The Link Checker enables you to verify the validity of URLs stored in MARC records. The ability to verify URLs would benefit locations with large electronic resource collections.

Table of Contents

• Search for URLs
• View your Results
• Manage Your Sessions
  • Edit Columns
  • Clone Sessions
  • View Verification Attempts

Search for URLs

Search for MARC records that contain URLs that you want to verify.

1) Click Cataloging → Link Checker.

2) Click New Link Checker Session.

3) Create a session name. Note that each session must have a unique name.

4) Select a search scope from the drop down menu. Records that would be retrieved by searching Example Branch 1 (BR1) in an OPAC search would also be retrieved here. For example, a record that describes an electronic resource with a URL in the 856 $u and an org unit code, such as BR1, in the 856 $9, would be retrieved by a search of relevant keywords. Also, records that contain a URL without the $9 subfield, but also have physical copies at BR1, would be retrieved. Note that you can skip this step if you enter the org unit code of the location that you want to search in the Search field.

5) Enter search terms to retrieve records with URLs that you want to verify. You can also add a location filter, such as BR1.

6) You may further limit your search by selecting a saved search. Saved searches are filters made up of specific criteria, such as shelving location or audience. Adding a saved search to your keyword search will narrow your search for records with URLs. This step is optional.

7) Enter tags and subfields that contain URLs in the appropriate boxes. Click Add after you enter the data in the fields. You can add multiple tags and subfields by repeating this process. Evergreen will search for records that match your search terms, and then, from the set that it retrieves, it will extract any URLs from all of the tag/subfield locations you have specified for the session.

8) To view and manually verify the URLs that Evergreen retrieves, leave the Process Immediately button unchecked. If you want Evergreen to automatically verify the URLs that it retrieves, then check the box to Process Immediately.

9) Click Begin to process your search.

View Your Results

If you do not click Process Immediately, then you must select the links that you want to verify, and click Verify Selected URLs. If you click Process Immediately, then you skip this step, and Evergreen jumps directly to the results of the verification attempts as seen in the next step.

Evergreen displays the results of the verification attempts, including the tags that you searched, the URLs that Evergreen retrieved, the Bib Record ID, the request and result time, and the result code and text.

Manage Your Sessions

Edit Columns

You can use the Column Picker to add and remove columns on any of the Link Checker interfaces. To access the Column Picker, right click on any of the column headings. The columns are saved to your user account.

Clone Sessions

You can clone sessions that you run frequently or that have frequently-used parameters that need only minor adjustments to create new searches. To clone a session:

1) Click Cataloging → Link Checker.

2) In the Session ID column, click Clone. A copy of the parameters of that search will appear.

View Verification Attempts

To view the results of a verification attempt after you have closed the session, click Cataloging → Link Checker. Your link checker sessions appear in a list. To view the results of a session, click the Open link in the Session ID column.

Click Filter to refine the results on this page. To add a filter:

1. Select a column from the first drop down menu.
2. Select an operator from the second drop down menu.
3. A third field will appear. Enter the appropriate text.
4. Click Apply to apply the filter to your current results. Click Save Filters to save the filter to your user account for later use.

Author: Sally Fortin, Athenaeum Educational Services

In previous versions, by default, a purchase order could be activated with or without copies attached to line items.

In version 2.3, by default, a purchase order cannot be activated if a line item on the purchase order has zero copies. A new feature enables you to activate a purchase order that lacks copies.

To activate a purchase order with line items that have zero copies, check the box Allow activation with zero-copy lineitems.

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software

This feature is available in Evergreen version 2.3.

In version 2.3, Evergreen can receive electronic invoices from providers. To access an electronic invoice, you must:

1) Configure EDI for your provider. For information on configuring EDI in Evergreen, consult the Evergreen Official Documentation available at http://docs.evergreen-ils.org/

2) Evergreen will receive invoices electronically from the provider.

3) Click Acquisitions → Open Invoices to view a list of open invoices, or use the General Search to retrieve invoices. Click a hyperlinked invoice number to view the invoice.

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software

Abstract

In Evergreen version 2.3, you can open an invoice, search for line items from the invoice, and add your search results to a new or existing invoice. This feature is especially useful when you want to populate an invoice with line items from multiple purchase orders.

In this example, we’ll add line items to a new invoice:

1) Click Acquisitions → Create Invoice.

2) An invoice summary appears at the top of the invoice and includes the number of line items on the invoice and the expected cost of the items. This number will change as we add line items to the invoice.

3) Enter the invoice details (optional). If you do not enter the invoice details, then Evergreen will populate the Provider and Receiver fields with information from the line items.

If you do not want to display the details, click Hide Details.

4) Click the Search tab to add line items to an invoice.

5) Select your search criteria from the drop down menu.

6) On the right side of the screen, Limit to Invoiceable Items is checked by default. Invoiceable items are those that are on order, have not been cancelled, and have not yet been invoiced. Evergreen also filters out items that have already been added to an invoice. Finally, if this box is checked, and if your entered the invoice details at the top of the screen, then Evergreen will filter your search for items that have the same provider as the one that you entered. If you have not entered the invoice details, then Evergreen removes this limit.

7) Sort by title (optional). By default, results are listed by line item number. Check this box to sort by ascending title.

8) Click Search.

9) Use the Next button to page through results, or select a line item(s), and click Add Selected Items to Invoice.

10) The rows that you selected are highlighted, and the invoice summary at the top of the screen updates.

