How exactly?  Watch this 3 minute Online Tutorial, or follow the instructions below.

1. Log into the NExpress Catalog (http://catalog.nexpresslibrary.org) using your username and password.  If you do not have one, your local library, participating in NExpress, can set this up for you.
2. From the My Account screen, find the “Kansas EZ Library” tab (the wording may change).
   
3. Click on the Kansas EZ Library tab to open the Registration Page for OneClick Digital.
4. Complete the online form.
1. By accessing this form from within your Library Account, you are authorized to be a OneClick Digital subscriber.
2. Choose whether or not to use the OneClickdigital Media Manager as your default player. This is the preferred method and it allows for the easiest download experience.
1. Mac users or users that wish to download manually should select “no”.
3. Next you select a Default Device.
1. If you are an iPod, iPhone, iPad or iTouch user select “iTunes” as your Default Device.
2. Users with a non-Apple device select “Other”.
5. Select the “Create an Account” button to complete the process.

You are now registered for the service and can find, download and enjoy digital audiobooks courtesy of the State Library of Kansas and your NExpress Shared Regional Library!

Welcome to NExpress

Welcome, Introduction and ‘What is NExpress?’

• NExpress Shared Catalog Overview (.pdf)
• Vision and Values Statement (.pdf)

The Public Catalog Tour

Part I – An Introduction to the NExpress Patron Catalog (.pdf)

• Catalog Overview Tutorial (Updated 11/11/11)

Part II - About Your Account (.pdf w/ older illustrations)

• My Account Overview Tutorial (Updated 11/11/11)

Part III – Explore Additional Patron Training Tutorial Videos

Notes and Discussion

• Purchase Suggestions – Post and ByWater Tutorial
• Promotions on Go Live! page
• NExpress Patron Confidentiality Statement (.d0c) and other Orientation Packet Documents (post)

Questions and Answers so far…

Staff Client Tour

Part 1 – Checking items in:

• Video – Checking Items In (11/11/11 in Koha 3.6)
• Video – Checking Items In with Holds (8/10 in Harley)

Part 2 – Checking items out:

• Video – Checking Items Out (8/10)
• Homework Video – Patron Account features in Staff Client, with Checking out demonstrated (11/09)

Part 3 – Issuing new cards and editing patron records:

• Issuing Library Cards Handout (step-by-step, updated 11/11)
• Editing Patrons Handout (full color, updated 11/11)

Part 4 – Managing Holds

• Managing Holds in NExpress (July 2011) (.pdf) – Complete instructions
• Run and Pull Holds Queue Report (Pick List) (video 9/10)
• Check in and Confirm Holds (9/10) – for more examples, see the Checking Items with Holds tutorial

Part 5 – Searching

• Overview of the keyword and advanced search features of the Staff Client
• Keyword searching hints -
  • add “donitroy” or “doniwath” or “wathena” to improve results
  • Look for and use UNIQUE terms.  Is the author’s last name unusual, like “Evanovich”? Is there a term like “playaway” that will improve results?
  • As in Google, use a combination of keywords from the title, series and author name, including dates
  • Keyword searching looks at All fields of All attached items, even mis-cataloged ones
• Advanced searching hints
  • Non-keyword searches are EXACT, so spelling counts but you get faster results
  • Look for unique or unusual subject headings to help narrow your search – “cookery for two”
  • Koha can’t find what is NOT in the record.  If a series title isn’t in the record, no amount of searching will find the book.
• Use specialized external sites to find ISBNs and other unique identifiers AND correct spelling:
• Amazon
• What’s Next ™: Books in Series database
• Fantastic Fiction
• Internet Movie Database

Part 6 – Placing  a Hold:

• Placing a hold in the OPAC (older version of Koha)
• Placing holds in the Staff Client (new tutorials from 11/11)
  • Placing hold from the Search results
  • Placing a hold from the Details page using an Advanced Search
  • Search to Hold feature (new)
  • Placing multiple holds using Search results and Cart feature (new)

Workflows, Troubleshooting and Questions

DONE!
Welcome and enjoy access to 850,000 items, including books, movies, videogames, audiobooks and cake pans.

