Creating and Editing Patron Records Each Destiny user is considered a patron and must have a patron record that associates them with any materials they check out, fines they incur, and any other patron transactions. Note: It is important to talk with the Destiny Administrator regarding district policies before adding or editing patron records, because your district s student management system might overwrite or delete changes. Adding a Patron Record You can add patron records at the site level if you have the appropriate access level permissions. Before you add a patron record, always search the district s patron database to make sure a patron record doesn t already exist. To search the database and add a patron record: 1. Go to the Back Office tab, Manage Patrons option. 2. Scan or type the patron s barcode number or type a keyword (such as a patron s name) in the Find field. 3. If you need to search for patrons at other sites, select the Search across the district checkbox. 4. Press Enter or click Search. 5. If no patron record exists for that user, click New Patron. Follett recommends that you fill in as many of the patron and site information fields as possible; however, here are a few things to note: Only the patron s last name and barcode number fields are required. The barcode number must be unique at the school. If you use a district ID number, it must be unique across the district. The email fields let you send notices to patrons and parents. Patrons with a username and password can log in to Destiny have access to a range of features and functionality. A patron who does not log in to Destiny is called a Guest and has access only to basic functionality, such as searching. 1
Follett recommends assigning the Patron Type and Access Level. The patron type you select controls patrons loan policies and can be used as a limiter when creating patron notices and circulation reports. The access level controls the functions that patrons can perform in Destiny. The Site Information section also has five User Defined fields. Unless district policies define these fields, they are site-specific and vary for each school. It is important to check with the Destiny Administrator regarding district policies before entering data in these fields. 6. If you need a patron barcode label, select the Print Label on Save checkbox. 7. When you have entered all the information for the patron, click Save. Editing a Patron Record To edit a patron record: 1. Go to the Back Office tab, Manage Patrons option. 2. Search for the patron to be edited. 3. If you need to search for patrons at other sites, select the Search across the district checkbox. 4. Press Enter or click Search. 5. In the search results list, find the patron s record. 6. Click Edit Patron. 2
7. Make changes as needed. 8. Click Save. To delete a patron record: 1. Go to the Back Office tab, Manage Patrons option. 2. Search for the patron to be deleted. 3. If you need to search for patrons at other sites, select the Search across the district checkbox. 4. Press Enter or click Search. 5. In the search results list, find the patron s record. 6. Click Delete. 7. When the confirmation message appears, click Yes to delete the patron. Destiny also lets you edit and delete a group of patrons. Go to the Back Office tab, Update Patrons option. The Update subtab uses a search-and-replace feature to update one or more fields in patron records that have a field value in common. The Change drop-down lists let you to change up to three fields of information at once in the patron record. 3
The Delete subtab lets you delete patrons or notes based on: Global criteria Barcode list or file List of patrons Graduation year Grade level Homeroom Card expiration date Patron type Patron status You have the option of deleting patrons with outstanding checkouts, fines, or refunds, such as when patrons are no longer associated with your school or at the end of the school year. Any items patrons have checked out are marked as lost; fines and refunds are deleted. Deleting a patron record also deletes all historical circulation records associated with the patron. The Merge Duplicates subtab lets you find duplicate records, select the preferred record, and delete the other records. Destiny retains the complete preferred record, its current transactions, and its statistics. It also merges current transactions, statistics, and other information from the duplicate records to the preferred record. 4
Locate duplicate patron records in one of two ways: Option 1: Search for possible duplicate patron records based on a keyword, barcode, or district ID you enter in the Find patron records with search field and the field(s) you choose from the In drop-down list. Option 2: Select Find possible duplicated patron records to have Destiny search for possible duplicate records. It searches for exact matches of the first and last name combination, ignoring case, punctuation, and spaces. For example, O Brian and OBRIAN are considered duplicates. 5
After searching for possible duplicate records, review the list. A message appears if no matches are found and asks you to use other search terms or a different search. If you chose the Option 2 and multiple results are returned, click the Show More link. Each patron who appears on this list needs to be merged separately. To select a patron record as a possible duplicate, select the Duplicated Patron button. The patron moves to the Currently Selected list at the bottom of the screen. In the Currently Selected list, review each patron to determine if the patron record is a duplicate. To review a patron s current transactions and requests, click the Patron Status button. To review a patron s record, click the Edit Patron button. If you determine that a particular patron is not a duplicate, click the Remove button to remove it from the Currently Selected list. After choosing the duplicate records, select the arrow on the top right to continue the merge process. 6
To complete the merge process: Select the Preferred record radio button for the patron record that you want to keep. Select Merge. Before the merge actually takes place, you receive a message asking whether you want to proceed. Select Yes to start the merge; choose No to stop the merge. When the merge is complete, select View to see the results. If there are no errors in the Job Summary, the merge was successful, and only the preferred patron record remains in Destiny. The Move Fields subtab moves the contents or values from any of the five User Defined fields to one of the following patron fields: Grade Level, Homeroom, Nickname, or another User Defined field. The moved information is cleared from the original field. 7
The Excuse Fines subtab lets you globally delete fines. You can delete fines and refunds for just your patrons, or include patrons of other schools. You might want to consider doing this at the end of the school year if you do not expect to collect any more fines. After updating patron records with any of the above functions, Destiny generates a Job Summary that lists all updated patrons and the changes made. View the Job Summary under the Back Office tab, Job Manager option. 8