These preferences are used to customize terminology for some of the patron- and item-related fields within Alexandria, including those commonly found in the Patrons and Items management windows. Long terms may be cut off in various areas of the program; therefore, it is always best to keep terminology short and succinct. Changes made to these preferences will take effect immediately.

If numeric ranges are going to be used with any of these fields, they need to be padded with zeros in order to be sorted and selected correctly. For example, instead of a “1”, “2”, “402”, you’d insert “001”, “027”, “402”. Basically, in order to sort properly, all entries with a numeric range need to have the same number of characters.

Keep in mind that customizing a field name does not change its core functionality; fields such as Community ID, Government ID, and Login Name are still expected to contain correlating data.

Patrons Settings

• Location. This preference allows you customize the term used for the Location field. For school libraries, this defaults to Homeroom; for other sites, this term defaults to Location. Although you may change this terminology, our documentation generally refers to it as Location.

• Sublocation. This preference allows you customize the term used for the Sublocation field. Use this field for whatever extra information you may need to enter. For example, you may want to use the term “Last Period” to identify an alternate location below the primary Location field. Although you may change the term, our documentation generally refers to it as 2nd Location.

• Level. This preference allows you customize the term used for the Level field. For school libraries, this defaults to Grade; for other sites, this term defaults to Level. Although you may change the term, our documentation generally refers to it as Grade.

• Government ID. This preference allows you customize the term used for national identification numbers; in the United States, this is typically the Social Security Number. Although you may change the term, our documentation generally refers to it as SSN.

• Community ID. This preference allows you customize the term used for community or local identifiers. For school libraries, this defaults to Student #; for other sites, this term defaults to ID #. Although you may change the term, our documentation generally refers to it as Student #.

• Reading Level. This preference allows you customize the term used for the leveled reading system(s) utilized at your school (e.g. Fountas and Pinnell or Accelerated Reader). Although you may change the term, our documentation generally refers to it as Reading Level. If your school, site, or institution doesn’t use the reading level terminology, this field can be used for other info such as AUP (acceptable usage policy) status.

• Additional Contact. This preference allows you customize the term used for emergency or secondary contacts. Although you may change the term, our documentation generally refers to it as Parent/Guardian.

• Optional Date. This preference allows you customize the term used for a patron record's optional date field. Although you may change the term, our documentation generally refers to it as Graduation Date.

• 2nd Phone Number. This preference allows you customize the term used for the secondary phone number field. Although you may change the term, our documentation generally refers to it as Mobile.

Items Settings

• Copy Location. This preference allows you customize the term used for the Copy Location field stored in the 852_a b tag. For example, you may want to use the term “Collection” or “Library Floor” (for a multi-leveled library) rather than “Copy Location”. Although you may change this terminology, our documentation will generally refer to it as Copy Location.

• Shelving Location. This preference allows you customize the term used for shelving location, an alternative location field stored in the 852_c tag. Although you may change this terminology, our documentation will generally refer to it as Copy Shelving.

• Special Funds. This preference allows you customize the term used for government grants or special funding stored in the 852_1 repeating tag. Although you may change this terminology, our documentation will generally refer to it as Funding Source.