Advanced Training and Homework Posts:

• Training Materials from September 2010 and May 2010
• Managing Suggestions for Purchase - overview video 9/10
  • Must be logged in as TECH or DIRECTOR
  • Step-by-step instructions post, with a video from Royce Kitts, formerly at Tonganoxie Public Library
  • Patrons are alerted the next time they log into their account of your decision
  • Currently 225 Pending Suggestions!!!

• Searching and Search Training and Search-related Bugs and Barcode Searching-  These (older) posts may be of interest.
  NOTE: Do not include the special characters ( ! ? & ) in searches, it may skew results.
• What to do with Agent Interlibrary Loans – Best practices
• Tags and the Tag Cloud – Ideas from Susan at Hiawatha
• Handling Patron Accounts and Fines – Best practices
• NExpress Users Group Notes, meetings, etc.

A reminder – we have the LIVE catalog (staff.nexpresslibrary.org) and a TEST catalog at staff-test.nexpresslibrary.org.  TEST is our play ground…you can’t hurt anything…it’s old data.  You can create new patrons, place holds, pretend to route holds, mark books lost – basically all of the things you do in the LIVE catalog…only for “does this still work right?” purposes.

If you could help us test circulation, label making, fine paying, hold placing, hold reordering (the arrows should work again) and book cataloging (including Fast Add that should work again)…we would be mighty grateful.  I would be, at least.  Feel free to use our fancy testing protocols.

Exciting new features and some much-anticipated bug fixes (in no particular order):

Bug 6871 – Reports – Link to a fancy new Database Schema page within the Reports module.  For those of you brave enough to write your own SQL reports, the table and field names are now readily available.  There is a link to this and the Reports Library also on the Reports front page under “Other.”  Contact me (Sharon) if you want assistance with reports or help building your own.

Bug 6801 – Patrons - Patrons with many checkouts was SLOW to load.  Well, this is what I call an “efficiency fix.” The developers worked with us to look at the code and identify where the slow down came from with some of our power-user patrons.  According to Chris on a “borrower with 286 checkouts the load time dropped from 108858ms to 4075ms.”  I’m guess that means microseconds, but still…from 108 to 4 seems good to me.  Note: The TEST server is on a slower machine than LIVE – so results will be even better on our live catalog.

Bug 6869 - Cataloging – Items with diacritics and special characters in the title can now be Batch Edited.  Had any of you who batch edit noticed this?

Bug 4298 – Holds – You will notice new wording in the Holdings Table for item-level holds.  This is another one of our ‘pet bugs.’

Bug 6901 – OPAC and Staff Client – We (Liz) can now customize how the Details page displays information in both the OPAC and the Staff Client.  As an example, for eBooks from Project Gutenberg in the OPAC we increased the font size and changed the the color to red to highlight the hyperlink.
What else would you like changed or improved? We can add bulleted lists (I think), change font sizes, font color, etc.

Bug 6870 – Patrons - This enhancement improves how Koha manages emailed messages, according to what we wrote in the original post…  Rather than using the Admin email address (nexpresshelp), the emails appear to come ‘from’ the patron.  Liz says, “This way, the library can respond directly to the patron’s information update, as an example, letting them know that the update has been completed.”

Acquisitions - Suggestions for Purchase work great!  You can sort, you can click on a title and Accept/Reject each individual record OR you can use the check boxes and accept/reject or delete many suggestions at once.

Bug 2534 – Cataloging - An old bug that finally has a partial-fix.  The sometimes unruly Items Table on the Edit Items page has been expanded and the scrolling from right to left has been improved.  Hard to explain, so here’s a Silent Video demonstration.  Interesting discussion about how to really fix this right (which I think would involve being able to hide empty columns…).  I just learned that our friends at Ottawa Library helped with this re-design! Go NExpress…

Bug 6360 – Circulation - New Sound Cues for transfers!  Again, I think this is one we asked for specifically.

Bug 6887 – Circulation/Patrons - New “Checked out from” column added on both the Patron Check out screen and the patron details screen showing WHERE an item was checked out…so those patrons who use multiple branches can be clearly identified and assisted.

Bug 3498 – Circulation/Fines - Enhancement pulled from ‘that other ILS’ allowing for payment of Partial Fines!  Woot.  Check out the [?] help file on the Pay Fines tab of a patron’s record for detailed instructions.  Well during this Silent Video demonstration, I found a bug…when you reverse payment on a partial fine it doesn’t work quite as expected!  I reported it.

