Using the Catalogue at Home

Pipestone County Star 03-15-12

Hello, all you marvelous library users! So this past week or so has been a little rough and we thank you for your patience with us as we learn a brand-new system for checking out books. March 5th, we switched from using a program called Sirsi Dynix to using an open-source software called KOHA. Although the system is much easier and more user-friendly than our last software, there have been hiccups and there is always a learning curve as we get used to new ways to do things.

There are some really great features for this new software for those of you who use the library catalogue at home, either to place holds or to look up books. The website has remained the same, but you have probably noticed that it looks quite a bit different on the home screen. One small thing we’ve noticed – if you go to the site and are given a “404 Error,” simply go to the top right hand corner of the screen and click to login to your account – then everything will go smoothly from there.

The biggest change and one that is absolutely great, is the addition of the Cart and Lists. I’ll start with the cart. It functions a lot like internet sites where you can make purchases. You can choose all sorts of books while you search the catalogue and place them into your cart, which will save them for you. You can search various subjects and titles and not lose the books you’ve already looked at, as long as you place them in the cart. This allows for you to choose how many holds you’d like to place at once and if you want to save any of them for later.

That brings me to lists. You will have an option in your cart of placing a hold or adding an item to a list. If you add to a list, the system will save that book for you until you delete it and you can place a hold on it in the future if you would like to. This is a GREAT place to keep track of books you WANT to read, but don’t have time to right now. The list will save it. The cart will NOT. If you leave anything in your cart when you log out, it will not be there when you log back in.

There is also a way that we can leave you messages. Say you leave your wallet in the library and we find it before you realize it’s missing. We could leave a note for you so the next time you log into your account, it will tell you that we have your wallet. You can’t send messages back to us, but you can give us a call or email us in response.

There are other features that will make your on-line experience more friendly. I encourage you to fiddle around with the website and press buttons, see where it takes you. There’s no better way to learn than doing it yourself.

If you are interested in getting started with the website and have never done it before, or need a little help, come in and see us! We would be more than happy to help you get started.

Enjoy the new system! And please don’t hesitate to call if you have questions – we’d be glad to help! Your questions help us learn faster.