Guide for the librarian

Who this guide is for

You run the school library. By default your role can view the student list and each student's record, and this session's classes, so you can check who a borrower is and which class they are in. You can also see the courses teachers have set up with their materials.

Library, under ACADEMIC, is your desk: lend a book by its accession number and receive it back, keep the catalogue, handle reservations and fines, see the borrowing history and send overdue reminders. Your school's administrator can give your role more permissions on the Roles & Permissions page.

Before you start

Your school's administrator creates your sign-in account and gives you a temporary password.

1. Open your school's portal and go to the sign-in page. It shows your school's name.

2. Enter your Email Address and Password, then select Sign In. You arrive on the Dashboard, which points you to the menu.

If you would rather not use a password, select Sign in with an email code. If you have forgotten your password, select Forgot password?.

Find your way around on a computer

1. The menu is down the left side, in groups: Students under OVERVIEW, Classes and Library under ACADEMIC, Courses under COMMUNICATION, and your own pages under FINANCE: My Payslips, My leave, and, once your school uses them, My attendance (staff clock-in) and My ID card.

2. Select a group's name to fold it away. On a tablet, the same menu opens from the menu button at the top left.

3. At the top, EN and FR switch between English and French wherever a page has been translated, and the sun or moon button switches between light and dark. Until you choose, the app follows your device's setting.

4. To sign out, select your picture at the top right and then Sign out, or the sign-out icon beside your name at the bottom of the menu.

Use it on your phone

1. Open your school's address in your phone's browser and sign in as above.

2. The first time, a message may offer to install the school's app: select Install app, or Not now to carry on in the browser. On an iPhone or iPad it tells you to tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen. The message is shown only once. The installed app opens from your home screen with your school's name and icon.

3. Use the bar along the bottom of the screen: Today (the Dashboard), Students and Classes.

4. Select More for every other page, such as Library, Courses and My Payslips. At the bottom of it are Appearance (System, Light or Dark), Language (English or Français) and Sign out.

Change your own name, phone or photo

1. Select your picture at the top right, then My profile. On a phone, select More, then your name at the top.

2. Change your First name, Last name or Phone number, and select Save changes. The name and phone number on your staff record change with it, so colleagues see the same name.

3. To add a photo, select Add a photo (or Change photo) and choose a JPEG, PNG or WebP image of up to 3 MB. Remove photo takes it off. If there is no photo button, photo uploads are not set up for your school.

Your email address and password are how you sign in, so they are not changed on this page. Under Email and password, Change password opens the page where you set a new one. To change the email address you sign in with, ask your school's administrator.

Look up a student

1. Open Students, under OVERVIEW on a computer or as a tab on a phone. Every student is listed with their photo (or initials), admission number, class, status and guardian. On a phone each student is a card.

2. Type in Name, admission number or guardian phone…, or narrow the list with the filters, such as Class or Section. On a phone the filters are behind the Filters button.

3. Select a student to open their page. Profile shows their details and every guardian's name, phone and email.

Adding and archiving students is for administrators, so Add Student and the archive icon are not on your list.

See the classes

1. Open Classes under ACADEMIC, or the Classes tab on a phone.

2. This session's classes are listed by level. Select a level to show or hide its classes.

3. Each class shows its name and combination. Creating classes is for administrators.

Lend and receive books

1. Open Library under ACADEMIC (under More on a phone). It opens on the Desk tab.

2. Under Lend a book, type or scan the copy's Accession number. Choose Student or Staff and find the borrower by name, admission number or staff number. Set Due back, or leave it empty for the school's loan period. Select Lend.

3. When a book comes back, type or scan its number under Receive a book and select Receive. If someone has reserved it, the message says to put it aside for them.

4. The loans below can be shown Out now, Overdue, Returned or All. On a loan, select Renew, Remind or Mark lost.

5. Select Send overdue reminders to email every overdue borrower whose reminder is due.

Keep the library catalogue

1. Open Library and the Catalogue tab. Search by title, author, ISBN or classification.

2. To add a book, select Add a book. Enter the Title, Author, ISBN, Classification, Subject, Publisher, Year, Edition, Shelf and how many Copies, then select Save. Copies are numbered LIB00001 and so on.

