Scooter - Start of Term Instructions
Start of Term Document
This document is intended to be a set of guidelines for starting a new school year with Scooter. Included in it are answers to some commonly asked questions and links to resources to help you get started, or return to it after a break. This is intended to be a growing resource to help both beginners and established Scooter users get their system up and running for a new year. As you read, if there are any queries or areas you think could use further explanation, please contact Interleaf Technology at support@interleaf.ie
This document is best read online as there are many links from it to our Knowledge Base.
1. Accessing your Scooter site
2. Adding and updating borrowers
6. Book Rental and Hard (Fixed) Due dates
10. Contact information and important links
11. Extract Borrower Records from VSWARE
12. Extract Borrower Records from Facility / ePortal
14. Using the Statistics Wizard
15. How to find and run an SQL report
16. Overview of Report Functions
18. How the Forgot Password functionality works
19. How to Change the Password on your Patron Account
20. How to Create a New Item Type
21. How to make Fiction the default choice in the item cataloguing area
22. How to create a new borrower account manually
23. How and why to limit patron permissions
24. How to change the hard (fixed) due date Book Rental
25. How to enable patrons to control how long their circulation history is kept on the OPAC
26. Enabling purchase suggestions on the OPAC
27. How to install and configure the coverflow plugin on Koha
29. How to view patron categories
30. How to use a Star Rating on the OPAC
31. How to Report on Star Ratings
General Information
1. Accessing your Scooter site
Scooter is a browser based Library Management System (LMS) so the only things needed to access your site is a working computer, internet connection and the site address. Before you start using Scooter, ensure your screen size is set at the browser level and that you are using Chrome or Firefox. Scooter will work on Internet Explorer however there can be occasional display problems with this browser.
Your Scooter system comprises two sites, the OPAC, which is for students to search the catalogue and check their account, and the staff side, for cataloguing and circulation.
The general structure of the links are:
https://xxx-staff.interleaf.ie/ for the staff interface and
https://xxx.interleaf.ie/ for the student interface
where xxx is your 3 letter school code.
If you are uncertain of either of these addresses please contact Interleaf Technology.
2. Adding and updating students
This needs to happen at the start of every school year.
Please note due to the high volume of requests submitted at the start of the school year it may be necessary to schedule a time for your upload to be completed and it may not be possible to complete the upload on the same day the request is received. If you have a hard deadline for the upload, please give as much notice as possible and mention it in the initial contact email when liaising with Interleaf Technology to schedule a time.
Borrowers will only be loaded if payments for the Scooter system are up to date.
Once the borrowers are loaded you will be asked to check if the information is correct.
The batch update only happens for whole year groups. Should any individual students need to be added to the site, they must be done manually, on a case by case basis. Please check our support page for further information.
3. Scanners
The scanner you used for previous years should still scan isbns, barcodes etc. successfully, but if there are any issues it may need to be reconfigured.
A document to facilitate these tests is available here.
4. Relevant Reports
Many schools want to run a variety of circulation reports to review how the library has been used in the past year. These reports can be found under Reports > Guided reports > Use Saved. This table of reports can be searched by keyword, for example circulation, check outs and overdues.
If you require information that is not being returned by the identified reports, please contact Interleaf Technology to request a new report be created. When requesting a report you will be asked to fill out a Report Request form.
5. Cataloguing
This section is a quick cheat - sheet for the basics of cataloguing. For full training in cataloguing, or any other area of Scooter, please contact Interleaf Technology to check remaining training hours for your site or to purchase more.
Cheat sheet
From the Scooter homepage on the staff side, go to Cataloguing > Import from z39.50 > dropdown arrow.
You can use the z39.50 search box to search for bibliographic records in predefined library catalogues using the ISBN, Title, Author and several other fields. It is possible to search in more than one field at a time.
Please note, these z39.50 targets are subject to change as they will only be available as long as the owning libraries allow it. If you are having issues finding records to import please contact Interleaf Technology.
Once you have found the bibliographic record to be imported, click Import.
This will import the bibliographic information into a workform on your browser which can then be saved, or edited if necessary.
Once the bibliographic record has been saved you will be brought to an item record workform. Fill this out and hit add, add and duplicate or add multiple copies depending on how many physical items need to be added to the catalogue.
Please note, when adding multiple copies type in the number of copies in total that you want to add, not the number of copies minus the one you already filled in. So if there are five physical copies of an item, type in the number 5 and save.
When adding multiple items at once barcodes should auto-increment so they don’t have to be scanned in one at a time. If this is not the case please contact Interleaf Technology.
The only two fields that should always be filled out regardless of the type of record being imported are Barcode and Item Type.
Barcodes are used to track and circulate specific items on your site.
Item Types are used to track and set circulation rules for items on your site.
Book Rental items are generally added manually by going to Cataloguing > New Record > Book Rental Framework and filling in the short workform and item record as usual.
6. FAQs
Interleaf Technology has a large collection of Frequently Asked Questions and support documentation on its support portal.
You can access the full Knowledge Base by searching on our portal here, or you can browse school specific documents here.
The Knowledge Base is constantly updated so do check it from time to time.
7. Support Portal
Interleaf Technology uses the Zoho support portal to log queries from customers and manage our Knowledge Base of frequently asked questions. The benefits of using this application are that your query will be assigned to the most appropriate individual and if one employee is unable to address the question in a timely manner it can be handled by another. It also allows you to manage your own queries and search the Knowledge Base and to interact with the help desk staff by replying to emails, rather than having to login to the portal.
