Online Catalog Instructions .

Online Catalogue Users’ Guide

Always start with the library home page http://www.harnett.org/library the click on the icon for [online catalog]

User Activities
The User Activities page allows you to view your personal information, change your pincode, view your saved lists, verify and renew the items you have out, view your reserves list and view any money owing.

• To access your account, click on the button on the left-hand side of the screen.  or
• Enter the barcode number on your library card.
• Enter your PIN number. You can request your pincode from the Circulation Desk. You will be assigned a computer-generated pincode. You can change this code to one that is easier for you to remember. Your pincode is a 4 digit number.
  

Click on and you’re ready to go.  You know your have successfully logged on when your name appears across the search screen in a red bar.

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This brings you to your User Activities page:  My Vubis

Each of these options is discussed in more detail below.
My Personal Information: This section includes your address, telephone number, etc. It also contains a section where you can enter or change your e-mail address or phone number.   There are features of our new system that allow us to advise you of available materials by email so we would urge you to enter your e-mail address here, if you have one.  For any other changes to your personal information, please contact the circulation desk.
 Change my password: You can change this code to one that is easier for you to remember. Your pincode is a 4 digit number
 My Save List: This is a list of items you have saved.  The instructions on the screen are very easy to follow.  This is a very powerful tool that allows you to save catalogue items for future reference (for example, if you don’t have time to read that new novel now but want to remember the title for later) or even to create complete bibliographies for school assignments.
 When performing a search you may find items you wish to add to your list.  Place a check in the box to the left of these items and then, click on [Save selected items] on the left-hand side of the screen. 
If you want to review your list of saved items click on [View selected items]

 
At any time you can select an item and choose to see more about it: or delete it from the list if it no longer interests you:  To delete select by placing check in box on the right and clicking [Delete selected items]  

 Alerting services allow you to keep track of items you would like to read that the library does not own.  Once the library has entered the title into the system you will receive an email alerting you the library has ordered or now owned the title.  (for example:  if you have read all the Danielle Steel books but would like the library to email you when we have the new one).  After searching for something and not finding it (in this case Author keyword = Steel, Danielle) select [Alerting Services] button on the left  Type in the name of your query (in our example we used Danielle Steel) then click [Save Changes]

The Alerting Services Configuration Page allows you to set the email address you would like the system to send alerts to and the frequency of the emails.  Make sure [Enable Email Notification] is checked or you will not receive emails.

• Number of days before email notification =  how often you want to receive emails.  Example above will result in an email sent to library@harnett.org every 7 days alerting the borrower if we do or do not have anything new for the query named Danielle Steel. Number of found results before email notification = the number of titles that meet your search criteria before you receive and email.  Example above will result in an email sent to library@harnett.org once there are 1 new item for the query named Danielle Steel. 

Loan Information

Each of these options is discussed in more detail below.
My Loans, with possibility of renewal: Will show you all the items you have on loan and indicate if you can renew them.  Some items cannot be renewed and other can only be renewed once.  For example: VC and DVD cannot be renewed and books have one renewal.  In some cases a borrower may be denied renewal if there is someone on reserve for the item of the borrower has blocks.  In these cases, there is no box to the left of the item for you to click on.
 
In the image above you can see the 1st item is Reserved for another borrower and the 2nd item can be renewed.  Renew by click in the box to put a check in it and clicking on [Renew Selection].  You should get a confirmation page; click [Renewal] to complete the transaction.  [Skip renewal] will allow you to cancel renewal.
 

 My reservations: Will show you a list of all items you have on reserve. 

• You can cancel a reservation by placing a check mark in the box on the left then clicking on [Cancel selected reservations]. 
• Reserved Until is the last date you want the item.  If you are taking a class and will no longer need a title after a certain date change it here then click [Confirm modifications]
• Pick up location is the library where you wish to pick up the item.  If you would like to change it do so by using the drop down box, select another location then click [Confirm modification]

 My Loan History: This option is turned off by default.  If you would like to have a list of all items you borrowed you can request staff to turn it on.  Only items loaned after this function was activated will be in the list.  The other advantage of this is if you attempt to borrow an item you already had the system will alert you; for those who read a lot this may help keep you from taking a book home you have already read.

