Loading Patrons Manual, Library Staff Manuals, Boreham Library, UA Fort Smith

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Boreham Library Staff Manuals

Loading Patrons Manual

version 2007.08.03.a

Note: minor changes in menus and wording may occur with each upgrade. Just read the menu carefully and select the correct item wherever it is.

WARNING: ANY time patrons are being unloaded or loaded with INNOPAC, everyone must be out of patron records. Bibliographic and item records don't matter to this process,but if a patron record is open by anyone when the un/loading process hits it, there will be a conflict that can cause problems and possibly duplicate records or lock up records.

Databases will not be accessible from off-campus while patron records are deleted.

What Does/Does Not Overwrite

Any fields indicating outstanding obligations, holds, MBlocks, etc., will NOT be overwritten.

The following fields are set in System Options, Database, item 22, to NOT be overwritten:

patron barcode (this needs to be de-duped to remove the added ones, but if overlaid, would remove any added codes such as a public card number as well)
message field (message appearing in patron record for patron)
x note field (not visible to patrons)
s special field (for faculty/staff passwords, visible in record to patron)
pmessage field (fixed field)

When to Load

First download from Banner during a semester should get all patrons. Subsequent downloads during the same semester should only get new patrons.
This must be reset for FALL after the end of summer semesters BEFORE downloading a complete FALL roster.

Until further notice, 9 month employees may not be loaded into Banner as active until September 1, so a update load will need to be done on or after that date.

Update loads are usually done weekly until the middle of the semester (as some classes begin in the middle of fall and spring regular semesters).

Load both Summer semesters and anyone pre-registered for fall immediately after commencement. Both summer semesters are kept loaded as some classes are continued through both semesters. Fall students are also allowed privileges if pre-registered.

Patron Changes Report

A printed report for changes (including dropped students, etc.) is SWPLBPC and can be printed to Catprint using the Banner procedures below to select semesters; no download files are produced, only the printout. This should be done weekly and used to:

delete unobligated patrons who have withdrawn from the current semester
set an already expired date for obligated patrons who have withdrawn from the current semester

Setting Expiration Dates

Expiration dates will be set for (first) the Tuesday of the last week of the semester, and then revised on that day (for students) to the end of the semester, or (Faculty/staff) to the beginning of the next semester.

As database privileges are also controlled by expiration dates, it may be necessary to set the dates before the end of the semester (for automatically dating checkouts, sending notices, etc.), and then change them the next day as soon as possible to the actual end date of the semester or just before the beginning of the next, so students can still use the databases.
Example: set the date for several days before the last day of finals (Tuesday before Friday, usually). On that day, change faculty and staff to the day before the next semester begins. Student dates are not changed unless individually requested and handled.

Some programs/courses extend between semesters. Allowances should be made for these students.

Preparation

Have all holds, ILL requests, etc. cleared if possible. Patrons with holds, ILL requests, etc., still in effect can not be deleted. Patrons with PMessage and X note fields should not be deleted unless the records are long out of use.

Be sure to have a currently valid AIX password. This is not the same as a Banner or other password. The AIX password will be necessary for the actual transfer from Banner using FTP to the INNOPAC server.
[To sync AIX password so it expires with LionsLink: when LionsLink password is updated, also go to Run, telnet alpha, and login, then give the command passwd to change your password. That resets it to 90 days. Then, every time you have to reset LionsLink, also do AIX and they will stay synchronized.

If this is an update rather than a first load, the steps covering preliminary deletions and updates to the existing records must be skipped.
However, the expiration date will need to be added to these records as well after loading.

Reset Patrons in Banner

In order to keep track of which patrons have been downloaded and which have been updated/not downloaded for each semester, a "trigger" is set on each record in Banner. In order to download all patrons from a semester when patrons were downloaded already (as in the fall, because some fall patrons were downloaded during summer), this trigger must be reset for all the patrons in a semester.
This may also be necessary if patrons need to be reloaded due to a faulty download.

In Banner, access the SWPLBPR job.
Enter the printer as catprint.
Enter the semester to be reset, such as:

Examples:

200501 for Spring 2005.
200502 for Summer 1 2005.
200504 for Summer 2 2005.
200505 for Fall 2005.

