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Patrons General Utilities

Last Updated: $action.dateFormatter.formatDateTime($content.getLastModificationDate())


Tools > Utilities > Patrons > General



  • Change Patron Security Group
  • Change Patron Status
  • Forgive Charges
  • Move Patrons to Site (CC only)
  • Reassign Union Site Patrons
  • Remove Patron History
  • Remove Patron Notes
  • Remove Patron Pictures
  • Remove Patrons
  • Renew Patron Cards
  • Reset Passwords

Add Patron Notes

Adds or appends a Contact, General, Alert, or Category note to selected patrons

Use(s)
  • If a group of specific patrons need to meet with the librarian, select Alert Note and type "Needs to meet with librarian" on the Options tab before running this utility. Alert Notes pop up in Circulation whenever those patrons' barcodes are scanned.
  • If a group of specific patrons are in special reading programs, considered at-risk, or belong to other groups that need to be recorded, select Category Note and type the desired note on the Options tab. 
Selections
Options

Add Note: Type the note you would like to add. 500 character limit.

Note Type: Choose the type of note to add.

Replace Existing Notes: When checked, this option removes all existing notes of the chosen type and completely replaces them with what's in the Add Note field.

Advance Patron Grade

Moves specified patrons to the next grade (i.e. level)

Grade is the default term for the Level terminology field. You can customize the term in Preferences > Localization > Terminology.

Customize your grades in the Grade Table in Patron Preferences. 

If you name your policies after grades, then you'll need to update those policies after running this utility. This has to be changed on a policy-by-policy basis using the Change Patron Policy utility.

Use(s)

Run this utility if you need to be specific about what types of patrons need to be moved to the next grade level. If you would like to advance all patron grades at the same time, use the Advance All Grades utility instead on the Grade Table tab of Patron Preferences.

Read the Advance Patrons section of our Beginning-of-Year Procedures for more information.

Selections

Change Patron Grade

Changes the grade (i.e. level) of selected patrons to the specified grade

Grade is the default term for the Level terminology field. You can customize the term in Preferences > Localization > Terminology .

Use(s)

Run this utility if patrons were accidentally imported or added with the wrong grade and the correct grade needs to be added.

Selections
Options

Change Patron 2nd Location

Changes or adds a specified 2nd location for selected patrons

2nd Location is the default term for the Sublocation terminology field. You can customize the term in Preferences > Localization > Terminology.

You can also use Authority Control to edit, combine, or remove individual 2nd locations.

Selections
Options

Change 2nd Location to: If this field is left blank, the utility will remove the current 2nd location.

Change Patron Location

 Textbook Tracker

Changes the location of selected patrons to the specified location

"Location" is a customizable term that can be changed in Preferences > Localization > Terminology. "Homeroom" is a common alternative.

You can also use Authority Control to edit, combine, or remove individual 2nd locations.

Use(s)
  • Run this utility to set patron homerooms based on grade.
  • Merge all homerooms for end-of-year cleanup.
Selections
Options

Change Patron Policy

Changes the policy of selected patrons to the specified policy

Changing patrons' policies will not affect current circulation. But if you use the Recompute Due Dates utility after this utility, checkout periods and fines may adjust based on their new policy.

Use(s)

Run this utility to implement new policies or switch around existing policies.

Selections
Options

Change Patron Security Group

Changes the security group of selected patrons to the specified security group 

You cannot change the security group of someone in a higher security level. You also can't change someone else's security group to one higher than your own.
Use(s)

Run this utility if you assign security group by grade.

Selections
Options

Change Patron Status

Changes the status of selected patrons to the specified status

What does each status mean?

  • Active: These patrons can use the library (check in and out) according to the rules of the assigned patron policies.
  • Card Lost or Suspended: These statuses cause a warning message to appear when the patron barcode is entered in Circulation and require operator intervention in order to continue.
  • Transferred, Inactive, or Other: These options are used mainly for generating reports for patrons with a statuses other than Active; for example, those who have transferred or are inactive. These statuses cause an alert message to appear in Circulation when the patron barcode is entered.

