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Alexandria Refresher

The beginning of a new school year is coming up, and you probably haven’t had to work with Alexandria for a few months. That means there’s a good chance you don’t remember how to do some simple things. And that’s okay! Whether you’re brand new to Alexandria or a returning user, reviewing how to do these five things will help make the beginning of the school year run smoothly.

Top 5 Things to Review in Alexandria

Table of Contents
1. Using Circulation Commands

You may not remember all of the keyboard shortcuts to getting things done in the Circulation module. Browse through the Command Help tab in Librarian or the Circulation Commands List in the Support Center for a quick reminder. You could also print a Circulation Commands chart to keep near your computer. Here are a few important commands to remember:

  • B starts Bookdrop mode, which checks in all items scanned or inventories items if they’re already checked in.
  • R starts Renewal mode, which renews multiple checked-out items
  • X clears the Current Patron and Current Item panes

A few more….

  • L looks up patrons by name
  • T looks up items by title
  • S looks up items by series
  • DL charges a damage fee for the current item to the current patron
  • Patron 1 is your Lost items and Patron 2 is Discarded

How to check out a book:

  1. In Circulation, bring up the patron by scanning/typing their barcode in the command line. (Or using the L lookup command to find them by name.)
  2. Make sure you are in Check out mode.
  3. Scan or type the barcode of the book.
  4. That’s it!
2. Adding patrons and items

It’s a new school year, which probably means new patrons and inventory. Here are a few things to review:

  • If you use Clever to sync student information system (SIS) records and have disabled Clever for the summer, you’ll want to enable it.
  • Remind yourself how to add patron records manually or through imports. 
  • To add a title record manually in the Items module, press the + at the top to use Title Assistant. Or, review how to import titles.
3. Logging into Patron Status

Your patrons might ask about their holds and check outs on the first day back! You can always pull up their Details in the Circulation module by using the Q command. But you can also show them how to get to their Patron Status portal on Researcher if you have it configured. Another option is to give them their specific URL (e.g. https://demo.goalexandria.com/status).

4. Running label reports

Getting new inventory means you’ll need new labels! Brush up on how to run label reports in Alexandria.

How to print a label for a new book:

  1. Go to Operations > Labels.
  2. Press the + to create a new report.
  3. Find the Copy Labels you use—usually Copy Labels (3×10).
  4. Under Selections, pick what copies you want to print labels for. Usually this is ‘copies added’ date, or check the box to Show Additional and enter the barcodes of the new copies.
  5. Under Options, configure how this label should look.
  6. Run the report, then find the PDF in Operations and print your labels.
  7. Once you’ve set up this Label report, be sure to save it so it’s easier next time!
5. Promoting new items

Once new materials come, you’ll want to let your patrons know what’s now available. Here are a couple tips when it comes to handling new items:

  • Run a Reordering Details report in Operations > Reports > Copies > Reordering Details. This will give you information on discarded items so that you can reorder what was popular.
  • Need to use some books for a display? Check out books to the Library Use patron (barcode 3) in the Circulation module so you can still keep track of them.
  • Create a slideshow of new items so your patrons know what just arrived. In Researcher’s Search function, use the ((accession::# %today -180)) Search String to find recently added titles, then add those titles to a list, and turn that list into a slideshow. You can then display the slideshow on a TV monitor, computer, or tablet.
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