 Feedback: We always love feedback.   This will send staff an email;  you can ask a question or just make a comment.  If you want us to purchase a book for the collection; drop us a line.

Reservations: 
If you want to read a book you can reserve it from home or from one of the library's computers. First search for the book, in this case, How to eat fried worms: At the left-hand side of the screen, click on [Reserve]
If you have not already logged on you will be prompted for library card and pin.  You will be prompted for a the library that owns the title;  Click [OK]

On the next screen you will select a pickup location (where do you want to pick the book up at), maximum reservation date (last date you want this item) and if you want an email when this item is at the library ready for you to pick it up.  After making your selections click on [Make Reservation]

You will get a confirmation page.  [Pickup message by e-mail] will result in an email similar to the example below.  You can click on the link in the email to access your account in the opac. 

You can view your current reservations in User Activites select My Reservations.

Searching the Opac

The Opac is simply a search engine; it is a way to help you find the items or information the library has to offer.  Across the top are 3 tabs; Easy Search, Advance Search and Library Information.  On the bottom of the screen there are icons (little pictures) and words; tese are links or search trees to help you find information as well.   We will go into each of these tabs and ways for you to use the opac to find the information you need. 

Easy Search.

The most common search used is the Easy Search using Keyword.  This gives most people a list of titles to select from. 

Type in your Search Term  in the space provided and click [Searc] or press the [enter] button on your keyboard.

You can also search by Title, Author, Series or Subject by selecting on in the drop down box.   

Understanding your search results: The line above the search results has some important information and tools. 

• Our sample search of keyword=Harry Potter found (55 items). 
• Sort the results by clicking on Title, Author or Year.   .
• Print the list of all 55 items by clicking on the printer icon . 
• Location/Call No/Availablilty
• Location is the library where the item is at
• Call number will help you find it on the shelf
• Availability is a green check indicating it is available or a red X indicating it is not available.  At times there may be words here such as In library use only to indicate the item is available to use but cannot be checked out.

  In this example the item is in the Main Library located in 823.914 BEA it is a paperback edition and is available. 

If the item was owned my more than one location you would get a list of all locations owning the title with call number and availability information for each.
 

Full Description
Clicking on the Image or will bring you to the Full Description.   This page gives you a lot of information about the title selected.  You can use this information to make sure the title selected will fill your needs.               

There are a few things on the Full Description page that may further your search. 

• Anything in Blue will perform another search. 
• Clicking on the Beahm, George W. (author) you will perform new search finding items by the same author.
• Clicking on Rowling, J. K. –Criticisum and interpretation (Name as subject) you will perform a new search finding titles with the same subject. 
• Clicking on the cover image will result in a pop up box with additional information aboue the title. 
• You may find various options on this page such as Summary, Cover Image, first chapter or excerpt or table of contents.   Selecting any of these items will in a pop up box performing the task you requested.  Example of a summary is below  

Rate and Review

On the bottom of the Full Description page is the options to Rate and/or review a title.  You can only Review if you are logged on with library card number/pin.

Rate:  Users can give their rating of the title simply by choosing their rating.

Select your rating and click [Vote].  Changes are available immediately reflecting your vote.

Review:  Users can create a written review of the title.  Start by clicking on [Create Review]   

If you are not already logged in with library card/pin you will be prompted to at this time.  Once you are logged on you will get the Create Review screen.   Type in your review and click [Add].   You will get a chance to see how your review will look and be prompted to either [Yes, process my review] to save it as is or [No, go back] to make change.

After your review is processed it is available in the Full Description on the opac for everyone to see.

Limiting
Limiting your search can help you find exactly what you want. 

