Tip for: 04.24.17

Last week we talked about basic Circulation commands. But did you know some Command Line shortcuts can be paired with barcodes? This is especially useful if you don’t want to leave your current mode to perform an unrelated action. Let’s look at a couple examples.

Let’s say you have patron 1002 up on the screen, and he is checking items out. There, he’s checked out the first Hunger Games. Then he mentions he wants to put the second book on hold. 
Instead of exiting Check Out mode and going to Hold mode, all you have to do is type H plus the item barcode, e.g. h 11308.

Ok, so maybe you don’t know the barcode off the top of your head—you could Lookup the title and bring that item current, then type H =, which will place a hold on that item (11308) for the current patron (1002)… and you are still in Check Out mode!

Circulation Commands

Another scenario—you are doing important library cataloging work in Assign Keywords (V) mode, and a kid drops a book at your desk yelling “I’m done with this!” and then he races off. It’s too late to ask him to drop the book in the bookdrop, or take it to another station—you just have to check it in yourself. Simply type B in the Command Line, and scan the item barcode e.g. b 12093. That will check in the book, and you will still be in Assign Keywords mode.

Did you know you can do the same thing with the X command? Let’s say you are in Bookdrop mode because you are tending to the bookdrop, when a girl comes up to you and asks if you can print a list of all the items she has checked out. Instead of leaving bookdrop mode, type X in the command line, followed by her barcode, e.g x 1003. That will bring her up, and you can use the Q command to print her Details for her—all without leaving Bookdrop mode. The next item you scan will properly bookdrop.

NOTE: In my examples, there is a space between the command and the barcode. That space is not necessary, unless your barcodes include letters.


Download the pdf cheat sheets!

Alexandria v6 Circulation Commands

Alexandria v7 Circulation Commands