4+OPALS+Questions+for+training+(March)

Q1. About how long can we expect it to take to scan a shelf? PH

A1. Speed varies according to many different factors. For example, what sort of scanner are you using? Where is the barcode - do you need to open the book to get to it, or can you simply roll the item back on its spine and scan it? and obviously, how many books are on the shelf. The best way to determine how long it can take is to make a test with one shelf; then you can see how long it takes per book or per shelf.

Q2. We are doing a mini inventory at the high school this week. We have a list of invalid barcodes. We found the books that misread and scanned them manually into the inventory but we can't get rid of this list of invalid barcodes. We can print it but not delete it. How do we do this? EM

A2. The list of invalid barcodes is only a list. It is a reflection between what you have scanned and what is in your OPALS records; it is there just to give you enough information so that you know what to correct. You can ignore it once you have found the books that were misread and rescanned them.

Q3 Can we have two inventories, with two different call number ranges, open at the same time? Or do we have to close one to open another? We would like to scan in two different areas and have two inventory ranges open if possible. EM

A3. Although you can only have one inventory open at a time, using notepad for PCs or word for Macs you can scan different areas of the library at the same time. We will discuss this further on March 28.

Q4 Why is it preferable to delete titles in the Admin Deletion of holdings area? If we are deleting one title, does it make any difference if we delete it in cataloging or in Administration? Does the Admin module keep track of the number of deletions or the titles? EM

A4. It is much safer to delete from the Admin module, especially if there are multiple changes. In cataloging it is possible to delete the MARC record and all the copies when you don't want to; in Admin this is not possible. There are some changes coming soon that will make it safer to delete from the cataloging section but it will always be safer to delete using a hitlist. We will discuss this further on Wednesday.

Q5 Is there a way to delete the list of overdues that appear on a student's record once the book is returned? This is mainly for books that weren't really overdue -- date due is a day before the students come to library.

A5. Although there isn't a way to delete these items, you can make the due date the one when they are coming to the library. After the class has loaned their items you can use the >circulation > loaned item s report to print out a list of everything was borrowed by that class. If you do it before sending them back to their classroom you can give it to the teacher or keep it until it is useful later.