by For now, let’s look at the Patron Search interface. Click Search -> Patrons from the top menubar.
A search for GA in the State field will retrieve most of the test patrons we created. There are no real patrons in this demo. You can choose what columns appear in the search results and in what order (try dragging the column headers), and eventually you’ll be able to sort on any column.
Notice how we can step through each patron and have summary information appear in the left pane. Anytime you deal with patrons in an interface, you will have the same patron summary pane on the left. It also serves as a launch pad for other services you can perform for that patron, such as Check Out and Holds.
Let’s edit this patron by clicking on the Edit button in the patron summary pane:
Right now we don’t have a lot of input-validation and error-checking in this interface, however, almost everything is available for editing. The Patron Registration interface (Circulation -> Register Patron) is identical to the edit interface.
One useful feature is that we allow libraries to create local statistical categories that they may assign to patrons (and copies, for that matter).
These show up on the patron summary pane, and the values for a patron’s stat cats are editable in the patron edit interface. The stat cats themselves can be defined and edited under Admin -> Patron Stat Cat Editor:
Hello – this is looking great! Good job. Teresa
How do we find the barcode number for items so we can check them out? I don’t see where item id appears.
Also: I would like to be able to search for title=_________ AND author=________ AND keyword=_____________ (not just one of these at one time). Is that going to be available.
I would like to press the “enter” key after information has been entered without having to use the mouse.
I know you are addressing these items, but it never hurts to mention them again. Thanks, Jim Cooper
Hi Jim,
In the Search Catalog interface, when you see a title record, right-click on that record and you should see options for MARC editing and Copy Browsing. It’s the Open Copy Browser option that you want. In the future, we’ll add some more visible/obvious ways to do this and make it accessible without need of the mouse.
For the multiple search criteria in the OPAC, I believe the intention is to allow that sort of functionality, and to even let catalogers specify what tags and subfields they wish to search (ie. 245a: Harry Potter). The ability to do this is available to us now, we just haven’t integrated it with the OPAC yet.
We’ll definately make the enter key do something useful like submit a search request.
Thanks for pointing these out!
— Jason
This looks good. I have a couple of questions. Will the patron ID number print on the receipt or will that be option? And, when you do a search for a patron and get multiple results, you look at one record and that is not the one you want, how do you get back to the results list?
Hi Dawn,
Everything on the receipt will be customizable, including whether or not the patron ID number is displayed. “Easy” customization may be limited to choosing between prebuilt templates, but more flexible customization will be possible.
For the patron search result screen, right now if you make it dissappear (by say, using the Edit button on the Patron Summary Pane), you can’t get it back. However, in the future, we’ll let you spawn the patron interface into another tab, We could do this by overriding the behavior of the existing “quick command” buttons, or by adding new interface options such as a right-click menu on any given patron row in the result list. Another possibility is to just remember the search, so if you pull up the search screen, it does not reset; however, I’d prefer to find alternatives to that option.
Thanks!
— Jason
I have only looked around for a bit, but like the general functionality. Navigation is kind of “clunky” as I miss the back buttons, etc. I’m anxious to see how the MARC fields will display in the editor. And if I didn’t know how to access the MARC from the PINES meeting demo – right clicking on the title text – I would never have figured out even viewing it. So more instructions on navigation on screen are needed or have the MARC editor be a tab or pulldown. In the search area I do like the display showing formats and numbers of titles and items. And I like the hot linked subject lists on the screen with the item display. So lots of good things, we just of course want more!
I have a comment about receipts. In the demo info I read, it said that receipts would be totally customizable and that you can set the system to print receipts automatically or not. Does this mean we’ll also be able to print receipts after the fact, in case a patron changes his/her mind about not wanting a receipt for payments, renewals, etc? If so, that would be great.
Mandy,
Yes, you will be able to print receipts after the fact. I think in the long run you’ll also be able to email receipts, save receipts to files, etc. And most if not all of the data that is presentable in the staff client will be printable, especially anything that resembles a list.
Thanks!
Jason
Jason, are you (and the gang) still taking “requests” for development of Evergreen? One of our libraries has made such a request, and I wasn’t sure who to forward it to. Thanks – Roberta Wilder, ECGRL
Absolutely! We have two mailing lists with which you can correspond with us and other interested parties ( http://open-ils.org/listserv.html ), or you can e-mail us directly at feedback@open-ils.org