The Report Only? field should be N to update.
A report will be printed giving the count of patron types reset within just a few minutes.
Exit the job screen.

Phase I. Library Patron Download from Banner

I. A. Creating Patron Files in Banner system

WARNING: the swplbry report only gets the changes since the last time it was run during or just before that semester. It therefore can be run only once to get all the records possible. Each subsequent run will get only those records that have been added since the last report. This saves time in downloading and processing additional records.
To reset, use SWPLBPR and all records will then be available.

Load Banner and login normally.
If this is the first download of the Fall semester, run the SWPLBPR job to reset all the records, to allow a complete download of Fall records.
After the start of the semester, remember to delete all unobligated patrons, even faculty, from the III server database.
In the Direct Access field, enter SWPLBRY or select the report from the personal menu if it is present.
At the SWPLBRY screen, press CTRL -PAGE DOWN
Enter the network printer catprint in lower case in the printer box or select from the list.
Press CTRL-PAGE DOWN
Enter Term Code according to Banner code: the year followed by the desired semester number. (There is no semester 4; skip to 05 for fall semester.)
- Example: 200501 is the spring (01) semester of the year 2005.
- Example: 200502 is the first summer semester of the year 2005.
- Example: 200504 is the second summer semester of the year 2005. (03 not used)
- Example: 200505 is the fifth, fall semester of the year 2005.
Exception: 200x09 is the 4-year program running to one year in the future for certain Tech programs. It changes to the next year in the future at the end of June; i.e., for 2005 the date is 200609.
The Patron Type is normally "%" for all patron types, but could be limited to just
- E employees
- F faculty
- S students (for the "09" programs)
Press CTRL-PAGE DOWN
In the "Submission" box on the lower left, click in "Save Parameters" to check it.
In the "Submit" circle on the lower right, click in it to dot it, if needed.
Click on the diskette icon in the Tool Bar at the top of the screen to "Save" and click on "OK".
Banner's responses vary. It may kick you out of Banner at this point; if so, call the Help Desk and ask if the SWPLBRY process is running (and if it is not, repeat the above procedure). If not kicked out, at the bottom of the screen in small type is the job number. Just the digits are vital; it should be a six-digit number shown as "Log file: swplbry_nnnnnn.log" and so on, with the nnnnnn being the significant number to write down. If this number is not available due to being kicked out, the newest files will be the ones needed for this process when downloading.
Another job may be run for the 4-year long-term programs, which are set for September of the ending year of the fiscal period.

Once the number(s) has/have been obtained, exit from Banner.
When done, the one-page report for each job should print on catprint. This may take some time, depending on the workload on Banner; wait for the printout before proceeding. If the time runs over a half hour with no results, contact the Help Desk.
The report will note how many records were retrieved in each category: faculty, employee, student, and the report sequence number should be the same as the job number.

Repeat as needed for each semester required.

Download Banner Patron Files to a Library PC

Firefox with FireFTP add-on method

This requires Firefox 2.x with the FireFTP add-on (extension) installed, and a valid AIX login (not the same as Banner or Windows). CIS will need to set up the AIX login just for this purpose, and it needs to be maintained by changing the password (every time the network password changes, change the AIX password as well).

To update the AIX password (immediately AFTER changing the network password):

Start > Run > enter telnet alpha
At the AIX login prompt enter the usual network login name and latest password
type passwd (without the "or") to change the password
enter the latest password
when done, type exit
close the window

To download using FireFTP:

In Firefox, Tools drop-down menu, select FireFTP.

If not already set, use Preferences, Downloads/Uploads and set to ASCII mode.

On the left pane, go to the downloads directory on the hard drive.

Delete the old patron downloads.

Connect to alpha.uafortsmith.edu.

Adjust the panes so that dates are visible in the far right pane. Delete the outdated files in the right pane.

Select the files ending in fac, emp, and stu in the right pane to transfer to the downloads directory in the left pane, ignoring zero-size files, and using the CTRL key to keep marking separate files.
The files ending in lis and log are not needed.

When done, the files will appear in the left pane, and the bottom pane will have several lines saying 200 NOOP command successful.

Click Disconnect to exit AIX.

The files may be renamed to shorter forms in the download directory.

