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!

More to read: 

Let it Snow—Change Due Dates

Unexpected School Closures 

As always, reach out to our amazing support team at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com for help!

January 22, 2024

Miss Honey has all of her librarians trying out the new Alexandria Reports beta, and they have some questions! Let's go over it together, shall we? 

The first thing to know is that Reports are now separated into three areas–Informational Reports, Notices, and Labels. 

The new interface emphasizes the ability for you to create and run saved reports. It will probably feel like a few extra clicks getting started, but save you massive time in the long-run when all your frequently used reports are ready to go! And, if you want to run a one-off report, you can still do that, though we recommend creating saved reports for any report you will be using again.

Let's create the Loaned Items Information report for one specific homeroom as an example:

1. In the beta, go to Operations > Reports

2. Unlock Reports using the lock icon at the top right

3. Either click Add Report or the + icon

4. Select the Circulation > Information category on the list to the left

5. Select the Loaned Items Information template and then Create at the bottom right

6. On the Overview tab, enter the report name for easy identification – “Loaned Items Information - Jones”

7. Use the Selection tab to specify the information you want on the report - Patrons from Homeroom Jones through Jones

   1. Note - Click Show Additional to see all fields you can select

8. The Options tab is where you will set the Format and Sorting of the report

9. When ready, you can either click Save, which will save the report but not run it at that time, or click Run and have the options Just Run or Save and Run

10. That's it! Download your report from Operations.

See also Loaned Items Notice for teachers 

Need help? Reach out to our amazing support team at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com. 

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!

Here are the steps: 

We’ll use Anne of Green Gables as an example, which came out of the budget of site MIA.

1. Go to Items Management and bring up the eBook title

   1. If you want to see a list of ebooks rather than searching each by title, use the Advanced Search to bring up a batch of the ebooks using the Medium or policy, if available.

2. Unlock the title record using the padlock icon at the top right, then switch to MARC view by clicking MARC

3. Scroll down to select the existing 856 tag and click Edit

4. Add a subfield

5. In the new subfield, select 5 - Alexandria Site Code

6. Enter the Site Code – Needs to match the Site Code in Sites

   1. Note - If the eBook URLs are the same, but you want to show for multiple sites, you can add the 5 - Alexandria Site Code subfield multiple times

7. Click Save at the top right

Now if a student at site EVE searches for Green Gables, they won’t see the ebook. But a student at site MIA can find the book and access it!

Need help? Feel free to reach out to our support team at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com. 

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.

First, here are ways Alexandria is already user-friendly:

• 24/7 remote access to Alexandria (if properly set up)

• Cloud Hosting services

• Keyboard-only access with a logical, cycle-back tabbing order

• Several ways to find pages (URL, through Researcher or Tools, and Explore panes)

• Clear headings and labels

• Visible and clear keyboard focus

• Consistent menus, icons, and buttons

• Suggested fixes when users make errors

• Plain text instead of images of text

• Scanners with loud beeps and/or light notifications

Next, here are some things YOU can do to make Alexandria even easier for patrons to use:

• Styles let you choose colors with more contrast (e.g. choose Classic or Professional, rather than Seafoam)
• Maps help patrons easily find where items are located
  
  
• Explore Panes allow you to add pre-searches with images for simple finds and messages to guide your patrons

• Bulletin Boards give you a place to upload sign language videos and provide clear descriptions of resources

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!

You can download the sheets below to save or print for easy reference. 

As always, feel free to reach out to our support team at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com.

Shortcut printouts 

November 27, 2023

Miss Honey knows that curating 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.

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.

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... and she doesn't remember how to make them!

So how do you generate search strings? 

Creating search strings

1. In /search click on the ampersand (&) flag.

2. Choose a search selection from the drop-down menu in the top box (i.e. Author, Series, Title, Popularity etc.) and enter your criteria.

3. Choose the Boolean modifier you wish to use (And, Or, And Not) from the drop-down menu on the left and enter the additional criteria you are wanting to search. The Researcher supports up to four levels of Boolean searching.

4. Click Search and results will display below the Advance Search pane.

5. Click the Share Titles icon to copy the search string.

Need help? Feel free to reach out to our support team at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com.

