January 29, 2024
The school is closed due to severe winter storms, and Miss Honey realizes there will be lots of overdue books that couldn't be returned due to the unexpected closure. Time to recompute the due date!
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How to recompute your due date
Update your calendar
Go to Tools > Calendars
Click once on the day(s) you’d like to mark closed
To change the Closed date for the same day of the week for the selected month,…
January 22, 2024
Miss Honey has all of her librarians trying out the new Alexandria Reports beta https://demo.goalexandria.com/reportsbeta, and they have some questions! Let's go over it together, shall we?
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The first thing to know is that Reports are now separated into three areas–Informational Reports http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Reports, Notices http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Notices, and Labels http://support.companioncorp.…
January 16, 2024
Have you wished you could limit ‘your’ ebooks to students searching your site? Maybe you don’t want the middle schoolers seeing the high school titles, or you have limited e-copies and want to make sure they are available for students at your school. Well, now you can!
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Here are the steps:
We’ll use Anne of Green Gables as an example, which came out of the budget of site MIA.…
December 11, 2023
The library is for everyone! Alexandria is accessibility-friendly, and there are a lot of ways you can adapt and customize your setup for you and your patrons.
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First, here are ways Alexandria is already user-friendly:
24/7 remote access to Alexandria (if properly set up)
Cloud Hosting http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Cloud+Hosting services
Keyboard-only access with a logical, cycle-back tabbing order
Several ways to find pages (URL,…
December 4, 2023
Right before winter break is a busy time in the library–that's why Miss Honey saves time with keyboard shortcuts! If you're not on the keyboard shortcut train yet, now's your chance. They are the gift that keeps on giving!
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There are four types of keyboard shortcuts:
Management shortcuts let you add, save, remove, or find records.
Navigation shortcuts that let you move between modules.…
November 27, 2023
Miss Honey knows that curating Researcher http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Researcher is an important part of empowering students to utilize the library. The different Searches available with Alexandria can be customized for your school based on the needs of your students–in Builder. http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Builder
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To customize your search, navigate to Builder > Searching.
Here,…
November 20, 2023
Miss Honey moved some shelves around in the library, and needs to add updated maps into Researcher. When she logs into Alexandria, Maps looks different! Here’s the low-down on the updated Maps interface.
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Adding a Map:
Go to Builder > Maps
Unlock Maps Management by clicking the lock icon on the top right
Click on the + icon.…
November 6 / 13th, 2023
Miss Honey read all about slideshows and explore panes in our last few tips, but both of them use search strings http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Search+Strings... and she doesn't remember how to make them!
So how do you generate search strings?
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Creating search strings
In /search click on the ampersand (&) flag.
Choose a search selection from the drop-down menu in the top box (i.e. Author, Series, Title, Popularity etc.) and enter your criteria.…
October 30, 2023
Miss Sanderson has been using the Popularity search to find which items in the library are getting the most use. But how can she highlight the popular items for students? Easy–with a Researcher Explore http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Explore+Builder button.
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Last week we went over Creating a slideshow, this week, we'll review how to create an explore button in researcher–specifically for the most popular items.…
October 23, 2023
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It's almost Halloween, and Miss Honey wants to highlight some of the best books for the season by making a slideshow. This is a great way to showcase books for any holidays or occasions. Here's how to do it!
To create a slideshow:
Go to Builder http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Builder > Slideshow http://support.companioncorp.…
October 16, 2023
Miss Spellman was always reminding her library student aides (and sometimes the other librarians) how to use the System Patrons in Alexandria–until she set up system patron alert notes.
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Patron alert notes are a great way to add simple reminders about the different uses for system patrons.
For example, to add a note to the For Library Use system patron:
In Circulation,…
October 9, 2023
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Emily is checking out a book on the Salem witch trials when Miss Sanderson notices the label is peeling off the spine. Rather than holding Emily up by addressing the problem right then, she adds a copy note that will come up once the book is checked back in.
But how can she keep track of all the copy notes and patron notes?
The Copy Notes Report http://support.companioncorp.…
October 2, 2023
Janet's mother asked Miss Zarves to make sure her daughter doesn't check out any movies from the school library that aren't G-rated. But what's the easiest way to keep track of that–especially if multiple parents are asking for different restrictions on what their kids can check out from the library?
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Enter: patron alert notes
Patron alert notes pop up during checkout, which allows you to easily monitor any restrictions.…
September 25, 2023
This week we're highlighting the Loaned Items Notice http://support.companioncorp.com/display/ALEX/Circulation+Notices+Reports#CirculationNoticesReports-LoanedItemsNotice. Usually notices are sent to the individual patrons–but what about utilizing them for teachers as well?
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For example, Mrs. Krabappel’s class comes in once a week, and you want to automate an email to her with a download link to the Loaned Items Notice for her class.…
September 18, 2023
Students often (always) need reminders to return overdue books, which is why we recommend making it easier on yourself! Schedule overdue items notices to send out automatically.
Let's say you have your Policy Preferences set to mark items as lost after they have been overdue for 28 days, and you want to have different overdue items notices sent automatically to patrons based on how close they are to the 28-day limit.…
Recent Posts
Blog Posts
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Winter storms–recompute due dates
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Jan 23, 2024
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How to add reports in the new beta–you beta be trying it!
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Jan 16, 2024
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Site-specific eBooks
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Jan 10, 2024
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User-friendly–optimize your setup
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Dec 01, 2023
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The gift of keyboard shortcuts
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Nov 30, 2023
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Builder: customize your search
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Nov 21, 2023
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Maps makeover
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Nov 13, 2023
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Making search strings using advanced search
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Nov 01, 2023
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Popular items: creating explore panes
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Oct 25, 2023
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Creating a slideshow for spooky season–or any reason!
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Oct 17, 2023
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