Hi Chauncey,
I absolutely agree. Having a tool to update batches of patron records
can come in handy for any number of projects that a public library may
be doing, such as:
- add statistical categories to users for better demographic information
- fix data migration problems
- fix interesting spellings of cities
- update expiration dates
- update passwords based on a formula
- update usernames based on a formula
- standardize prefix or suffix text
- add/remove alert_messages
Public libraries enter patron data by hand for the most part rather than
load it from another database. Inconsistencies in spelling, case, and
format could be easily cleaned up.
I have also used patron load functionality to add dummy ILL patron
records to our system. These are used to check out material to
off-system libraries and loading them in batch ensures that coding for
statistics is accurate and consistent.
Deleting expired patrons is also not just an academic function.
Martha Driscoll
Systems Manager
North of Boston Library Exchange
Danvers, Massachusetts
www.noblenet.org
On 12/9/2014 8:44 AM, Chauncey Montgomery wrote:
Great suggestion. Some of these features would be very useful in public
library environments as well.
Thanks for sharing.
CM
