1communitybiblechapel
I'm looking into TinyCat for a small church library (1200 books). Our current method for checking out is to have patrons fill out their name and the book title in a 3 ring binder that is permanently in place in the library, with the simple goal of tracking down books "at some point" if they never come back. I'd love to improve this situation with TinyCat, but there is one issue I'm not sure how to deal with- all suggestions appreciated:
Many of our titles relate to self-help topics and life crisis issues. We have wonderful resources, I just know that a lot of them will never be checked out because no one wants to put their name down in the binder next to the book title! For example- Help for Pornography Addiction. So, how private is the TinyCat experience for patrons? And, is there any way to make it so that even the librarian (me) can't see who has what? Even as I'm typing this it sounds counterintuitive but who knows. Maybe someone has some ideas.
Thanks in advance!
Many of our titles relate to self-help topics and life crisis issues. We have wonderful resources, I just know that a lot of them will never be checked out because no one wants to put their name down in the binder next to the book title! For example- Help for Pornography Addiction. So, how private is the TinyCat experience for patrons? And, is there any way to make it so that even the librarian (me) can't see who has what? Even as I'm typing this it sounds counterintuitive but who knows. Maybe someone has some ideas.
Thanks in advance!
2MarthaJeanne
Currently patrons who want to be anonymous actually have the option of just borrowing the book without actually checking it out. That apparently isn't happening.
There is not much point in having a check out that the librarian can't follow up on. However besides the regular patron accounts, I suppose you could have a few 'private' accounts controlled by trusted people such as the pastor, so that if need be you could ask for whoever has such and such needs to give it back because somebody else wants it.
There is not much point in having a check out that the librarian can't follow up on. However besides the regular patron accounts, I suppose you could have a few 'private' accounts controlled by trusted people such as the pastor, so that if need be you could ask for whoever has such and such needs to give it back because somebody else wants it.
3MarthaJeanne
Currently patrons who want to be anonymous actually have the option of just borrowing the book without actually checking it out. That apparently isn't happening.
There is not much point in having a check out that the librarian can't follow up on. However besides the regular patron accounts, I suppose you could have a few 'private' accounts controlled by trusted people such as the pastor, so that if need be you could ask for whoever has such and such needs to give it back because somebody else wants it.
There is not much point in having a check out that the librarian can't follow up on. However besides the regular patron accounts, I suppose you could have a few 'private' accounts controlled by trusted people such as the pastor, so that if need be you could ask for whoever has such and such needs to give it back because somebody else wants it.
4norabelle414
That depends on who you want to keep the information private from.
Patrons cannot see each other's information. When a patron uses TinyCat, they can see that a book is checked out but they cannot see who has checked it out.
The admin/librarian can see who has checked out a book, though there are ways around that. Patrons could use a pseudonym, or you could assign everyone a patron number/ID instead of using names at all. If you wanted to be able to follow up in rare cases you could keep the patron's real name in the "patron notes" field, or in an entirely separate document.
Patrons cannot see each other's information. When a patron uses TinyCat, they can see that a book is checked out but they cannot see who has checked it out.
The admin/librarian can see who has checked out a book, though there are ways around that. Patrons could use a pseudonym, or you could assign everyone a patron number/ID instead of using names at all. If you wanted to be able to follow up in rare cases you could keep the patron's real name in the "patron notes" field, or in an entirely separate document.
