III. CHECKING ITEMS OUT To check items out, from the Main Menu you will choose Option 1: CHECK OUT/RENEW BOOKS. This choice takes you to the Check Out Books screen. You will notice that you do not have to press @Return! when you make a choice from the Main Menu. If the computer can anticipate your response, it will begin immediately executing the command and you do not have to press @Return!. When you're entering data (names and numbers), the computer has no idea when you're finished. As a rule, if the cursor just sits there, press @Return!. If the disk drive begins spinning immediately, do not press anything else. For your information: As you make choices, you frequently get further and further away from the Main Menu. For example, you could choose to print; from the Print Menu, you could choose School Printouts; from School Printouts, you could decide to Print Bills. Each choice puts you further away from the Main Menu. Repeatedly pressing @Esc! while in an entry screen or at a submenu takes you back to the Main Menu. It's like retracing your steps. While at the submenu, pressing @Esc! is the same as choosing the last menu option (which is always to return to the previous menu). So if ever you are unsure or feel lost or confused, press @Esc! until you get back to the Main Menu. CIRCULATION PLUS** Check Out Books ** Patron # Commands:`` (S) Search`` (R) Renew`` (B) Backup`` (X)`` Backup Switch ON (0) The top part of the entry screen contains only a heading with the word "Patron" on the top right side of the screen. The bottom contains some commands that will be explained later. The rest of the screen is empty. At this point, the program is expecting a number to be read in by a barcode scanner. If you have received this Demo/Tutorial before buying , it's unlikely that you have a barcode reader. The program, however, will always allow you to bypass the use of a barcode scanner and type in a number directly from the keyboard. This is useful not only for this Demo/Tutorial but also for the hard disk system. It means that if ever the barcode scanner malfunctions or a barcode is not in hand to be read, the system can continue smoothly with keyboard entry. Within the tutorials you will be instructed to type in a number. You must understand that when using , you will actually be scanning a barcode number with a barcode reader. To check out a book you must first identify the patron. This is done by passing the barcode scanner across the barcode on the patron card. As soon as the number is read in by the computer, the full name of the patron will appear on the screen. Immediately below the name will appear a status line with four items: CIRCULATION PLUS** Check Out Books ** Patron # 00040 Saunders, Maria (86) Fines: None`Exp Date: None`Overdues: 0 Books Out: 2 Enter Title # Commands:```(S) Search```(L) List```(R) Reserve```(F) Fine``` (D) Date This is the total amount the patron currently owes in outstanding fines. Expiration Date:` This is the date the patron's library card will expire. In schools, this will usually contain the word "None". Schools will probably use graduating year-- which does not appear here but is shown to the right of the patron's name. Overdues:` This number indicates how many outstanding overdue items the patron presently has. Books Out:` This is the number of items the patron currently has out. This number changes constantly as books are returned and new ones checked out. This number is not the total books checked out by that patron since the system became operable; it is only the number of items presently checked out in the patron's name. (Cumulative circulations for a patron are displayed in patron searches and on patron lists.) The cursor will then be in the title field. (Additional commands appear at the bottom of the screen. These will also be explained in detail later.) The scanner is passed across the barcode on the book and the full book title appears on the screen with the due date to the right. When the cursor reappears in the title field, the transaction has been recorded. If you have a second book to check out to the same patron, you simply pass the barcode scanner across the barcode of the next book. You would repeat the operation for each book to be checked out to a person, reading their barcodes one right after another. To tell the computer that you have finished recording the transactions to an individual patron, you can read another patron barcode with a barcode scanner or press the @Esc! key. When you press @Esc!, all data from the previous check-out will disappear and the cursor will again be in the patron number field. What happens if I read in a book barcode number when the cursor is in the patron field? When the cursor is in the patron field, it will accept only a patron barcode number. If you try to read in a title barcode number, a message will appear on the screen telling you that the barcode number read in is invalid. TUTORIAL #2 In this tutorial you will check two books out to Maria Saunders and one book out to Chris Garrison. When you are using this tutorial and the ones that follow, do not skip instructions which ask you to perform certain tasks. In later sections when overdues and searches are done, we will assume that you have followed the tutorials and checked out certain books as the tutorial has directed. 