Setting Offline Circulation Preferences

To set preferences on an Offline Circulation workstation:

1. Launch Offline Circulation.
2. Select View | Preferences. The system displays the Preferences dialog.
3. Assign a statistics group to the workstation.
4. Specify a date format.
5. Disable barcode validity checking.
6. Enable the printing of due slips.
7. Set system prompts for patron registration.
8. Save your modifications to Offline Circulation Preferences.
9. (Optional) Standardize preferences on all Offline Circulation machines.

Assigning a Statistics Group

Offline Circulation requires that a statistics group be assigned to the workstation.

To assign a statistics group to the workstation, enter a number between 1 and 999 in the Statistics Group text box.

For more information about assigning statistics groups to Offline Circulation workstations, see Managing Statistics Created by Offline Circulation Transactions.

Specifying a Date Format

By default, Offline Circulation uses a mdy (month-day-year) format for dates.

To specify a different format, enter the desired combination of the following characters:

• d (day)
• m (month)
• y (year)

Checking Barcode Validity

By default, Offline Circulation validates barcodes by requiring the following:

• Barcodes must be 14 characters in length.
• Barcodes must contain the correct check digit.
• Item barcodes must start with a '3'.
• Patron barcodes must start with a '2'.

To disable barcode validation, uncheck the Check barcode validity checkbox.

For more information, see Barcodes: Overview.

Enabling Due Slip Printing

By default, Offline Circulation does not print due slips, and the None button is selected in the Due Slips area of the dialog.

To enable due slip printing in Offline Circulation:

1. In the Due Slips area, choose the button that specifies the functionality you want:

   One slip per patron  

   A due slip prints at the end of each patron's session. The due slip contains data for all items checked out or renewed during that session.

   One slip per item

   A due slip prints after each item is checked out or renewed.

   The system enables the Message to print on due slips area.
2. Add text that displays at the bottom of each due slip. To do so, enter up to 40 characters of text in each of the Line 1 and Line 2 text boxes. For example:
   
   
   West Library
   www.west.lib.edu
   
   
3. Add blank lines to the bottom of each due slip, if desired. To do so, enter the number of lines desired in the Lines to eject text box. After the system finishes printing a due slip for an item or patron, the system advances the receipt paper the number of lines specified.
4. Set up the due slip printer:
   1. Close the Preferences dialog.
   2. Choose a printer.
   The system saves your selection and uses the selected printer during future Offline Circulation sessions.

Setting System Prompts for Patron Registration

The Patron Registration Settings table enables you to set the system prompts that display during the offline patron registration process.

Each entry in this table is composed of the following elements:

Tab

A one-character value that identifies a field in the patron record for which the system prompts data entry during offline patron registration.

Prompt

The text of the prompt specified in the Tab column.

Default

A value that displays by default in the prompt's entry box. If the majority of patron records created at this Offline Circulation workstation will share a common value for this patron record field, use this column to specify the default value. For example, if most new patrons will have an email address at westelm.org, you could enter an email address default of @westelm.org.

When setting up patron registration prompts, use the following guidelines:

• At least one prompt must be present in the Patron Registration Settings table to enable offline patron registration.
• You can enter the same tag more than once.
• You cannot create prompts for any fixed-length fields not listed in the table below.
• You can create prompts for alphabet-based variable-length fields other than those listed in the table below. For example, to add the tag for an Email Address prompt, you would specify 'z' as the Tag value.

The following are described below:

Adding prompts

Removing prompts

Adding Prompts

Perform the following steps for each prompt you want to add:

1. Enter a value in the Tag column. Possible values are:
   
   

   Fixed-length Fields
   Tag	Automatic Prompt	Patron Record Field
   0	P TYPE	P TYPE
   1	PCODE1	PCODE1
   2	PCODE2	PCODE2
   3	PCODE3	PCODE3
   4	Home Library	HOME LIBR
   5	Patron Message	PMESSAGE
   6	Manual Block	MBLOCK
   7	Expiration Date	EXP DATE
   8	PCODE4	PCODE4
   Variable-length Fields
   Tag	Automatic Prompt	Patron Record Field
   a	Address	ADDRESS
   h	Address 2	ADDRESS2
   b	Barcode	P BARCODE
   n	Name	PATRN NAME
   t	Phone	TELEPHONE
   p	Phone 2	TELEPHONE2

   
   
2. Select the cell in the Prompt column for this entry. The system:
   • Automatically lowercases any uppercase tags entered in the Tag column.
   • Displays the tag's automatic prompt in the Prompt column, if applicable.
3. Enter a Prompt value if one did not display automatically. For example, if you entered 'z' in the Tag column, you might enter a value of "Email Address" in the Prompt column. Note that automatic prompts cannot be modified.
4. (Optional) Select the cell in the Default column, and enter appropriate data.
   
   When creating defaults, consider the following:
   • When registering a patron offline, users can add data to a Barcode default but they cannot modify or delete the default.
     
     For example, if the Barcode prompt specifies a default of "b200003", you can add numbers at the end of the default (b20000311111111) but the system does not enable you to change "b200003".
   • Offline Circulation does not accept defaults for these prompts:
     
     
     Name
     Phone
     Phone 2

Removing Prompts

• To remove a single entry from the Patron Registration Settings table, select the Tag column of that entry and press Backspace.
• To remove all entries (tags, prompts, and defaults) from the Patron Registration Settings table, choose the Clear Patron Registration Settings button.

Saving Preferences

1. To save your changes to the Preferences dialog, choose the Apply button. You must choose Apply before you quit or the system does not retain your changes.
2. To revert to the most recently saved settings, choose the Reset button. The system changes the settings back to those last saved with the Apply button.
3. To exit the Preferences dialog, choose the Quit button.

Offline Circulation saves Preferences dialog settings for future offline sessions in the pccirc.cfg file. For more information, see Offline Circulation Files.

Standardizing Offline Preferences on All Workstations

To ensure that all of your library's Offline Circulation workstations are configured with the same Offline Circulation preferences:

1. Exit Offline Circulation.
2. Locate the pccirc.cfg file you want to use as a standard. The default directory for pccirc.cfg is C:\Sierra Desktop App\Offline.
3. Copy the standard pccirc.cfg file to a shareable medium (for example, a CD, network drive, or flashdrive).
4. Copy pccirc.cfg from the shareable medium to the Offline Circulation directory (for example, C:\Sierra Desktop App\Offline) on each Offline Circulation workstation.
5. If you track offline statistics on a machine-by-machine basis, change the Statistics Group number on each workstation.