Jump to Phase II. Preparing the existing patron files

Jump to Phase III. Download

Phase II Bypass

If this is not the first load for this semester, no changes in the existing records are needed. Only additions will be downloaded. Proceed to Phase III - Download.

If this is the second summer semester, no changes in the existing records are needed. Only additions will be downloaded. Proceed to Phase III - Download.

Phase II. Preparing the existing patron files

II A. Check outstanding holds and ILL requests

In MilCirculation, select View Holds.

View outstanding holds.

If any holds are outstanding, determine whether or not they can be cleared at this time. Patron records with holds remaining will not be updated.
In the event of existing holds that must continue, consider removing the holds to allow the update, and then re-entering any holds for that patron after this process is complete.

Any outstanding InterLibrary Loan requests are still in the patron records and those records, while described as having "holds", do not show up in this search. Those records will not be deleted until the ILL requests are cleared.

II. C. Deleting Patrons with no obligations

All patrons of PType 023 and higher become outdated at the end of each semester and may be deleted EXCEPT anyone with obligations (checked out, fines, fees, holds, ILL requests, etc.). Records of obligated patrons are kept.

Full-time faculty (PTypes 20-22) are kept at least until the first September load of the fall semester, so that 9-month faculty can have privileges all year.

Note: Both Summer Semesters are treated as continuous and patrons are not deleted, just added/updated. Some courses carry over from first summer to second summer.

By the first few days of the next semester, these patrons should be purged from the patrons file if and only if they have no outstanding obligations.

II. C. a. Fall Patron Purge

This is done by creating a list of the patrons to be purged, based on certain criteria. Remaining (PType 40-45) should have an expiration date set in their records, so that access to databases and reserves will be terminated on that date.

The saved search is for Patron records using dv FAC/STAFF/STUDENT fall purge.

PMESSAGE not equal to n (if pnote required, then keep, but doesn't matter if still missing info if not obligated)
PCODE2 = - (this avoids deleting P patrons who also have a public library barcode
MBLOCK = -
MONEY OWED less than/= 0
CUR CHKOUT less than/= 0
PTYPE between 20 - 45 (faculty, staff and students)
NOTE less than . (no note in record)
MESSAGE less than . (no message to patron in record)

Once this search has run, use Delete Records to remove these.

II. F. Setting Default Record Expiration Dates

A, A, D to get to the Defaults for new records under Alter System Parameters.
P for Patron Record.

Change the ExpDate default to the last Tuesday of finals week, in all the faculty, employee and student default records (PType 001-003, 020-025, 040 and higher.
Do NOT set exp dates for ArkLink, library staff, ILL records, or bindery.

When the last Tueday arrives, change the expiration dates to Friday, so databases can still be used through the remainder of Finals week.

After the file has been read into the INNOPAC, its name will display in the top portion of the screen shown above; its name will now include the suffix '.pfts'.

III. B. Preprocess the records

Return to the same menu and select the P>PREPROCESS Text Patron records loaded via FTS option.
Beware of very similar wording in other selections!
This converts the raw data in the file to a pseudo-MARC format which INNOPAC can then load into the database. After the preprocessing step is complete, another file will be listed, with the suffix '.pat'.
Repeat this step for each .pfts file until a matching .pat file exists for each one.
Notice that this is not a matter of entering "1", then "2", because the files are renumbered as the new pfts file is added under the original file.

III. C. Load the records into the INNOPAC patron database.

Select the L>LOAD a MARC file option.

Enter the number of the .pat file to be loaded.
Files should be loaded in order: Students, Employees, Faculty. This allows faculty settings to override on records for faculty taking courses.
From the Load menu, select the L>LOAD records option.
From the next menu, select Load again.
As the load proceeds, INNOPAC will report on its progress, and display error messages if appropriate:

Repeat for remaining .pat files. Patron records will be created, in batches of several at a time.

After all records have been read for a file, INNOPAC will present a screen of statistics.
These usually include how many records were involved, how many successfully created, how many overlaid on existing records, and how many errors.
If the reported number of input records or the number of newly created plus overlayed records does not match the number of records in the incoming file (compare to the printout numbers), or if there are any errors (as in the example shown above), there is likely a problem with the data format. Check for any reports or system messages first, then contact Innovative for assistance before continuing.

