | How can I get back my cover art after switching to v7? |
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| If you turn on Automatically Retrieve Cover Art During Idle Periods in Alexandria will search for cover art based off of ISBNs and add it as it's found. You may also want to check the ISBN of items without cover art to ensure they're accurate.
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title | Why can't I find the item I'm looking for with Title Assistant? |
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| Title Assistant uses Z39.50 servers to search for items, so you may need to add more. Check out the page for a list of resources you can use to bolster your Z39.50 list in Alexandria. You'll also find instructions on adding servers, creating sets, and more.
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title | What are RDA mediums and how do I make them understandable in Researcher? |
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| target-new | Resources Description & Access (RDA) is is a newer standard in which mediums are stored in the 336, 337, and 338 fields and have three components separated by dashes, such as text-unmediated-volume (this one is equivalent to book). Since this medium format is a little harder for patrons to understand, you can Open Links in New Window |
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add aliases (i.e. alternative names) that will show in Researcher instead. |
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title | How do I remove items that I have discarded, and do they count in my system? |
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| a. To remove Items that you have discarded, you can run the Remove Discarded Copies utility. We recommend running the Discarded Copies report first, to get a list of which items will be removed. b. Discarded Items in your database do count in your system counts, as they are still in your database. This is also true for lost items. They are in a pending status until they are removed. |
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title | Where should my series information be located? |
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| Whether adding series information manually or automatically via an Import or Utility, make sure the series is being cataloged in the 830 MARC field so the item displays and sorts correctly in Search. |
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title | I have more than one title record of some books–can I combine records? |
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| Yes! To clean up duplicate records, run a Title Information report, and set the sorting in Options to “Title.” Then navigate to Items Management, and look up the titles. Decide which record you want to keep, then unlock the record. Using the Actions menu, select “Move copies to title” and enter the copy barcodes. You can also select the checkbox to delete the duplicate title record after the copies are transferred. Make sure to save changes! |
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title | Why can't I find the item I'm looking for with Title Assistant? |
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| Title Assistant uses Z39.50 servers to search for items, so you may need to add more. Check out the z39.50 Preferences page for a list of resources you can use to bolster your Z39.50 list in Alexandria. You'll also find instructions on adding servers, creating sets, and more Note that Alexandria prioritizes RDA mediums over General Material Designation (GMD) mediums, so you'll need to if you want the GMD mediums to show instead. (GMD mediums are stored in the 254_h field and enclosed in brackets, such as [book]). |
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title | Why are copies being randomly added that can't be selected or modified? |
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| If you have overlapping call numbers in Open Links in New Window |
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in Maps, Alexandria will display a duplicate title or a duplicate copy. If the copies can be modified but were not intentionally added, this may be from an import running too many times and adding a new copy each time. |
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title | How can I see how many Items and Patrons are in each site within a Centralized Catalog? |
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| Go to Tools>Sites, and click on the gear icon and select Site Record Counts. |
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title | How are lost or discarded items handled in Alexandria? |
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| Lost and discarded items are checked out to System Patrons 1(lost) and 2(discarded). Read about Lost Items here for more information. |
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title | How can I import items into Alexandria? |
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| Go to Tools>Import (or in the Makeover Operations > Import) and select the category of what you are importing. Upload the file from your computer, and make sure to configure the field map. Note: Marc records don’t need to be field mapped. See Import for more information. |
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title | How can I easily change the copy location or copy shelving? |
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| The easiest way is by using the Set All Copy Locations or CH command in Circulation. This is much quicker than going into each item to change copy locations. Make sure to clear the command line when you’re done! You can also run the Copies Information Report to help view and sort your items. |
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