connecting patrons to tinycat

I am having a hard time figuring out how to add patrons and then log in as a patron and check out a book. I would like to use bar codes to create library cards for our users. Is this possible? how do I sign in as a patron? I am getting a message that says Incorrect name. Thank you for your help.

Hi Maximusreadslibrary, thanks for your patience with my reply! I'm just returning from vacation, and catching up on questions.

Looking at your TinyCat library, it looks like you have Full Circulation patron accounts enabled, requiring the patron's barcode/ID to log into the patron account/s. When you're adding patrons, whatever the patron has in their barcode/ID field is what they'll need to log into their patron account. They can then log in and use the "Check out" and/or "Place hold" buttons from the front-end of your TinyCat library, depending on what you have showing up for them.

You can certainly create your own library cards for your patrons, you'll just want to make sure that you can create barcodes (using a barcode font) that have your patron's correct barcode/IDs, and a scanner that can read those barcodes and output the barcodes/IDs appropriately. This will make sure that when you scan the patron's barcode on their library card—which can only be done in the "Barcode" option for patrons on your Admin > Check in/out page—you're bringing up the right patron for checking items in/out.

Please let me know if you have further questions!

I am also having the same issue. I am the admin of the account however when I try to log in on the app as a patron it says my name is already taken and I cannot sign up or join as a patron....

>3 HOPERGV: Can you give me more specifics, here?

- Where are you trying to log in: do you have a page URL you can enter here? Or, are you trying to log into an actual app and if so, which app?
- Where are you trying to sign up/join as a patron, can you give me the link to the page?
- What's the exact error message you're seeing, can you enter it here?

This should give me a better idea of what might be happening, thanks in advance for your help!

Hi everybody,

I also would like to create User Cards for the Patrons, and after reading your comments above I still have some questions:

1. how can I check if the full circulation for patrons is enabled?

2. "you'll just want to make sure that you can create barcodes (using a barcode font)" - I've never done anything similar and to be honest I don't really know what you mean by that. When I click on "Edit Patron" I see the field "Barcode / Patron ID". How can I turn the number I find in this field into a barcode for the Usercard? (sorry if my question is too naive, I really have never done anything like this)

3. "...and a scanner that can read those barcodes and output the barcodes/IDs appropriately.." - well I just ordered the TinyCat Barcode Scanner. Can I use it for scanning the Patron ID Card Barcode? :)

thank you so much for your help!

>5 PetecaVerein:

1. You can look at your Patron Account Settings in TinyCat: https://www.librarycat.org/admin/settings/patronaccounts
2. We don't yet offer an in-house way to generate your own patron cards. You can generate your own cards by exporting your patron data from TinyCat (https://www.librarycat.org/admin/patrons) and running a Mail Merge of sorts. There's a Talk thread where other members discuss what they've done here to print their own spine labels, which follows a similar process: https://www.librarything.com/topic/97585
3. The CueCat scanner (I suspect this is what you mean) can read the barcode symbologies (types) outlined here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/CueCat_barcode_scanning

I hope this helps!