Bug 6861 - Cataloging - Fast Add from Circulation spits you back into Circulation when you’re done with the Fast Add BUT if you are Fast Adding from Cataloging, you STAY in cataloging.  This is good, I think.  Associated bug 6853 is marked as Critica and is still being worked on (default to SET library from Cataloging Fast Add).

Bug 6687 – Holds - Fixes Arrows and Delete buttons on the Holds Priority List!  If you click an arrow, you can move someone up or down one place OR to the top or bottom of the holds priority list, you can also “toggle lowest priority” or delete a hold.  The help file for this page needs to be updated…badly.  Play around with this in TEST, but use with extreme caution once it’s in the LIVE environment.

OPAC - OPAC Note versus Message.  During testing, we played with OPAC Notes (from the Patron Edit page) and compared that to the “Add a Message” feature on the Patron’s Circulation tab.  Both options create messages – either on the OPAC for the patron or on the Circulation tab for other librarians.   The nice thing about the Add a Message feature is that it puts a time stamp and Library tag on each message.

Persistent Bugs (that I keep re-discovering and Liz has to remind me that we already knew that…):

Bug Alert From April Upgrade Post:  Bug 6226 - Misrouted Holds.  Scenario:
Library A transferred a book to Library B, but accidentally sent it to Library C on the Courier (you “O” libraries know what we’re talking about…).
What happens when Library C checks in the item?  They get a reminder that there is a HOLD and to send the item to Library B.  That’s good.
However, if Library C happens to check in that item a second time the transfer Goes Away.  That’s bad.  Also, if Library C goofs up and sends the book to Library D, when they check it in the transfer Goes Away.  That’s bad, too.

• To Check the Status of an Item, use “Search the Catalog” not “Check In” to.  Look at the Status information in the Holdings Table.  
• If you accidentally make a Transfer Go Away, you can useCirculation > Transfer to re-add that transfer information!  Select the destination library and scan in the barcode to re-trigger the transfer.

Here’s another one on using the label maker, or this one on Managing lists.

For all of her tutorial videos, visit the ByWater Web site.  Many of these are more useful to the NExpress team with our Administration functions, but there is a ton of useful information about the Staff Client and OPAC there for you, as well.

Happy watching!

New Tab shows Relative’s Checkouts - shows guarantees checkouts when checking out to a guarantor and vice versa.

Specify a Due Date in the past – Use the specify due date calendar widget to pick a due date in the future or past.

Search to Hold – It’s back and better than ever! See it in Action…(screencast video)

Duplicate Patrons - Now you can duplicate a patron.  This, with the ‘Add child button, should make creating cards for an entire family fast and easy.  Start with the Guarantor account, add the first child/guarantee, and then duplicate the child/guarantee account for additional accounts.

Parse error – It is gone! The catalogers who have run across this error in several locations, the parse error is no more. You may now return to importing sets of records normally now.

If you want to ‘force’ a transfer from one library to another of an item, say a book you just removed from your Holds shelf that the patron said they don’t want anymore, you can do that with this feature.

From Circulation, select Transfers.  Use the dropdown menu to select the library you want to transfer the item to (the items Home Library or Owning library) and then scan the Barcode and press Submit.

You can watch a video about it: How Transfers Works

Promote the My Purchase Suggestions feature of the catalog with this simple bookmark.  It’s a Word document – feel free to change it to fit your needs.

Also, here is a no-frills tutorial. Feel free to add this to your Web site.  I can share the code with you.

What else needs a bookmark?  Do you have anything you’ve created that you want to share with other NExpress (and Koha) libraries?

Reminder – if your patrons use this feature, you need to do your part of the process and Manage Those Purchase Suggestions (no worries, it’s easy).

