OPALS

Textbook & Bookroom Management
Tutorial

Getting Ready

If your library uses OPALS, the core system is in place to implement and use the textbook management system. The textbook management module will use the library system’s users (“patron”) database, so you do not have to enter this information again. If your library or institution does not use OPALS, please contact your OPALS support team to set up the basic OPALS platform.

Tutorial Summary

User / Teacher Data
Create a Course List
Link teacher data & course lists
Enter descriptive textbook data

Import MARC Record Data

Original Entry for items

Loan Transactions

Lend Items

Return Items

Searching
Reports & notices

1. User / Teacher Data

The following instructions are for those that already have user (patron) data loaded in their system.

You must define at least one “Teacher” user type

Log in to OPALS – Click the “Administration” tab – Click “User Types”

Click the “Add” button that appears on the bottom of the display

Add “Teacher” and enter the maximum loans and reserves permitted
Click “Save”
After you have created the “Teacher” user type you can use the “Users” “Group Editor” to change all the user types in your teacher data to this “Teacher” user type
This will automatically populate the Textbook system’s teacher tables with this data

2.Define Textbook Item Types

You must define “Item Types” for each type textbook category, and assign loan limits for each that will be applied to borrowers. Please note that the system allows you to override these defaults that correspond to curriculum cycles and assign a relevant due date whenever you lend textbooks.

Access the “Item Types” table:

Log in to OPALS – Click the “Administration” tab – Click “Item Types”

The table above will appear. You can add as many item types as you wish to describe the textbooks that you manage.
Textbook management requires at least one Textbook Item Type… “TBK” to be defined to work.

To add an item type, click “Add”

Select “Textbook” in the “Item Category” drop-down box
Enter descriptive (TBK) data in the fields at the bottom of the screen
Define loan limits for each borrower type in the table
Click “Save” Repeat this process for each textbook item type

3.Create a Course List

You can create a master list of courses taught in your institution that you can link to teachers. This list enables the system to print reports and notices and generate statistics that relate to or grouped by textbook, student and teacher relationships.

Hover the cursor over the “Textbooks” tab and click “Course List”

OPALS displays courses that have been entered and provides a way to add more
Click the “Add” button on the bottom of the screen to add courses to the list

Add a course by filling in the data
You must enter data in fields suffixed with an asterisk
Click “Save”

4. Link teacher data & course lists

After creating Textbook item and a Teacher user types, you can link teachers to the courses that they teach.

Hover the cursor over the “Textbooks” tab and click “Link Teachers to Courses”

Click on a teacher
Click on courses taught by this teacher
Click “Assign”

5. Enter Descriptive Textbook Data

Log into OPALS - Hover the cursor over the “Textbooks” tab and click “Add New”

There are two ways to add a new textbook to the database.

Import the data from a source such as the Library of Congress, or enter the information manually. We recommend importing data since this will provide much more information, and save time spent on manual entries.
Manually enter the data when you cannot find it on one of the import source databases.

Z-Import – Import MARC Record Data

Log into OPALS - Hover the cursor over the “Textbooks” tab and click “Z-Import”

Select a cataloging source in the left hand drop-down box (ex. Library of Congress)
Select “ISBN” in the second drop-down box
Enter the textbook’s ISBN number in the third box
Click “Search”

When the system finds a record, it displays it as illustrated above
Click on the title link to upload textbook cataloging data

OPALS will import as much data as it can glean from the MARC record database you access
You can add more detailed information including additional resources such as a CD
Click “Add Copy” to add copy information
Use the “Publication URL & Description” field to paste a publisher’s update or other link to this book

Fill in as much information as you can. After entering this information, the system will generate the number of copy templates that you entered in the “Number of copies” box
For multiple copies, enter the first barcode that you will apply to the textbook
When you have completed data entry click “Generate copies”
System will take a few seconds to process the information then display the copies
Wait for all of the copy templates to display… scroll down to verify data
When done… scroll to the top of the screen and click “Save [import] Record”
If you do not click “Save [import ] Record,” data will not be stored in the database

