The Blog

Hi everyone! We just finished our training with Accessit over ILL and Write-ups.  A couple of things before you dive into this -

1.  Tiffany will send us a link so you can watch the replay.

2.  I am going into each Circ account and adjusting the settings so you can place ILL for students. You can also place an ILL of multiple copies of a book with this account. I will have directions on this process.

3.  If you are looking for ILL on your Management app or wondering if you have permissions to do Write-offs and ILL, your left sidebar should look like the images below.  If not, please put in a ticket.

Specific directions will be sent out to take you step-by-step.

Please reach out via BV Care if I can help with anything.  Thanks for your patience, problem-solving, and overall amazing growth mindset in this journey with Accessit!

Where are we with things:

Student Photos:  Student photos have been uploaded to Accessit.  If your school has not completed school pictures for 23-24 school year, I put in 2022-23 photos. Once 23-24 loads, I can update.  As the year continues, you will be able to update a student's photo. This is helpful if a student misses Picture Day and would like a photo in the system.

Kiosks: iPads were approved and ordered.  Scanners, stands and cases have been shipped.  

What we learned:

Accessit Link on Classlink - Classlink should be working with our library web pages and Accessit.  Please put in a BV Care ticket if not - it will go to our Classlink team. Classlink is the way students and teachers will log into Accessit.  It syncs every night to make sure any new student is added the next day.

New Students - New students will appear the day after they are enrolled.  Classlink syncs every night.  Do not add a student to the system - when it syncs with Classlink, it could create errors.

Web App - We suggest librarians use the Web App to check in and out books and search for books. When you want to dig into the catalog, like adding tags, use the Management app. Why? Let's say you have a class checking out, and a student starts typing their Student ID before you can change the screen in the Management app - and the ID erases something on the library record. Or you are tired of typing two passwords each time you want to check out to students - the web app only requires one login. Click here for details.

New Resources on the Libguide:

Find Book Barcode in the Management App: Not sure how to find more details about a book?  View this silent video to show you how to find the barcode.

Using the Web App:  Use the Web App for check-in/out along with searching for books.

Create a Book Alert:  When a book checks in or out, you can set up an alert to pop up.  This might be great for William Allen White books that you display in another location.

Last week:

Printing in Accessit: Guide to printing in Accessit.

Alert Message when checking in or out: Create an alert when you check in or out a specific book.  (Example: Alert you to a William Allen White book so you can place on display.)

Printing Class Lists - This also covers how to print in Accessit.

Training Videos - Videos are available if you missed training or want to see it again.

Accessit Search Widget - Adding a search box to Libguides

Password Protect a PDF - Great idea for sharing database passwords.  

Next Steps:

Staff checkout dates are not correct for many schools.  I am in the process of updating it.*

Nonfiction Checkout dates: This shows up inconsistently across buildings. I am updating the checkout length for nonfiction and any other categories.

Finalize the ILL process:  Upcoming Accessit training for all librarians August 31 at 8:30.  

Collection Analysis: Prepping data that will be sent to vendors for collection analysis

*If you are curious why all district changes are not automatic and quick, any change that needs to be made for the entire district (like staff checkouts or photos) gets loaded by each individual building.  Thanks for your patience as we continue to adjust settings and add new features.

Where are we with things:

Permissions: Everyone who completed the Google Form to clean up the records received an email from Becca. The email contained the next step needed to receive more permissions in Accessit.  

Users who completed the next step received more permissions and an additional CIRC account that has less permissions.  The CIRC account will be great if you have an instructional para(s) or another user that doesn't know the system well but needs to check out books.  

Birthdates: Birthdates have been added.  If you notice a new student does not have a birthdate, you can add the birthdate (once you get new permissions - details listed above).

What we learned:

Borrowable - When looking up a book in the circulation/management app, you will see borrowable.  If you notice borrowable stating Yes when a book is checked out, please ignore. We have a question into Accessit. You can tell the book is not available when a due date is listed.

Accessit Link on Classlink - Students are receiving an error message when clicking on the Accessit Library icon in Classlink.  IT and Accessit are currently working on the situation.

Unspecified - Not seeing a book in your system? It may be an error during migration and it has an unspecified location.  We can update that record - just put in a ticket and I can change.  Make sure to include the title and barcode.

New Students - New students will appear the day after they are enrolled.  Classlink syncs every night.  Do not add a student to the system - when it syncs with Classlink, it could create errors.

New Resources on the Libguide:

Printing Class Lists - This also covers how to print in Accessit.

Training Videos - Videos available if you missed a training or want to see it again.

Accessit Search Widget - Adding a search box to Libguides

Password Protect a PDF - Great idea for sharing database passwords.  

Next Steps:

Staff checkout dates are not correct for many schools.  I am in the process of updating.*

Nonfiction Checkout dates: This shows up inconsistently across buildings. I am updating checkout length for nonfiction and any other categories.

Student photos - I am in the process of adding photos.  At some point, you will be able to add/update individual student photos.  This will be great for new students.

*If you are curious why all district changes are not automatic and quick, any change that needs to be made for the entire district (like staff checkouts or photos) gets loaded by each individual building.  Thanks for your patience as we continue to adjust settings and add new features.