The Library
Administrators can add, modify and remove books in the library, and add copies for each of the books.
Books and Copies
To use the Library application, you need to know the difference between a book and a copy. The book is a concept, while the copy is the physical object of the book. A book can be associated with one or more copies. It is possible to have more than one copy of a book in a library. If no copy has been created for a book, the book will not appear in the library.
Creating books
You must create a book before creating a copy. To do this in the Library application, click on the Create a book button. Note: this button only appears if you are signed in as an Administrator.
You are creating a description of a book, including the title, author, ISBN number, cover picture, series, summary, sub-title, publishing house, a category (adult, children, theatre, novel, etc.), a language and tags.
Creating copies
Once the book is created, you can assign one or more copies to it. To do so, click on the book, and click on the button Add a copy. Note: this button only appears if you are signed in as an Administrator.
A copy is given a barcode, comments (to state the condition of the book copy or any other useful information), a location (if it is a paper book), or a file to be uploaded (if it is a digital book).
Book Loans
By creating a copy and entering the barcode related to a book, you can manage book loans in the Prêt (Loan) application.
Importing Books
You can import several books at once in the Library via the import catalogue option. You can import four types of catalogue files:
- a catalogue from another Ideas Box or KoomBook in Ideascube format
- books with ISBN numbers
- csv files from Moccam en ligne
- a catalogue in unimarc format
We recommend the first two options: importing from a catalogue in Ideascube format or importing using ISBN numbers.
To import from a catalogue in Ideascube format: select the option "zip ideascube", click on "browse" to select the zip file, then click on "Charger des notices depuis un fichier" (Load catalogue from a file). This option is only useful if you wish to import a catalogue from another Ideascube software. In order to do this, you will have had to have already exported the files from another Ideascube. This is done via the option "export a catalogue". The export is in zip file format.
To import books using their ISBN number: enter the files in the fields of the "From ISBN" form. This option only works when connected to the internet, as data is recovered from the openlibrary website. We strongly recommend that Ideascube users enter the information on books which are not directly available on openlibrary and then restart the import. This way, these will be available to the entire Ideascube and openlibrary.org communities.
The import creates books. For each book created, you must then create a copy and enter the barcode related to the book.