The following message appears after the record and copy information has been saved

Original Entry for items not found using Z-Import

Log into OPALS - Hover the cursor over the “Textbooks” tab and click “Add-New”

System will display a general description template for data entry. Enter basic textbook information

Fill in as much information as you wish

Please note that you must enter data in any fields followed by an asterisk “ * ”
Many textbooks have Websites that archive information about the book. You can cut and paste these URL’s into textbook description fields that will appear as click-able links when you search the database
After you have entered basic information, click “Add New Holding”

Holdings Description: Enter Holdings details

Fill in as much information as you can. After entering this information, the system will generate the number of copy templates that you entered in the “Number of copies” box
For multiple copies, enter the first barcode that you will apply to the textbook
When you have completed data entry click “Generate copies”
System will take a few seconds to process the information then display the copies
Wait for all of the copy templates to display… scroll down to verify data
When done… scroll to the top of the screen and click “Save Record”

If you do not click “Save Record,” data will not be stored in the database

This message will confirm that the original entry record has been saved

6. Loan Transactions

To lend an item:

Log into OPALS - Hover the cursor over the “Textbooks” tab and click “Loans”

Scan user’s barcode number, or enter name and select from the drop-down list

Please note that the search box at the top of the screen searches the library catalog… it does not search the textbook database. Textbook database searching is outlined in section 7 below

If you can, it is useful to select the teacher of the course for which this textbook will be used from the box marked “Select Teacher”

You can also select the exact course for which this teacher is using this textbook
If a teacher is linked to only one course, that will display automatically. If several courses are taught by this teacher, you can select the relevant one from the “Course” box
These settings enable you to generate notices and lists of textbook transactions for teachers, the office, students

You can override an items default loan period by clicking on the calendar icon and assigning an end of semester date
If you are going to check out this textbook to all or many students that are taking this course, you can click the “Set Session Info” check box to retain the settings until you remove the check mark

If you do not have the item at the desk, you can display it by clicking the “Quick Title Search” link
Search title keywords to display records
Click on a barcode to enter it into the transaction processing box

Click the “Loan” button to complete the transaction
The system will display loan transaction confirmation as above
Click “Switch User” to enter the next borrower
Please note in the illustration that the teacher-course settings are retained for the next transaction because the “Set Session Info” box is checked
Please note that you can declare an item “Lost” or “Return” it using these functions at the bottom of the user’s display. You can also return textbooks using the system’s “Return” function

Textbook Returns

Login to OPALS - Hover cursor over the “Textbook” tab – Click “Returns”

Scan or enter an item’s barcode number to return it.

System will confirm the return transaction & display a box to return another item

7. Searching

Login to OPALS - Hover cursor over the “Textbook” tab – Click “Search

Search the system by selecting any preferred field in the “Textbook Search” drop-down box
Enter desired keywords and press “Enter” or click “Search”
System will display a results list as above, including availability status
You can change the sort order by clicking any hyper-linked column header
To view a textbook’s details, click it’s title link

System displays textbook details
If are authorized to do so, you can click on the “Edit” button to modify this item’s data
To view circulation details about a specific copy, click the barcode to display the follwing:

8. Textbook Management Lists & Notices

Hover cursor over the “Textbook” tab – Click “Loaned Items”

The system will display report & list settings options
Select a range or dates… or “Fiscal Year” for all transactions in the current cycle
Select how you would like to group the reports
Select a sorting option Click “Create Report”
System will display a list of transactions that corresponds to the parameters entered
You can select all of the items on the display or select specific ones to print
“Print List” Produces a list of outstanding transactions
Print List w/o Headers prints without headers
Print Notice prints individual statements of all outstanding transactions
You can print notices for overdue items by clicking “Notices” on the textbook command bar

Service is available from your OPALS Support Center

Media Flex Inc.
www.mediaflex.net

Bibliofiche
www.bibliofiche.com

Email:

rgrenier@bibliofiche.com / dan@bibliofiche.com