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Tip for March 11, 2019

You are adding a new patron. You start typing in their homeroom teacher, only to realize you can't remember how to spell it. "Zie" is as far as you've got. What's next? Authority Control has you covered.

There isn't a visual indication that an entry field is managed by Authority Control, but as you type...

In version 6, type anything in the controlled field and it will pop up the list of terms.
In version 7, type the first three letters, and if it matches a term in Authority Control, a faint shadow text will appear with the full term. Tab out of the field to accept the suggestion, or continue typing to reject it.

But what if the suggested term is spelled wrong, like Zeigler instead of Ziegler? Clean up your terms.

From Tools, open Authority Control.
Open the Homeroom category.
1. v7 - On the left, expand the Patrons category and click Homeroom.
2. v6 - Set the dropdown menu to Homeroom.
Locate the entry for the incorrect term, Zeigler, then click Edit Term.
Enter the corrections, then save.
Alexandria will update all the Zeigler terms in your Homeroom fields to Ziegler. Phew!

Which fields are Authority Controlled?

Everything you see in Authority Control. Some real handy ones besides Homeroom are:

Series. Clean up your series so books show up right!
Titles > Genre. Make the genre selection in Search and Browse much clearer!
Names > Authors. Modify all JRR Tolkien entries to J.R.R. Tolkien, so those books show up under the same author.
Medium. So that your patrons don't have to wonder why there is Book and book and BOOK-unmediated and etc.