After each file of records has loaded, examine the RECORD LOADING STATISTICS screen and confirm that there were no errors. Use the VIEW error file to check for errors; print if errors exist so that the individual records may be tracked down and corrected. Then delete the error file. Empty error files may be deleted at any time.

Repeat as necessary to load student, faculty and employee files completely.

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Phase III. Loading Patron Records into INNOPAC Using Data Exchange

This is the newer method which can be done from inside Millennium.

In telnet, click A, A, D for Defaults for New Records.

Click P for PATRON record.

Click _p : Patron default for the record that will be used to load patrons.

Change the expiration date to the desired date (usually, the Tuesday of finals week).

Quit and exit telnet.

Load Millennium Cataloging.

If this is the first time you have used Data Exchange, use Admin, Login Manager, Manager-Controlled Options, Modes and be sure that Data Exchange IS checked.

Click on the left sidebar for Data Exchange.

Select Process must be changed to Load MARC PATRON records from tape or FTS (pta).

Highlight all the old files and Delete them.

Select Get PC to transfer files from your PC.

Change the directory UP from My Documents to My Computer to Local Disk (C:) to C:\download.

Click on the file(s) from FTPed from Banner to get name(s) on the line. Then click on Upload.

Select the suffix .pfts from the drop-down menu and continue to load the file(s).

Click on one of the pfts files and highlight it. The Prep P button becomes active.

Click on Prep P button.

The screen changes, and the second line reads PREPROCESS TEXT Patron records loaded via FTS.

Click on Start.

When done, the bottom of the window will show Completed.

Click on Close to close this window.

Now you have a version of that file suffixed by .pat.

Do this for all the patron files until you have .pat versions of all of them.
WARNING: you cannot shortcut this process by choosing the .pat suffix when importing. The format of the files must be changed properly by preprocessing.

Click FIRST on the student .pat file and then click on Load.
Always load students first, so any employee or faculty status will overlay student status in records (in case faculty/staff are also taking classes).

On the Load MARC PATRON records from tape or FTS window a progress window will appear.
Click on the Load button.
When done, the statistics appear at the bottom of the window.

Close the Load window and look for the errlog for that file, IF you had any errors reported. Click on View to see it. It will show what record(s) had a problem, and what was done. Click on Print to print this and check the record(s) later to fix the problem.

Repeat this for the employee and faculty .pat files.

Switch to Create Lists when done.

Phase IV. Initial settings in records

The patron records from Banner should have a u field with the Banner semester code for the current semester. There may be some codes for students taking classes which extend beyond the semester.

Check for Expiration Dates Needing Update

Check and be sure that patrons got the correct expiration date.

Add Password Field to Faculty/Staff Records

Create a list using the patrons selecting by faculty/staff only PTypes 020-025 and s field not present.
If the password information changes, you will need to remove ALL the old Special fields first.

In Global Update, select:

Select Review for the type of file.
Record Type boxes have only Patron checked.
choose the file you just created of new or updated records.

Click on Search and see the records listed.
You MUST use the Search and load the records from the list BEFORE you can make any changes to them.

Click on Command Input tab, then mark Insert variable length field and click on OK.

Field Group Tag is s for Special.

Using Wordpad or Notepad, from N:\shared\library\passwords open the password for First Search faculty file. Copy the first paragraph ONLY for faculty and staff.

Paste the password data into the Data field and click OK.

Click on the Preview tab and see the changes to be made to the records. Then click on Process. When done, you will get statistics.
You may need to update any busy records at another time. Check and see why those records are busy, however - they might be locked for no reason and should be unlocked.

Remove Duplicate S (Special) Fields

Use this only if you have not limited Special field additions to just those who need it.

Use the list of Faculty/staff already used.

Click on Search and see the records listed.
You MUST use the Search and load the records from the list BEFORE you can make any changes to them.

Go to the Command Input tab and click on Delete duplicate field.

Uncheck Use Displayed Field.

Enter Field Group Tag as s for Special.

Do not enter anything in the Data box. Leave it blank.

Click on OK and go to the Preview tab.

Some records will have no changes.
Some records may have duplicate fields to remove.
This will keep one copy of the Special field.

Click on Process and confirm Yes when asked.

What just happened:
Every time a new download is done, loading a new copy of someone's record over the old record leaves the old Special field(s) in there, so they duplicate. This removes the extra fields.