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 button. 

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. 

Creating an explore button

1. Go to Builder > Explore Builder.

2. From the Panes List on the left, select the pane that you would like to add your new popular items button to

3. With the appropriate pane selected, select the space that you would like to add the button

4. Select Perform Search from the Action menu and enter ((popularity::90)) (see more about  search strings)

5. Enter the Label and add an icon by clicking Add Icon from the Actions drop-down menu – Icons + Images

6. When are you finished, click Save in the upper-right corner of the window.

If you want to put the popularity explore button on the main researcher page, check out Modify the Researcher Pane. 

Watch our Explore Builder Preferences Workshop for additional tips on using Explore Builder, or feel free to reach out to our support team at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com.

October 23, 2023

Want a hand with making slideshows, or any other tasks in Alexandria or Textbook Tracker? Our support team can help! (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com.

What are your favorite haunted reads for Halloween? Tell us in the comments! 

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. 

If you have any questions about system patrons, alert notes, or anything else in Alexandria, reach out to our support team at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com.

October 9, 2023

To run the Copy Notes Report –

1. Go to Operations > Reports > Copies > Information > Copy Notes

2. Use the Selections tab to select the copies you want to show on the report (leaving the default selections will show all copies with the selected notes)

3. On the Options tab, select the type of notes and how to sort the report

4. Click Run

To run the Patron Notes Report –

1. Go to Operations > Reports > Patrons > Information > Patron Notes

2. Use the Selections tab to select who you want to show on the report (leaving the default selections will show all patrons with the selected notes)

3. On the Options tab, select the type of notes and how to sort the report

4. Click Run

How do you utilize Copy notes and Patron notes? Let us know in the comments! 

Want some help navigating notes, reports, or anything else in Alexandria? Contact our amazing support team at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com.

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? 

From Circulation: 

1. Make the patron current in circulation by using the patron barcode, Patron Lookup, or the Homeroom tab

2. Click the actions menu on the Patron pane and select Notes (can also use the + command)

3. Enter the restricted items to the Alert Notes

4. Save

You can also create Item Policies, and set the policy to No Loan Period under the checkout tab to restrict a specific group of items.

If specific students have opted-in to be able to check those out, you could add patron General Notes (the same steps as above except using the General Notes field). That way, when a restricted item is brought into circulation you will get a message that a checkout is not allowed because of the policy, but you can check the General notes to see if you should override the policy and check out the item anyway.

You can read more about patron notes, and as always, you can reach out to our support team with any questions at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com.

September 25, 2023

This week we're highlighting the Loaned Items Notice. Usually notices are sent to the individual patrons–but what about utilizing them for teachers as well? 

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. Here's how!

1. Go to Operations > Reports > Circulation > Notices > Loaned Items Notice.

2. On the Selections tab, select Krabappel in the Patrons from Homeroom fields
   (remember that Homeroom is a terminology that can be changed in Preferences, so your organization might use a different term).

3. On the Options tab, select 2 Per Page as the format and make any other customizations you’d like such as modifying the notice text and selecting if you want to show cover art

4. Click Create Saved Report

5. Type a name for the report and click OK. (e.g. Loaned Items Notice - Krabappel)

6. The report will move to the Saved tab, with additional settings.

7. On the Schedule tab, schedule the report and set the frequency and when you want the report to run.

8. On the Notification tab, select Enable Email Notification and enter the homeroom teacher's email address into the Email Notification and Download Link To field (e.g. ekrabappel@myschool.org).

   1. This will send a link to download the PDF straight to Mrs. Krabappel.

   2. If you need to send the report to multiple emails, separate them with commas.

9. Click Save.

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. 

To set up the first scheduled notice (this example is for items that are one week and under overdue, focused on overdue items and not charges):

Repeat the steps for however many notices you want, focusing on how many days the items are overdue and the specific notice text. For example, set up another notice for items 7–14 days overdue, and a third for items 15–27 days overdue, with varying levels of urgency!

As always, our support team is ready to help if you need it at (800) 347-4942 · support@companioncorp.com.