Use(s)
  • Run this utility if you need to give a group of patrons who previously had an Inactive or Suspended status an Active status again.
  • Run this utility at the end of the school year to give all patrons an Inactive status, which will prevent them from placing holds, making reservations, and more over the summer. Then at the beginning of the school year, use this utility to restore everyone's Active status.
Selections
Options

Forgive Charges

Forgives selected charges, fees, or fines created during the specified transaction date range

What's included in each charge type?

  • All Charges, Fees, and Fines. Everything.
  • Lost Fees Only. Charge record with a transaction note or description of “Lost.”
  • Overdue Fines Only. Charge record with a transaction note or description of “Overdue Fine” or a currently accumulating fine.
  • Other Charges/Fees. Everything except items in #2 and #3.
Use(s)
  • Run this utility to remove accidental charges, fees, and/or fines.
  • If you declare all overdue items at the end of the school year as lost but only want to charge the lost item fee (not overdue fines), run this utility with the Overdue Fines Only option selected.
Selections
Options

Transaction Date Starting: Specify a starting date in MM/DD/YYYY format. If left blank, all selected past charges will be forgiven.

This utility is only available to those with a Centralized Catalog.

Move Patrons to Site

Moves selected patrons from their current site to the specified site

Use(s)

Run this utility if you accidentally imported patron records to the wrong site and need to move them.

Selections
Options

Reassign Union Site Patrons

Changes selected patrons' assigned site from the Union Site to the site specified on the Options tab

Use(s)

Patrons are assigned to the Union Site when imports are run for sites that don't exist. If you made a mistake while importing patron records and they are now assigned to the Union Site, run this utility to assign them to the correct site.

Selections
Options

Remove Patron History

Removes everything but Lexile history from selected patrons' histories

Want to see a report of a patron's current history? There are two ways to access these reports:

  • Circulation > Actions menu  in the current patron pane > History
  • Patrons Management > Actions menu  > Show History

Either way, a PDF of that patron's history will then automatically download to your device.

Use(s)

Run this utility when you need to clear up space in your database, start with a clean slate on statistics, or remove information because of privacy concerns.

Selections

Remove Patron Notes

Removes all Contact, General, Alert, or Category notes from selected patrons

Use(s)

Run this utility to remove old and temporary notes past librarians may have left.

Selections
Options

Remove Patron Pictures

Removes the pictures of all selected patrons

Use(s)
  • Run this utility if you need to remove patron pictures because they need to be replaced.
  • If patron pictures need to be removed because of privacy concerns, run this utility.
Selections
Options


 Textbook Tracker

The Remove Patrons utility removes selected patron records from your database.

On the Options tab, you can choose whether or not to include patrons with checked out or outstanding financial items, including credits:

  • If you leave the box unchecked, all selected patrons without checked out items or charges will be removed. Some things, like reviews, are transferred to the Unknown Patron rather than deleted.
  • If you check the box, all selected patrons will be removed no matter what. Checked out items will be declared lost, and holds, reservations, charges, and credits are all removed.
Use(s)
  • Run this utility at the end of the school year if you re-import your patrons at the beginning of each school year.
  • There are two ways to use this utility to remove graduated patrons at the end of the school year:
    • If you keep track of graduation dates in patron records, enter the appropriate date range or relative date in the Graduation Date field. 
    • If you use Last Grade in the Grade Table Preferences, enter the user-defined value for Last Grade in the Patrons in Grade field (most commonly "Graduated").
  • If you manage patrons with SIF or Clever, patrons who have an active record in Alexandria but are no longer included in the synced data will be marked as Transferred (this may include graduated and transferred students). Those patron records will need to be removed manually. Run this utility to remove patrons with a status of Transferred.

Check out our Beginning-of-Year Procedures and End-of-Year Procedures for tips and instructions on preparing your library for summer and the new school year.

Selections
Options

This utility will only work when Preferences > Patrons > Patron Rules > Disable Card Expiration Dates is unchecked.

The Renew Patron Cards utility renews the library cards of all selected patrons. The number of days a patron's card is active after renewal is determined by patron policies.

Selections


The Reset Passwords utility resets selected patrons' passwords to their last name (all lowercase letters)

For security purposes, we strongly recommend that each user change their password after initially accessing their account.

Use(s)

Run this utility at the beginning of the school year to let patrons who have forgotten their passwords over the summer log into their accounts.

Selections


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