patron loading Innovative Interfaces OPAC

Good reference source for all of these steps is in Getting Started Manual

To electronically upload patron records into an III library system, you need records in this format:

0000          -

u1234567

nSmith, John  

a1000 Cathedral Ave NW$Washington   DC   12345

t101/123-4567

The first line is 4 zeros, 10 spaces, then a dash.
Each following line starts the letter code (depends on your Innovative system) followed by the data.

(eg  U, N, H, T are tags that indicate the field,  they are Innovative variable-length field letters)

$ indicates line return

Source:  Page 107503 in manual,  http://csdirect.iii.com/manual/ 

 


I recommend putting patron data in Excel spreadsheet like this:

ID	First_Name	Last_Name	Address _1	City	phone	St	Postal
804123	James Brian	Smith	4500 South Four Mile	Arlington	202-123-4567	VA	22204
804125	Maria Jane	Doe	6318 20Th Avenue	Hyattsville	703-555-1212	MD	20782
804127	Fred	Miller	13235 Bregman Road	Silver Spring	301-444-6464	MD	20904

Then merging with a Word file template in this format, and doing a mail merge with the Excel data file:

0000          -

u«ID»

n«Last_Name», «First_Name»

h«Address_1»$«City»  «St»    «Postal»

t«phone»«Next Record»

0000          -

u«ID»

n«Last_Name», «First_Name»

h«Address_1»$«City»  «St»    «Postal»

t«phone»«Next Record»

Before bringing records into OPAC, make sure:

Set the expiration date of the DEFAULT PATRON record. 

All the new patrons you create will have this expiration date. 

To change select Admin menu, then Settings: 

Highlight _p Patron Default, and update the expiration date

Page # 105193, http://csdirect.iii.com/manual/