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Generous Efforts of Many
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FEATURES:CIRC.PLUS:DEMO.MANUAL
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II.txt
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II. BEGINNING THE DEMO PROGRAM
This "power up" section follows the steps that are taken to
arrive at the Main Menu of . We will describe the procedure
briefly, then you will perform it in Tutorial #1.
To boot the Demo/Tutorial, the Demo.Program disk is
placed in drive 1 and the Demo.Data disk in drive 2. Then the
disk drive doors are closed and the computer is turned on. A series of
introductory messages appear on the screen as the program is loaded.
TODAY'S DATE
When the disk drives stop spinning, the screen will display:
CIRCULATION PLUS** Overdue Start-Up **
REFER TO MANUAL FOR PROPER DEMO ENTRIES
Enter Today's Date:
Do not enter a date until you are told to do so in Tutorial #1.
Dates should always be entered in the following
format: MM/DD/YY. For example, October 15, 1986, will be written
10/15/86. Months and days with only one digit must be preceded
by a zero. September 5, 1986, will be written 09/05/86. You will
notice that whenever you enter a date in this fashion and press
@Return!, the computer
will quickly change your numeric entry to the more common word and
number format.
If you have a clock card installed (or have an IBM PC AT),
Today's Date will be supplied by the clock. All you need do is press
@Return! to confirm its accuracy.
CONFIRMING DATES AND SORTING OVERDUES
Next the computer asks if the date is correct. If it is, you can
accept it by either typing a
'Y' or pressing @Return! (the 'Y' is the default response).
If the date is incorrect, an 'N' should be typed. Then you will be
given another opportunity to enter the information. The back arrow
can be used to move to the error and correct it.
Once the date has been confirmed, the screen will read:
* * * * Sorting Overdue Books * * * *
The program will then look through all the books on the disk
which have been checked out, comparing the due date of the books with
the date you have just typed in. If the due date is before the date
you entered as Today's Date, the patron's record will be tagged with an
overdue. With the floppy Demo/Tutorial,
it may take the disk drive a minute and a half to look through the
200 or so records. It may take the hard disk about the same amount of
time to check the transactions of 8,000 patrons and 30,000 books. Each
morning when is powered up and the day's date is typed in,
this same procedure will be executed.
DUE DATES
The system uses the loan period specifications
entered on the Calendar
screen to calculate the due dates for items which will be checked out
"Today." This
procedure is analogous to setting the manual due date stamp at the
beginning of each day.
After the sorting of overdues has been completed, a screen appears
on which the due dates for each Circulation Period are shown.
Again you are given an opportunity to change the dates or accept
them.
CIRCULATION PLUS** Circulation Start-Up **
Faculty Due Date: 00/00/00
Enter Regular Circulation Date:``Wed Apr 16,1986
Enter Overnight Date #1:``Thr Apr 3,1986
Other Circulation Date #2:
#3:
#4:
Are These Due Dates Correct? (Y/N)
allows five different due dates (plus a Faculty Due
Date) to be recorded at any time. These automatic circulation dates
can be overridden, however, when an item is checked out.
The first date shown is the due date of regular
items checked out on 03/02/86.
We assume on this Demo/Tutorial that the regular
circulation period is two weeks. The overnight date is shown next.
The last three dates allow you to designate three additional circulation
periods. Some libraries have three-day and one-week check-out periods
for certain items in addition to the regular and overnight circulation
periods. Holidays, teacher institute days, or
other days off can be entered into the system's Calendar. Then the
system will not count those days in calculating overdue dates and fines.
You will see later when you begin entering information about the
books and materials from your collection that one of the fields
describing the item is the Circulation Period. This means that when an
item is checked out, the correct due date will automatically be recorded
for that item.
USING A PASSWORD SYSTEM
Once the due dates have been accepted, a line appears for typing
the password you wish to use on this day.
CIRCULATION PLUS** Circulation Start-Up **
Faculty Due Date: 00/00/00
Enter Regular Circulation Date:``Wed Apr 16,1986
Enter Overnight Date #1:``Thr Apr 3,1986
Other Circulation Date #2:
#3:
#4:
<ql,,26/sp,14>Enter Today's Password:
Utilizing a password system will allow you to restrict
access to parts of the program that can change information in the
patron or book file. This means that before the program will go
to that routine, the correct password must be typed in. A password
is also required to check additional books out to someone with
outstanding overdues or fines. A new password may be entered any time
the program is booted up. On a practical basis, this will probably be
each morning. The password may be up to eight characters long; it can
also be a combination of letters and numbers.
A password system allows you to have part time staff or
students working the circulation
desk unsupervised and be confident that records will not be changed
by unauthorized people.
While working with the Demo/Tutorial, simply press @Return!
instead of using a password. This means that whenever the program asks
you for a password, you can just press @Return! and
the program will continue. This will allow us to move more quickly from
menu to menu during the tutorials.
After the tutorials are completed, you may experiment with a
password system. If you do, you will notice that
when you first choose a password each morning, it will appear
on the screen as you type it. On all other screens an asterisk will
be printed for each letter you type. This means the screen will not
display (and therefore betray) your password as you type it in.
THE MAIN MENU
After the day's password is entered and/or @Return! is pressed,
's Main Menu appears.
It is from this menu that all routines begin and it is from
this menu that you should select Option 7: BACKUP/QUIT to arrive at
the exiting routine each time you leave the program. The
screen will prompt you when the exit procedure has been completed with
the words, "It Is Now OK To Turn The Computer Off."
1.```Check Out/Renew Books
2.```Check In Books
3.```Add/Update Options
4.```Print/Display Options
5.```System Setup Options
6.```Inventory Options
7.```Backup/Quit
Enter Option #
TUTORIAL #1
In this tutorial you will practice the startup procedure which
takes you to the Main Menu.
1.Place the Demo.Program disk in drive 1
and the Demo.Data
disk in drive 2, close the drive doors, and turn on the computer.
2. When asked for Today's Date
enter: . Press @Return!.
All the tutorials will depend upon the date you enter now.
On the Demo.Data disk
we have already entered patrons and books. Some of the
patrons have books checked out, some do not; others have overdues and
still others have books on reserve. So that all the functions of `can be demonstrated,
you must pretend that today is April 2, 1986.
You should work through all the tutorials before experimenting
with data of your own. You may exit the program and only do a few of the
tutorials each time. Be sure always to exit through the last choice
on the Main Menu and never just pull the disk out. Each time you
return and wish to continue going through the tutorials, you should
enter April 2, 1986, as Today's Date when you boot the disk. Later
when you begin experimenting with the Demo/Tutorial on your own,
you may enter the real date when prompted for "Today's Date."
3.Press @Return! when asked whether "Wed Apr 2,
1986" is correct. Then the overdues will be sorted.
4.Press @Return! to accept the dates shown as the regular
and overnight due dates.
So that all the books
we've put on the Demo.Data disk will be correctly
due or overdue, you must continue to pretend that today is April 2,
1986. For now, we are also pretending that we use no circulation date
#2, #3, and #4. No dates appear on those lines and the tutorial
will assume that you have no due dates other than regular and overnight.
When the tutorial is completed, you may, of course, boot the
Demo/Tutorial up again
and experiment with items with different due dates.
5.Press @Return! when asked for a password.
This brings you to the Main Menu and completes
the routine you will use each morning when you first turn on the
computer and start the system.