• Database = what information are you looking for?  Books, photographs or information?  In the drop down box you have
  
• HarnettCounty Public Library – this is all books, video, magazine and any other library related items.
• Harnett County Digital Database – this is a collection of Harnett County photographs.
• Harnett County Community Information – this is information only; names, address, phones numbers, meetings, clubs, organizations and about anything that pertains to Harnett County.
• Cemetery - this is obituary information and cemetery tombstone images.
• Type : limits your select to type of material such as Adult Fiction Book, DVD, Magzaine.  Example: you only want to search the DVD collection you can do so by selecting Type=DVD.
              
• Location: limits to items that are in one library.  Example: you only want to seach for items in ANDERSON CREEK PUBLIC Library.
   
• Owned Since: limits the age of the item.  Example:  you only an to search for items that the library has owned for 3 months or less.
  

Combining Limits: 
The keyword search for Harry Potter with limits set will result in different results.
Type = DVD plus Location = ANDERSON CREEK PUBLIC  results all DVDs in Anderson Creek Public Library with Harry Potter in the record
. 

Advanced Search.

Advance search allows you to search for multiple search terms and adds a few more limits.  Any combination of up to 3 search terms can be used in Advance Search.   Limits not used in Simple Search will be explained below.

Using multiple search terms will help narrow down your search on a topic.  In the example I will demonstrate finding information on Migraine as a subject and treatment as a keyword. 

Limits not in Simple Search is language and year of publications.

• Language allows you to select the language of the media.   Example:  Select Spanish for items in Spanish only.
• Year of publication allows you to choose the date range for search.  Example:  2000-2005 will retrieve only items published within these date parameters; not when it was added to the system. 

Library Information

Library Information tab only has links to web pages, other sites or predefined search.  Clicking on any of the icons will result in a search or going to another webpage.  These are located on the bottom of Simple Search and Advance Search as well.  Some of them will require you to log in using your library card number and pin.  Example: NCLIVE will require library card/pin if you are using the opac outside the library.

Examples:

• Battle of the Books will give you a list of all the titles the Harnett County Library Systems owns that are on the Battle of the Books list and their location/call no./availability. 
• Feature Films – DVD will give you a list of all DVDs the Harnett County Library System owns.
• Public Officials will seach the Community Information Database for all Public Officials in Harnett County. 
• New York Times Book Review will take you to the webpage with the NYT book review.
• NCLIVE will take to site to us NCLIVE.  NC LIVE provides North Carolina residents and students with access to high quality information - searchable collections of magazine, newspaper, and journal articles, electronic books, historical materials, maps, and much more - covering a wide range of topics.

Problems with the Online Catalog for home users.
 

Internet Explorer 8
The following tips *may* help to fix IE issues:

• Delete all browsing history ;
• Delete all cookies ;
• Delete all saved web data ;
• Ensure all 3rd party security software is configured properly (e.g., Symantec, McAfee, etc.)"
• use compatibility mode.
   

AOL
AOL does not always work with the online catalog. Try using Internet Explorer.
 

Do not get the pop up box that allows you to sign in 

Turn off pop-up blocker.

• Internet Explorer; tools>popup blocker
• Toolbars such as Yahoo, Bing, Google may have a popup blocker. Check the settings to disable or turn off popup blocker for each.

Type in library card and pin but it does nothing.
This may be a firewall.

• Turn off or disable your firewall and try again. If this works then you know it was your firewall.
• Windows Firewall can be found in the control panel; Start > Control Panel > Windows Firewall
• Ensure all 3rd party security software is configured properly (e.g. Symantec, McAfee, etc). Each computer is different and only the owner knows what is on their computer.

Tips

• Hold down the [ctrl] key when you click on the icon for library catalog (this overrides pop up blockers)
• Toolbars such as Yahoo, Bing or Google may have settings that prevents access.
• Clear history in Internet Explorer; Tools>Internet Options>Delete History, cookies, temporary Internet files.