New Hampshire Downloadable Books: For Librarians

With an account into the OverDrive Marketplace, librarians have the ability to:

• Merge patron data (current checkouts, holds, wish list, etc.) from an old NHDB account to a new NHDB account. This includes patrons moving from one NH town to another. (Instructions)
• Run circulation reports by date and by format. (Instructions) 
• Run new users report.
• Run current users report.
  • Note that due to NH RSA, a record of what patrons have checked out and returned is not available to librarians. 
• Download Excel spreadsheets of the report. 
• Submit a support ticket to set up SIP2 authentication to allow the library's ILS to communicate with OverDrive in real time. (Instructions) 

With an account into the OverDrive User Login Manager website, librarians are able to:

• Add and edit patron access to the NHDB service via the User Login Manager. (Instructions) 
  • This is for libraries that have not or cannot implement SIP2 authentication. 

Finding the Reports

Click on "Insights" and then "Checkouts."

Librarians, you may notice that if you run your activity reports by specific formats, you might not come up with numbers that sum up correctly when you run the report by all formats. For the best results, run your reports with all formats and sum up eBooks and audiobooks separately.

• Log into the Marketplace>> open "Insights" >> select "Checkouts." 

You will see that instead of giving you options to select a library, date, etc., a report loads by default. If you are using a shared login, you will see a report showing the results for a different library. Don't panic! Simply run a new report. Click on "Run New Report." 

If you wish to see a breakdown of the formats checked out for the past month, select the following:

• Checkout by "Format"
• Borrowed from "All" 
• Select your library, noting that the library names are not currently listed in alphabetical order. 
• Select "All Formats." 

If you need to remove a library or other piece of data already populating the box, put your mouse over the information and click on the "x" that appears. 

To make the drop-down list retract, click elsewhere in the box. 

The report will show the number of each format checked out during that time period. 

Tip: Change the  Period Type from "Last" to "Specific." 

You can also export the data to a spreadsheet by clicking the "Create worksheet" button.

If a library patron loses their library card and needs to be issued a new number, you'll need to follow the instructions below to make sure that the patrons currently checked out items, holds, and wish list items, etc. are imported to the new card number.

Merging Accounts (February 2016)

• Log into Content Reserve.
• Visit Support. 
• Click on "Merge Barcode Activity." 

• Search for the first number. 
• Search for the second number. (This must already be an active number in the Library Card Manger* or in your ILS if using SIP2.) 
• Select the check boxes for each and merge. 

Note that these are inactive test numbers...

* The new card number must be added to the Library Card Manager before merging. Contact Bobbi for more information if you don't know if your library uses the Library Card Manager or not.

The User Login Manager functions in the same manner as the old LCM software. Librarians are able to:

• Add new patrons with or without a PIN/Password (depending on your login requirements)
• Remove patrons
• Edit patron access
  • Excessive fines
  • Overdue items
  • Expired card
  • Lost card
  • Stolen card
  • Privileges revoked
  • Invalid account
  • Deleted
• Add an expiration date

The real news to the update is the ability for a librarian to add an expiration date to the patron number. 

Logins

Please contact Bobbi to request an account for our OverDrive rep. Note that when you login, you will be prompted to confirm that you have the right to make changes. 

Searching for a specific user

If you are looking to edit the privileges of a specific user, use the "Search users" box. 

Once you have found the user, you can update the user status as needed. Note that you *could* add a patron name. But why would you? 

For libraries with short patron numbers, a PIN or password is often used. For those accounts, there is a field to change the password. 

Adding a Single User

To add a single user, click on "Manage users" and then on "Add new user."  

New users (and when editing existing users) can be assigned a user status and, most importantly, an expiration date (highly recommended).

Bulk Uploads

It is possible to export your entire set of patrons and add in an expiration date to the file in a YYYYMMDD format. However, I recommend contacting me first before attempting it. (And I am always happy to assist.)