If you send a query directly to an individual employee’s email a Zoho ticket will also be created on your behalf so the progress and resolution of the issue can be tracked.
You can access the support portal here: https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/home
You will need a userid and password to access the help desk service.
If you do not have access to the support portal, you can request access using this form.
If you would like to add a new contact for your school, use the same form.
8. GDPR
In order to access Zoho your personal information must be GDPR compliant and as such we may, from time to time, send you a form to update your personal information. If this form is not returned before the designated deadline, your account will be deactivated.
A general statement on Interleaf’s GDPR compliance is available here.
9. Contact information and important links
Email for Support: support@interleaf.ie
Customer Portal / FAQ Knowledge Base: https://desk.zoho.eu/portal/interleaftechnologyltd/home
Interleaf Technology website: www.interleaf.ie
Frequently Asked Questions
This rest of this document contains links to questions frequently asked by Scooter sites. These FAQs are links to the Interleaf Technology Knowledge base, which is constantly being updated.
You can access the full Knowledge Base by searching on our portal here, or you can browse school specific documents here. The school-specific page is a shortcut to the most commonly asked queries by our Scooter users but FAQs from other areas may also be useful.
If you have a suggestion for an FAQ please send it to Interleaf Technology.
10. Facility to VSWARE move
If your school moves from Facility to VSWARE we will need to change the borrower cardnumber in Scooter from the Facility structure to the VSWARE structure.
This will ensure that future student record uploads work correctly.
The full instructions are here
11. Using the Statistics Wizard
Koha provides a wizard to allow staff to generate statistics using their own criteria. For the example of circulation transactions staff can specify the time period to query and how the results will be reported.
The feature is explained in detail in this FAQ
12. How to find and run an SQL report
While there are statistics wizards (see above) to help you generate reports from the system, there is also a facility to create very specific reports using a query language called SQL.
We do not expect that many users will want to invest the time required to learn this query language. A core set of reports are loaded with your Scooter system, and many others are available through the support desk.
This FAQ explains how to find and run reports on your system.
13. Overview of Report Functions
For those who are interested, you can write your own SQL reports to query your system.
This FAQ explains some of the basic concepts of how SQL reports are constructed.
Please be aware that a badly-written SQL report can use up all your system resources and bring the system down. Your data will be safe as the report writer only allows you to read from the database: you cannot add, update or delete information.
If in doubt, contact Interleaf Technology to check your query before running it.
14. SQL Report Request Form
If you identify a requirement for a report that is not on the system, please use this FAQ to request a report to be written.
A downloadable word document is attached to the FAQ to make it easier for you to complete the form.
15. How the Forgot Password functionality works
Inevitably, students will be on the OPAC wanting to log in and realise that they have forgotten their password.
This FAQ shows how to enable the Forgot Password function on the OPAC and explain a little about how borrowers should use this function.
Please note that for this functionality to work patrons must have emails associated with their accounts. You will need to contact Interleaf Technology to activate emails on your server if you are not already using them.
16. How to Change the Password on your Patron Account
If a user forgets their password you can use the FAQ here to reset their password.
17. How to Create a New Item Type
Item Types are codes on each item record that are primarily used to control the lending characteristics of item in question.
This FAQ explains how to create a new one.
18. How to make Fiction the default choice in the item cataloguing area
When you are adding item details during the cataloguing process, it is necessary to choose an item type. The list of item types automatically displays in alphabetical order, which can be difficult if a library tends to use one item type the majority of the time.
The FAQ explaining how to do this is here
19. How to create a new borrower account manually
From time to time you will need to manually add new borrowers to the system - new staff members or students who arrive late in the year.
This FAQ explains how to add them
20. How and why to limit patron permissions
In Scooter there is the option to limit or extend the permissions on individual patron accounts.
These permissions govern what modules the different patrons have access to and by extension, the specific tasks users are able to complete.
These settings will only need to be set for those users who have access to the staff side of Scooter.
Typically this will be the system manager, who will have access to all functions and library volunteers who will have access to a limited number of options - maybe just as little as checking books in and out.
This FAQ details the feature
21. How to enable patrons to control how long their circulation history is kept on the OPAC
Scooter allows the library to decide for how long a borrower’s loan history information is kept.
It is also possible to allow students individually decide on this retention rule.
This FAQ explains how to set up the choice.
22. Enabling purchase suggestions on the OPAC
Purchase Suggestions are a way to allow your patrons to send you suggestions for items to be added to the catalogue.
You can activate this feature using this FAQ
23. How to install and configure the coverflow plugin on Koha
An attractive feature on the Scooter OPAC is the ability to display a carousel of cover images of new additions to the catalogue.
It automatically adds new information to the screen, keeping it fresh, but without you having to manually keep it up to date.
This FAQ explains how to set it up.
24. Offline Circulation
In the unlikely event that your system is offline for a prolonged period it is possible to set up an offline circulation system.
This allows you to record issue and return transactions and insert them into the live system when it becomes available again.
Details on how to set it up are in this FAQ.
25. How to view patron categories
Patron Categories contain a number of base rules as to how your borrowers are treated by the system.
This FAQ explains them in detail.
30. How to use a Star Rating on the OPAC
It is possible to allow patrons on the OPAC to rate items with a certain number of stars. These ratings can then be viewed by other patrons on the OPAC and reported on by staff members on the staff side.
This FAQ explains how to use Star Ratings
31. How to Report on Star Ratings
This FAQ explains how to create a simple report to see the star ratings assigned to titles on your system.
Document Version Control
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