Library Launches New Catalog and Circulation System!
Please be patient as we all learn to navigate a new, feature-rich patron experience.
The library re-opened on Wednesday, May 10, following two days of closure for staff training on Atriuum, the library's new Integrated Library System that provides on online public access catalog (OPAC), circulation system, and mobile app. The library chose the system for its cost-effectiveness and great reviews from current users, including those at the Adrian District Library.
As with any change, you will notice differences. You should anticipate a period of adjustment that we will work through together. The catalog itself will have all the features you are accustomed to, but they may be in different places on the screen. You will find some differences in access, with some temporary and some permanent changes.
Find the Catalog:
The SEARCH CATALOG and MANAGE YOUR ACCOUNT links on the upper right of the library website point to the new catalog. We are working on pointing the search box on the website there as well. The URL for the new catalog is: shmlmi.booksys.net/opac/shml/
The new catalog is the live version. Your patron account and collection information will no longer update on the old catalog, so any information on the old catalog may be inaccurate. Please make any hold or reserve requests on the new catalog. We will continue to monitor the old catalog for a limited transition period, but the quicker response will come from live catalog searches and requests.
Find the new mobile app:
Our new catalog comes with its own mobile app, Librista, available for free at the Play Store and the Apple Store. We can help you with it, if you have questions.
Logins and Passwords or PINs:
Since privacy and security concerns limit the ability to transfer personal logins and passwords, all logins and passwords have all changed to a system default. This will affect not only your catalog login but also your initial authorization to use library online collections and services such as Libby (OverDrive), hoopla, Kanopy, and Freegal. The good news is that you already have access to your new username and password or PIN: your username is your library card number, a 14-digit number which is on the sticker on the back of your physical library card or which we provided to you in the email confirming your online-only library account. Your PIN or password is the last four digits of that same library card number. For instance, if your library card number, and username) is 20385600001936, your PIN is 1936.
While your initial access to online services such as Libby or hoopla will require you to enter your new username and password or PIN (each service uses its own terminology, but password and PINs are the same thing in this case), if you have already created an account on Libby or hoopla or any other service, that account should be unaffected, and you should be able to continue as usual. Please let the library know of any problems.
Checkout History, Current Account Information:
For the same privacy and security reasons, we could not transfer checkout history to the new system. For a limited period up to June 1, 2023, you can still access your account on the old library catalog and print out your history, or a staff member can do it for you. On the new system, the default setting is to keep checkout history, so if you do not want the library to keep your checkout history (a private list available only to the individual card holder), please let a staff member know to turn off your checkout history. Your current checkouts are unaffected and should show up on your account, as well as any current balance (which you may still clear by either paying or bringing items to the library for donation to the Blissfield Area Food Pantry). Remember that he library no longer charges any fines on local items, only on those items borrowed from other libraries.
Interlibrary Loan
While interlibrary loan is mostly unchanged for patrons (and will soon be completely unchanged), we are still working to have our new system talk to MeLCat, the interlibrary loan system. For a temporary period until that communication is established, your interlibrary loan information (checkouts, requests, etc) will be available only from My MeLCat on the MeLCat site, if you have set up an account there, or from a library staffer who can look up the information. Interlibrary loan information will not be available from your account on the new catalog until that communication with MeLCat is established.
You, no doubt, will see other changes. We will experience some head-scratching moments. We will all learn. At the end of the transition, which will come before you know it, we will have a more effective, efficient and fun experience navigating all your library has to offer. We are in this together.