Follett Fall 2012

Pitfalls and Panic Makers; Practical Tips and Troubleshooting

Panic Maker Scenario:• Students barcodes don’t scan

• I scanned number just like normal• This wasn’t my student so I unchecked “Only

My Patrons” box• Got error message (see next slide)

Patron not found. Why?

• Somehow the “Only Search” drop down menu got changed from “Barcode” to “Patron Names”

• This is VERY COMMON. Mischievous elves do this on a regular basis.

Pitfall

Scenario: • No book covers are showing up in Destiny

QuestOr• Some book covers appear, others don’t.

Scenario: I have been teaching Destiny Quest Should book covers be showing up? Even looking through our

regular catalog I don’t see any book covers.

• Step 1: Look up Hunger Games (or other title)

• Step 2: Some have covers, some don’t

• Remedy: Click “Go” again, and the covers will show up

• This is the equivalent of saying “please.” • Caution: Not all records will have a book cover.

Or…

• Click on a title, and the cover shows up

Troubleshooting

Scenario:• Teachers can’t login, or all my teachers aren’t

in Destiny.

• Teachers’ Destiny records are not updated, nor are they tied to any database that is updated.

• Look up a few teachers to see if the 5 digit Employee ID is used for the barcode. If so, then the teachers’ usernames are probably the 5x2 and the passwords are probably the EIDs.

• You can always uncheck the “only my patrons” box to check out to a teacher who transferred from another district.

• If a teacher is brand new, you can just add them, using the 5x2 as the username, and the 5 digit EID as the password. Email Carolyn McClure (mccluca@tulsaschools.org) to have the access level changed to “teacher.”

Pitfall

Scenario: • Students who leave—Reports still show these

students

Pitfall--Students who leave—Reports still show these students

• If a student transfers within the district, the Destiny record will go with them. (sometimes takes a day). Uncheck the “only my patrons” box if you get a student from another school and the record is not at your school yet.

• If a student leaves the district, DO NOT DELETE the student.

• The Destiny record does not go away.• DO NOT DELETE the student.

• Create a new Patron Type (if you don’t have one already) for students who move out of the district.

• These students almost always come back at some point.

• DO NOT DELETE the student.

• In Destiny, go to the Back Office tab• Choose the Library Policies option• Use the Patron Types subtab• Click the icon “+ Patron Type”

• Name the patron type• Put max checkouts and max holds at zero• Change Ready Holds expire in _1_ days and

Pending Holds expire in _1_ days to one.

• Check the “Block check outs…” box• Change the checkout Limit to zero for each

circulation type. Your circulation types will vary.

• Save

• When a student leaves, go to Back Office Tab, Manage Patrons option.

• Look up the student and click Edit.• In the Site Information part of the record,

change the patron type to “Out of District” and click Save.

• DO NOT DELETE ANY PATRONS, EVER. Please!

• When running reports, always update the patron types. It will usually be in “Step 2, Limit”

• Click the “Plus over Minus Update” box

• Uncheck the patron types you want left out of the report, and Click OK. This takes you back to the next step of the report.

• Your patron types will vary.

Panic Maker

Scenario:• Help, I changed my assistants password, and

now she can’t even log in.

Password change is a 2-step process• Back Office tab, Manage Patrons option, look up

patron, click edit.• Step 1: Click Clear password, then save.• Step 2: Click Edit again, type in password twice,

then save.• Do not try to combine the steps.

Practical Tip

Scenario:• I want to add a subject field to the Sequoyah

nominees, but I can’t update the MARC record. Why?

• This is one database. One very large database. One extremely large database.

• You cannot, should not, will not, do not change the MARC record.

• You can, however, add a site-specific subject heading that will only show at your site.

• Moon over Manifest is a 2013 Children’s Sequoyah nominee.

• To add a subject heading, click the +Plus/Minus Site Subjects” box, then click the “Add Subject” box

• Don’t just start typing. Look to see if there is a subject heading already in the catalog.

• Click the Find Heading icon

• Type in Sequoyah, and choose Bibliographic headings.

• Click Go. Be prepared to wait. All computers wait at the same speed—slowly!