-Sharon

Agenda

• Reports module overview
• Statistical reports – the Wizards
• Creating a new report – NEW Tutorial video
  • Pose the question
  • Determine where the data is stored
  • Determine what to show
  • Add limitations and filters
• Editing a Saved Report

Other Helps:

• NExpresslibrary.org > Training > Reports Training
• Useful List of Koha Tables
• Useful NExpress Item Types and Collection Codes (.pdf) – Updated Oct. 2010

NExpress Library Branch Codes:

• ATCHISON
• BALDWIN
• BASEHOR
• BERN
• BONNERSPGS  (note abbreviated spelling)
• CARBONDALE
• CENTRALIA
• EFFINGHAM
• EUDORA
• HIAWATHA
• HORTON
• LEAVENWRTH (note abbreviated spelling)
• LINWOOD
• LYNDON
• MCLOUTH
• MERIDEN
• NEKLS
• NORTONVLLE  (note the abbreviated spelling)
• OSAWATOMIE
• OSKALOOSA
• OTTAWA
• OVERBROOK
• ROSSVILLE
• SABETHA
• SENECA
• SILVERLAKE
• TONGANOXIE
• VALLEYFALL  (note the missing “s”)
• WELLSVILLE
• WETMORE
• WILLIAMSBG  (note the abbreviated spelling)
• WINCHESTER

Nicole’s presentation on MySQL from KohaCon:

Managing the Holds Shelf  (Managing Holds in NExpress (July 2011))

Overview -

• Using the Holds Awaiting Pickup Report, you can quickly see which holds have expired and need to be returned or moved on to the next hold.
• Using the ‘Cancel Hold’ buttons provided, you can remove the item from the patron’s account and initiate a transit of the item back Home OR confirm and transfer the item to fill another hold.
• PTFS Harley Note: This report does not yet limit to pick up library, as it did prior to the upgrade.  The report also has some issues, the biggest being that you are not prompted to print a transfer slip.
  Other existing issues:
  Bug 3288 (Transit prompt not immediately triggered after hold is canceled) and
  Bug 3270 (Canceling a hold request after transfer initiated orphans item)

Steps (with illustrations below):

1. From Circulation, Open the “Holds Awaiting Pickup Report” (just under the Holds Pick List)
2. By default, the report is in reverse date order – newest holds at the top.
3. Click on the arrow buttons next to the “Available Since” heading to resort the report.
4. Now the oldest holds are at the top of the report. Many will say “Hold Over” – these have been on the Holds shelf for at least 7 days.
5. If the item and the patron who has the item on hold both belong to YOUR library, you will see the “Cancel Hold”button.
   • Clicking on Cancel Hold will remove the hold from the patron and check in the item.
   • You may double check this by checking in the item a 2nd time – it should say Available and Not checked out.
6. If the item is from a different library, you will see the “Cancel hold and return to: LIBRARY” button.
   • Clicking on this button with remove the hold from the patron and initiate a Transit from your library back to the home library IF there is not another hold on the item.
   • To double check this, using the Search the Catalog box, type in “barcode: XXXX” The status should say “In transit from Bonner Springs to Linwood” for example.
7. If the item is from a different library AND on hold for a different patron, you will still see the “Cancel hold and return to: LIBRARY” button.
   • However, when you click on this button, you will get a message saying, “Holds awaiting pickup for your library on: 08/21/09 Hold find for (The boyfriend) must be transferred – This hold placed by Patron at the library LIBRARY. Please transfer…” and SUBMIT QUERY
   • After you submit query, you will be returned to the Holds Awaiting Pickup Report
8. To print a transfer slip, check in the item and Confirm, transfer and print slip (as normal)

When a patron is logged into their account in the Online Public Access Catalog, they can place a Purchase Suggestions from the “My purchase suggestions” tab or if they cannot find what they are looking for in a search, they are prompted to make a Purchase Suggestion:

What happens to all of these Purchase Suggestions?
How do you, as the Library Director or Selector, access these suggestions?

Follow the step-by-step instructions below, or watch a video where Royce at Tonganoxie demonstrates this module.

• Log into the Staff Client using a TECH or DIRECTOR account
• Go to the Acquisitions Module (More > Acquisitions)
  
• Select the Manage Suggestions link
  
• Review the Pending Suggestions and select the appropriate Reason, and choose to Accept, Reject or Delete the Suggestions.  The Reason you select will appear on the Patron’s “My purchase suggestions” page.
• Follow through with ordering the item, then update the status again, if you so choose, once it is cataloged and processed.
• The Patron can watch the progress of their Purchase Suggestions.