OPALS+Q&A

A. In the 690 tag. I (Pauline) have also used the 590 tag for things such as "signed by the author" or "in memory of...."
 * 1. Where do I put local categories?**

A. I had mentioned that I would get back to you about image placement on the library portal's opening Widget. The issue arose at LaGrange MS where they wanted the images to be closer together... We did this but did not tell you how it was done... http://alms.dboces.scoolaid.net/bin/home
 * 2. How do I add and align pictures on OPALS?**

The Widgets are our first attempt... so some of the editing tools need some refinement....

1) When importing multiple images... it is best to import the first one and center it. You can also use the number boxes to size it once it is imported... or click on the image and use the "hooks" on the frame to enlarge or reduce it.

2) Once you have imported, centered and sized the first image.... The widgets' repositioning utilities do not seem to work after the images have been imported. At LaGrange... we copied the images on the left and right... deleted them from the portal... and used the procedure above to align and space them.
 * click on the right or left side of the image and look for the blinking cursor to appear.
 * Move the cursor as far to the left or right of the centered image to create the desired spacing for the next adjacent image
 * Click "browse"... select the image to import... click "upload image"
 * The system will upload the image ... You can size the image as desired
 * Repeat this process to add and space images left or right....

A. To line up barcodes: when you hit print, look at the dialog box…find ‘paper handing’ and change the ‘page scaling’ to ‘none.'
 * 3. How do I align patron barcodes for printing?**

A. There are 2 ways of finding the history:
 * 4. How do I find out the circulation history of a book? **

1. Click on items > click on status > scan or type the barcode of the book you want to check

OR

2. Search for the book > click on title to open the record > click on the barcode number

A. Just a tip in case you do not know.. you can type the borrowers name or last name in the circ barcode box... it will display a list of matches that you can select. Once a borrower's name is on the Loans screen... you can click the "Users" tab to view their complete data... Also, be sure patron Item Privacy is marked "off" and hit F5.
 * 5. How can I see a patron's history?**

> http://www.mediaflex.net/showcase.jsp?n=Laser&product_number=F07115L > "Demco" Laser Printer Catalog Cards Lt Wt 4 cards/sheet 1000/pkg WS1420159
 * 6. What kind of labels should I purchase for barcodes and spine labels?**
 * OPALS uses Avery 5160 address labels for barcodes.
 * For Spine lables we use 8 across, 6 down labels from Demco. (100 sheets) 1" W x 1-2/3"H Item No. P142-1803
 * Also the Brodart spine labels "55 395 005" can be used with the OPALS system.
 * Media Flex sells Demco also at :
 * Print cards on the following card stock format:

A. F5 is refresh. Pressing F5 will refresh the screen. So if you were importing some records into OPALS, you could press F5 and that will refresh the screen, and hopefully the status has changed from pending to done. Pressing F5 is the same as going to the view menu in Firefox or Internet Explorer and selecting refresh. 
 * 7. What is the difference between F5 and F11?**

F11 toggles Full Screen mode off and on. This “hides” the toolbars, menu bars, etc from the display, so you only see the webpage. This helps the librarians with seeing more information on the screen.

Before pressing F11: 

After pressing F11: 

How to sort by title, call number, author etc. rather than pub date in opals catalog? <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">There is a sort link on the top right hand side of the search results. There is also a reverse sort shortcut there.


 * 8. I (Karen F) just found a way to set the bibliography to shelf:**

Go to Administration>Preferences>System Preferences>OPAC display preferences > Bibformat> shelf

9. //<span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">I was glad to learn how to print a list of overdues at the training on 11/9. However, we need to print a list of overdues by grade. // //<span style="color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"> We have four grades here at the high school. Is there a faster way to print an overdue list of grade 12 for example without selecting each user in the box on the left side of the report? I have sorted by grade (or graduation year) but it is tedious to check each box to get an overdue report only for one grade. //

<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"> Log-in > click on circulation from the main menu > click on notices > choose your from date and to date > click on arrow next to the "group loans by" box > <span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">choose grade > click on create report > scroll down to Grade 12 (first group will be teachers and staff, then grade 9,etc) > check the box to the left of Grade 12 -this will select all the students in grade 12 even though you don't see boxes next to their names > click on print list

<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">10+

<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">11. <span style="color: #003366; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">1) I have solved our difficulty with no warning tone to indicate that a checked in book is an ILL item belonging to another school- after I add the temporary record and check it out to the requesting ASM patron, I immediately reserve it (put a hold on it) for a patron that we have named Returns ILL. When the ASM patron returns it and it is checked in, we get the reserved tone. When we press the print button, we can see Ill, Returns displaying as the patron requesting the item. I am hoping that this will also give me a back-up list of books that we requested, under the patron record for Returns ILL. (LAM)

<span style="color: #003366; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">12. How do we get Follett ebooks to show up in OPALS?

13. How do we find the acquisition date for one book? Is it the date in the marc record 940 2 a ?

14.I made a pathfinder for Families. Is there a way to print the list?

14. How to print a notice for damaged books :

Go to admin>report & tools>Fine List> Check student's name>Print notice> check home address>add message> print