Remove Duplicate B (barcode) Fields

Create a list of Patron records.

Name it, select Patron records, and click on Search.

ONCE PER SEMESTER: A popup will ask if all records in range should be selected. Click on Yes.
AFTER FIRST LOAD OF SEMESTER: use the Patrons created/updated for this semester selection set. Update the semester code as needed for the current semester load.

Create the list.

Go to Global Update.

In Global Update, select:

Select Review for the type of file.
Record Type boxes have only Patron checked.
choose the file you just created of patron records.

Click on Search and see the records listed.
You MUST use the Search and load the records from the list BEFORE you can make any changes to them.

Go to the Command Input tab and click on Delete duplicate field.

Uncheck Use Displayed Field.

Enter Field Group Tag as b.

Do not enter anything in the Data box. Leave it blank.

Click on OK and go to the Preview tab.

Some records will have no changes.
Some records may have duplicate barcode fields to remove.
Some will have @ and some will begin with 2 instead.
This will keep one copy of each type of barcode (with @, with 2, and public).

Click on Process and confirm Yes when asked.

What just happened:
Every time a new download is done, loading a new copy of someone's record over the old record leaves the old barcode and student i.d. numbers in there, so they duplicate. (This allows updating records if someone's number has to be changed due to loss, theft, etc.)
If you ask to have the barcode listed in a report, it will be listed multiple times as there are multiple barcode fields.
This process removes all but one copy of each version of the student number: the @ number and the 20 number, unless a new number was issued -- then both numbers will be displayed in both version (total four barcode fields). This avoids printing multiple barcodes when doing overdues, etc.

Set the PMessage As Needed

Some records will be missing the address, phone or email fields.

Create a patron update file of patrons:

whose u field is equal or greater than the first semester you are loading (if fall or spring, that semester only, but if summer, then cover Summer 1, 2, and Fall).
include ONLY those patrons whose PMessage field does NOT equal n.
include ONLY those patrons whose z email field is missing.

Use Rapid Update to change the PMessage field of all the resulting records to z for Email Needed.

Repeat the process for those patrons whose t AND p phone fields are both missing.

Repeat the process for those patrons whose a primary address field is missing.

This gives a priority to the address field being missing. If that is not present, check all fields. If an address is present but no phones, check phones and email. If address and phone(s) is present, check email.

RECURRING PROBLEM: some records seem to be immune to change by this method, and the attempt reports that (at last count) about 33 records were busy and could not be updated -- although they do not show as busy, and can be updated one by one manually. III has worked on this, but has not been able to fix it. Update manually if this occurs.

Setting Protected Fields in Records

To avoid overwriting fields in patron records during new loads (manual page 101871 for Release 2006: Edit overlay protection list), the fields must be set in telnet:

A > ADDITIONAL system functions
A > ALTER system parameters
S > SYSTEM codes
O > Set system OPTIONS
D > Database maintenance
22 > Edit overlay protection list....
1 > PATRON record
A > ADD a variable-length field

Overlay protection codes are:

D INNOPAC deletes any fields in the incoming record that are the same as the field group tag. If there are no target fields, then INNOPAC loads the incoming fields. If there are no incoming fields, then INNOPAC protects the target fields.
K INNOPAC deletes any fields in the target record that are the same as the field group tag. If there are no target fields, then INNOPAC loads the incoming fields. If there are no incoming fields, then INNOPAC protects the target fields.
N INNOPAC assigns neither code D nor code K. The default behavior associated with N (no code) is as follows:

The version of the field in the target record will be retained.
The version of the field in the incoming record will be inserted.

the system does not display 'N' when no code is selected.

In short, to KEEP the field with no added fields, use K.
To ADD the incoming field to the record, use N.
Normally, our fields are protected as:

BARCODE is N: add incoming, but keep existing (so we keep existing public library numbers) -- we will need to weed duplicate numbers before doing overdues, etc., using Global Update to remove duplicates in the barcode field.
MESSAGE is N: add incoming, but keep existing. These are used for messages to the patron.
NOTE is N: add incoming, but keep existing. These are used for staff-visible only notes.
SPECIAL is N: add incoming (which will not exist in Banner records) but keep existing. This field is for the password info for faculty and staff and is customized to our local use only.