July 2016
05/07/16 11:11
July 2016 Newsletter
YouTube Video for manually processing MARC files
We have just published a quick, silent video showing how to manually process MARC files that you might receive from various sources, such as Wheeler’s or download from the New Zealand Schools Record Manager service.
https://youtu.be/5DSpifV-UVg
Athenaeum Pro 2016.5
As a result of our North and South Island training tours introducing Athenaeum Pro 2016 (amongst other things) we received a number of popular requests - these venues are always good for this sort of feedback.
Some of them were very useful and worth including sooner rather than later. So we have introduced a mid-year update. While we avoid frequent updates, we know many librarians will prefer not to wait for some of the new features. Contact us about your upgrades.
Some of the tweaks include:
- Fast Find searches ignoring embedded punctuation. For example, OPAC users can search for the phrase “boys story” and Athenaeum will match on “boy’s story”
- Hot Topics and reading lists searches will also search keywords, not just “subjects”
- school libraries are liking the new find “Overdue - not staff” button that excludes staff records from overdue lists. Previously, you had to do this manually as a two or three step process
- it is much easier to list overdues for an arbitrary list of borrowers
- interface changes to issue list allows access to common functions without having to go to the detail screen (requires FileMaker Pro 14 or 15)
- gear widgets on catalogue list views allows quick viewing of more information and access to common functions without leaving the list view (requires FileMaker Pro 14 or 15)
- new simplified “Quick” detail tabs for resource staff
- “type” graphics can be linked to Genre if you prefer
More detail about recent changes in Athenaeum can be found here: http://librarysoftware.co.nz/downloadspro/doc/ap2014howto/recent_changes.html
Simplified view for Resource staff
New “Quick” detail tabs show just the basic information for catalogue and borrowers. This can be the default setting (set in Admin) and is useful for light users of Athenaeum, such as departmental staff managing their own resources.
FileMaker Pro 15 support
FileMaker Inc. recently released FileMaker Pro 15 and FileMaker Server 15. http://www.filemaker.com/products/
Athenaeum runs just fine under the new versions.
Future versions of Athenaeum will require at least FileMaker 14 so it is good to stay relatively up to date. For budgeting purposes, it is not unreasonable to expect a new FileMaker release every May.
While updates add new features, a common thread of updates is on-going updates to security. Computer security is an important issue and is - unfortunately - a moving target in today’s computer landscape.
Have you checked your backups lately?
Backups are boring. Except when they are needed. Do you know how your Athenaeum data is backed up? Do you know if it is backed up?
This is not a lesson you want to learn the hard way.