11) Click the Invoice tab to see the updated invoice.

12) Enter the number of copies for which you were invoiced, the amount that was billed, and the amount that was paid. The Per Copy field calculates the cost of each copy by dividing the amount that was billed by the number of copies for which the library paid.

13) Save the invoice. A new option, Save and Clear, saves the current invoice and replaces it with a new invoice so that you can continue invoicing items.

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software

This feature enables you to return to a specific line item on a selection list, purchase order, or invoice after you have navigated away from the page that contained the line item. This feature is especially useful when you must identify a line item in a long list. After working with a line item, you can return to your place in the search results or the list of line items.

To use this feature, select a line item, and then, depending on the location of the line item, click Return or Return to search. Evergreen will take you back to the specific line item in your search and highlight the line item with a colored box.

For example, you retrieve a selection list, find a line item to examine, and click the Copies link. After editing the copies, you click Return. Evergreen takes you back to your selection list and highlights the line item that you viewed.

This feature is available in General Search Results, Purchase Orders, and Selection Lists, whenever any of the following links are available:

• Selection List
• Purchase Order
• Copies
• Notes
• Worksheet

This feature is available in Invoices whenever any of the following links are available:

• Title
• Selection List
• Purchase Order

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software

A new core source, Fund Summary, has been added to the reports interface. This core source enables librarians to run easily a report on fund activity. Fields that are accessible in this interface include Remaining Balance, Total Allocated, Total Encumbered, and Total Spent.

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software

An enhancement to the fiscal rollover process enables you to move a fund’s encumbrances from one year to the next without moving unspent money. Unused money is not added to the next year’s fund and is not available for use.

To enable this enhancement, you must configure a new org unit setting:

1) Click Administration → Local Administration → Library Settings Editor.

2) Search for the setting, Allow funds to be rolled over without bringing the money along.

3) Click Edit.

4) Set the value to True.

5) Click Update Setting.

Enabling this setting will display a new check box in the Fund Propagation & Rollover drop down menu. To use this feature during the fiscal rollover process, click the check box adjacent to Limit Fiscal Year Close-out Operation to Encumbrances.

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software

This feature gives librarians new choices for color coding patron penalties.

In version 2.3, if the staff_alert column on the Standing Penalty Type is set to True and no other more serious penalty (as defined by the CSS) trumps it, then, when a patron incurs a penalty, a blue border will appear around the patron’s name.

For example, by default, the standing penalty type, ALERT_NOTE, has the staff_alert value set to TRUE. If I apply an alert to a user’s account, and no other penalty color takes precedence over it, then a blue border will appear around the patron’s name.

In addition, librarians now can customize the color coding on custom penalty types. For example, librarians can create a penalty type and, using the CSS class name PATRON_HAS_CUSTOM_PENALTY, apply a custom color box to the patron’s record.

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software

This feature enables you to specify the maximum number of checkouts of items by copy location and is an addition to the circulation limit sets. Circulation limit sets refine circulation policies by limiting the number of items that users can check out. Circulation limit sets are linked by name to circulation policies.

To limit checkouts by copy location:

1) Click Admin → Local Administration → Circulation Limit Sets.

2) Click New to create a new circulation limit set.

3) In the Owning Library field, select the library that can create and edit this limit set.

4) Enter a Name for the circulation set. You will select the Name to link the circulation limit set to a circulation policy.

5) Enter the number of Items Out that a user can take from this copy location.

6) Enter the Min Depth, or the minimum depth in the org tree that Evergreen will consider as valid circulation libraries for counting items out. The min depth is based on org unit type depths. For example, if you want the items in all of the circulating libraries in your consortium to be eligible for restriction by this limit set when it is applied to a circulation policy, then enter a zero (0) in this field.

7) Check the box adjacent to Global Flag if you want all of the org units in your consortium to be restricted by this limit set when it is applied to a circulation policy. Otherwise, Evergreen will only apply the limit to the direct ancestors and descendants of the owning library.

8) Enter a brief Description of the circulation limit set.

9) Click Save.

To link the circulation limit set to a circulation policy:

1) Click Admin → Local Administration → Circulation Policies

2) Select an existing circulation policy, or create a new one.

3) Scroll down to the Linked Limit Sets.

4) Select the Name of the limit set that you want to add to the circulation policy.

5) Click Add.

6) Click Save.

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software

Abstract

In previous versions of Evergreen, you can  assign patrons a permission that enables them to manually override a failed hold.   In version 2.3, when a patron places a hold in the OPAC that fails, and the patron has the permission to override the failed hold, a new org unit setting automatically overrides the failed hold rather than requiring the patron to manually override the hold.

Administration

In version 2.3, a new org unit setting exists so that the hold override occurs automatically, and the patron does not have to choose to override it. To enable this org unit setting:

1) Click Admin → Local Administration → Library Settings Editor.

2) Scroll or search to find Auto-Override Permitted Hold Blocks (Patrons).

3) Set the value to True.

Use Case

A patron has placed a hold in the OPAC on a title that he has currently checked out. The patron permission group contains the permission, HOLD_ITEM_CHECKED_OUT.override.  In versions prior to 2.3, the following hold failure message appears, and the patron must click Submit to override the hold.

In version 2.3, with the appropriate org unit setting enabled, the hold success message appears automatically, and the patron is not required to take further action.

Author: Sally Fortin, Equinox Software