Follett VERSION 6.00 - Manual (Page 199)

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Chapter 17 Importing patron information
This chapter contains general information about importing patron records and
patron pictures, formatting information, getting ready to import, importing
patron records, importing patron pictures, and interpreting the exception report.
About importing patron records
If your administration sends you disks containing new patron records, you can
decrease the amount of time required for annual updating. You can use the
Import Patrons option on the Patron Maintenance File menu to add new patron
records or to update existing records.
To be imported successfully, the source file must be in the correct format. If the
patron information you want to import was exported from a preĆUnison database
or from another vendor, you can either use the Patron Conversion Utility or
create your own import file with a text editor. For instructions on using the
Patron Conversion Utility, see the Patron Conversion Guide. If you prefer to create
your own import file, the following section explains the formatting for a patron
import file.
If you already have a properly formatted file and are ready to import, skip the
following section and go to Importing patron records" on page 202.
Formatting information for the librarian's technical personnel
The following patron file format information is provided to help you or your
technical personnel prepare a patron file for import into Patron Maintenance. If
you don't have experience creating or editing commaĆdelimited text files, you
may want to seek additional assistance.
Follett's patron import data file formats
This type of file can be created with any text editor, such as the Windows
Notepad application. You can also export patron records using the Export
Patrons function, modify the data in a text editor, and then reĆimport the data
(choosing to replace existing records).
The import file format is flat ASCII text, commaĆdelimited. Each patron record
takes up one line of the file. Each line in the file must end with a carriage return.
String fields in the record are surrounded by quotes (e.g., Smith"). Numbers,
including dates, are the actual numeric value. Each field is separated from the
one after it by a comma. Empty fields contain no characters.