1.From the Main Menu, type a `1``to select Option 1: Check Out/Renew Books. 2.With the cursor in the Patron # field, type `and press @Return!. CIRCULATION PLUS** Check Out Books ** Patron # 40 Commands:`` (S) Search`` (R) Renew`` (B) Backup`` (X)`` Backup Switch ON (0) The patron information for patron #40, Maria Saunders, will appear on the screen. Notice that she currently has 2 books checked out. 3.With the cursor in the Title # field, type `and press @Return!. The title of book #195, On heroes and hero worship, and the due date will appear. The disk drive will spin for a few seconds and the transaction will be written to disk. On the hard disk this will take less than three seconds. CIRCULATION PLUS** Check Out Books ** Patron # 00040 Saunders, Maria (86) Fines: None Exp Date: None`Overdues: 0` Books Out: 2 Enter Title # 195 Checkout: On heroes and hero worship DUE: 04/16/86 Commands:```(S) Search```(L) List```(R) Reserve```(F) Fine``` (D) Date 4.The cursor will return to the title field and wait for you to check out another title. Type `and press @Return!. This item will also be checked out to Maria. You will notice that the number of Books Out (far right in the status line) now shows that Maria Saunders has four books checked out. 5.Press @Esc! to indicate that you are now ready to check an item out to a different patron. Maria's record will disappear, and the cursor will return to the Patron # field. 6.Now to patron number 19, check out item number 168. If you mistakenly type in the wrong patron number, simply press @Esc! and type it again. (Patron number 19 is Chris Garrison.) Although it is very quick to type the barcode numbers in to check books out, you must remember that when actually using a barcode reader, checking books out will be done almost as fast as you can pass the scanner over the barcodes. 7.When item 168 is checked out, press @Esc! once to return to the patron # field. Then press @Esc! again to return to the Main Menu. SPECIAL CASES Patrons with overdues and/or fines: If the person who wants to check out a book has overdue items and/or fines, a "beep" will sound and the password will be requested. If you do not wish to check additional items out to the patron, you can press @Esc! instead of entering the password. Patrons for whom you are holding reserve books: When this patron's barcode is read, you will see on the screen, following his year of graduation, this message: "(Reserve Ready)". ACTIVATING RECORDS "ON THE RUN" If you attempt to check out a book to a patron number for which no patron information has been entered, you will be informed that that number has not yet been activated and asked, "Do You Wish To Activate This Record?" If you respond with a , lines will appear for typing the patron's last name and first name. An identical procedure is followed to check out an item that has not yet been entered into the system, except that no information is typed at the time. Most librarians keep the book cards and enter data from a number of them at one time during the day, using the Enter Titles option. TEMPORARY CHECKOUTS In every library there are items which the librarian will not wish to bring into the automated system in a permanent way; that is, by barcoding the item and typing in the bibliographic information. Periodicals, pamphlets, some nonprint materials, and items on loan from other libraries may fall into this category.`` allows you to record these items as Temporary check-outs whenever they leave your library. You will decide how many item numbers to reserve for Temporary Items as one of your System Setup Options. Title numbers beginning with #1 and extending as high as #999 can be reserved for Temporary check-outs. When installing , you will place the barcode labels with your Temporary Item numbers on blank check-out cards and keep a number of these blank check-out cards at the circulation desk. Let us say, for example, that you are treating all of your periodicals as Temporary check-outs instead of barcoding each of them individually. Whenever a patron brings a magazine to the desk, you will take a Temporary check-out card from your file and attach it to the inside of the magazine with a paper clip. You would then scan the patron barcode number as usual. With the cursor then blinking in the title field, you would scan the barcode number on the Temporary check-out card. Instead of a title appearing, a line appears on which you may type the title of that item. The overnight date appears as the default for date due. If you wish to use a different date due, you must type it in. After the date due is correct and you press @Return!, the item is checked out. Any search of the patron's record will show that item by title. CIRCULATION PLUS** Check Out Books ** Patron # 00040 Saunders, Maria (86) Fines: None`Exp Date: None Overdues: 0 Books Out: 4 TITLE: ________________ This is a temporary item. You must enter the title and due date. When the item is returned, you check it in by scanning the barcode number on the card. The computer will completely erase from the disk the title you entered for that check-out card. It is held temporarily until the patron returns it. The Temporary check-out card may be returned to the circulation desk and used over and over again. Since a name is never written on it, the card never fills up.