3. Select a book to see its copies. Under How many, or Or your own accession numbers, select Add copies for more.

4. On a copy, select Mark lost or Withdraw, and Back in stock if it turns up.

5. Remove from catalogue takes a book off; past loans stay in students' borrowing histories.

Reservations, fines and borrowing history

1. Reservations. Open a book on Catalogue, choose the student under Reserve for and select Reserve. A copy that comes back goes to the first student waiting and is held at the desk; they and their guardians are told by email. The Reservations tab lists everyone waiting, with Cancel reservation.

2. Fines. The Fines tab shows Unpaid, Paid, Waived or All fines. Select Mark paid when a fine is paid at the desk, or Waive to let the borrower off.

3. Borrowing history. Choose a student under Borrowing history for to see every book they have borrowed and what they are waiting for.

4. Settings. Set the Loan period (days), the Books a student may hold, the overdue reminders, staff borrowing and the fines, then select Save. Leave the fine per day at 0 for no fines.

See course materials

1. Open Courses under COMMUNICATION (under More on a phone). Every course is listed with its subject and class.

2. Select a course to see its materials, and select Open on one to open it.

3. Assignments lists each course's assignments.

Adding courses and materials is for subject teachers.

See your payslips

1. Open My Payslips under FINANCE (under More on a phone).

2. Every month you have been paid for is listed with its net pay.

3. Select Breakdown on a month to see the detail.

A payslip appears once that month's payroll has been approved.

Clock in and out

Only when your school uses staff clock-in. Until it does, My attendance is not in your menu.

1. Open My attendance under FINANCE (under More on a phone).

2. The first time, read Before you clock in: what the school records when you clock in, and who can see it. Select I understand and agree.

3. When you arrive, select Clock in. If your school asks for a photo, select Take photo first; if it asks where you are, allow your location when the browser asks. At the end of the day the same button says Clock out.

4. If you are outside the school grounds, the page says how far away you are. Type Why are you away from school? (for the head) and select Send request: it counts once the head approves it.

5. My month lists each school day with your times and On time, Late, Absent or On leave, and the month's totals. Choose another month above the list.

With no connection, a clock-in is kept on this device and sent, with the time you made it, when you are back online. If the page says the school takes clock-ins at the staff room desk only, clock in there with your PIN or ID card.

Your ID card

1. Open My ID card under FINANCE (under More on a phone). It is in your menu once your school prints ID cards.

2. The front and back of your card are shown. Anyone can scan its QR code to check that the card is yours and that you belong to the school.

3. Select Print to print it. If you lose your card, ask the school office for a new one.

Ask for leave

1. Open My leave under FINANCE (under More on a phone).

2. Choose the Type of leave, such as Annual leave or Sick leave, set From and To, add a Reason, and select Send request. The page says Sent. The head will decide it.

3. Your requests are listed below with the head's decision. Taken this year: adds up your days of each type.

Approved leave shows as On leave in staff attendance, not as an absence.

Tips and common questions

• The Dashboard has no figures. Its school-wide figures need a reporting permission your role does not hold by default.

• A menu item is missing. The side menu shows only what your role's permissions allow. Ask your school's administrator.

Getting help

Open a support ticket

1. Open My Support under COMMUNICATION (under More on a phone) and select Open Ticket.

2. Enter a subject, describe your issue and select Open Ticket.

3. Replies from the support team appear in the ticket.

Ask the AI Chat

1. Select the support button at the bottom of any page. On a phone it sits above the tab bar.

2. Ask the AI Chat assistant a question about using the portal.

3. Or open a Support Ticket from the same panel.

Watch the help videos

1. Open Help videos. On a phone it is under More.

2. The videos for your role are in three groups: Start here, Every day and Now and then, each with its length.

3. Select one to play it. Where there is a phone version and a computer version, you can switch between them. A line marked Coming soon is not recorded yet.