In the OverDrive Marketplace >> Support >> Authentication Support, it is possible for librarians to add or edit SIP authentication; however, it is highly recommended that librarians setting up SIP authentication contact Bobbi Lee Slossar for technical assistance before doing so. 

Librarians should contact their ILS vendor and request the following information prior to submitting a support ticket: 

• ILS vendor product and version
• Protocol (typicallys SIP2)
• Authentication server address
  • The URL or external IP address of the server running the Authentication code (SIP, PatronAPI, RPA, etc.)
• Authentication server port
• Authentication vendor login
• Authentication vendor password
• Authentication vendor extra codes
• Some vendors require one or more extra codes to access the user database in your ILS, which may represent your specific library. We may need a location ID, institution ID, terminal password, or some other code from your vendor.
• User ID length
  • Example: All cards are 14 digits
• User ID prefix
  • Example: Add cards start with 24847
• User ID other rules
  • Example: Modulo-10 checksum for final digit or codabar format.
• User PIN/Password (Yes or not): Strong recommended
• Sign in field label (Consider: Library card number)
• PIN/Password field label
  • Example: Last four digits of phone number. Unless indicated otherwise, the field will be labeled as "PIN."
• User activity values 
• Valid test accounts
• These test accounts should remain stable for years for testing purposes:
  • Patron: General OverDrive; status: good standing for years to come.
  • Patron: Overdue OverDrive: status: they have overdues that will haunt them for years.
  • Patron: Expired OverDrive: status: they have an expired patron account.
  • Patron: Fines OverDrive; status: they have fines that exceed the allowable amount.
• Blocked test accounts:
  • Recommended: Yes, honor system blocks from my server

IF YOU ARE CHANGING THE FORMAT OR LENGTH OF THE CARDS, YOU MUST CONTACT BOBBI PRIOR TO IMPLEMENTING SIP2!

If the library currently using SIP2 to authenticate users assigns different patron codes to non-taxpayer/non-resident patrons, you can submit an authentication support ticket in the OverDrive Marketplace and ask for a card rule change.

Always provide the tech with sample cards of various patrons codes as part of the process.

And, of course, this is only done when there is a change to your library card policy.

This information is for libraries that assigned their NHDB patrons a 4 or 5-digit prefix to use the service or any situation in which the patron numbers used to log into OverDrive/Libby are different than those used by the library's ILS. 

Preparing your patron numbers for SIP authentication will vary from library to library, depending on how the numbers have changed and the number of NHDB users the library has. Generally speaking, the library will need to "match" the patron's NHDB number -- as entered into the Libby app -- with the patron's library number -- as read by the ILS. 

For instance, if the library assigned a 4-digit prefix for NHDB login of 1234 to the number used by the ILS (777), we would need to merge the NHDB number of 1234777 to the patron's "real" number of 777. This is done through the Merge Patron Data instructions. 

It is possible to merge the patron data one by one as patrons come into the library for new cards or merge all patron cards on a single date that is advertised to users. Again, there is no best way to meet the needs of all libraries. Whichever way the merge is done, it must be completed before the library moves to SIP2. Why? The moment SIP2 is turned on, patrons will lose access to their old accounts. 

If the library is merging patron data one patron at a time in advance of moving to SIP2, the librarian will also need to take action in the user login manager to turn on the patron's new number and turn off the patron's old number. If the new number is not set to valid, the patron will not have access to their account. And if the old number is not set to expired, then the patron will continue to use their old number and this will cause additional problems in the future. Setting the patron's numbers to "valid" and "expired" just take a moment to do in the User Login Manager. For libraries moving to a 14-digit barcode number, Bobbi can assist you with creating the numbers and loading them into the ULM. See instructions for using the User Login Manager. 

If you are moving your patron numbers to a new format or issuing new cards or moving to SIP2 and removing the prefix, it is important to speak with Bobbi Slossar at NHSL to coordinate this process with your SIP implementation date.