MANDARIN M3 - CIRCULATION
The patron's gateway to your library's collection

M3 allows you to view patron, item and transaction information in a three pane split screen visible during loan, return, renewal or reserve activities. Customize the data in each pane to optimize your workflow, and even display patron photos as well as item images such as book jackets.

M3 Circulations efficient design puts frequent circulation activities just a few clicks away. One-click functionality for loans, returns, reserves, renewals, status review, booking, and fine processing means shorter lines and fewer personnel at the front desk. Enable Self Check or Self Return, and expand your patron offerings without impact on library staff.

Circulation Features

  • Fully customizable screens
  • Multilingual interface (English, Spanish, French)
  • Ability to link images to patrons and items
  • Standard or customized patron and item messages
  • Immediate update and display of item and patron status
  • Self-service check-in/check-out options
  • Backdating check-in and override capabilities available to authorized users
  • Flexible calendar interface, including fixed and repeated closed days for holidays
  • Fast multiple-item batch return
  • On-the-fly transaction processing
  • In-house circulation to track usage within the library
  • Hourly loan capability
  • Special reserve collection management
  • Library transaction reports
  • Circulation Desk receipt printing for patrons
  • Quick return functionality via a single barcode scan
  • Sound/Voice alert options
  • OPAC and Cataloging search access from Circulation
  • Ability to assign items to collections with specific due date parameters with Group Editor
  • Ability to set patron and staff circulation rights and authorization levels with Group Editor

Textbook Management

Circulation can be used to store and manage textbook collections. Textbook data such as title, author, and publication can be entered as a bibliographic record and linked to any number of copies. Barcodes can be attached to each copy and scanned when textbooks are loaned or returned by students or staff. You can assign loan periods by semester, day, week, month, year or hour. A special reserve group can be created for the collection, available for loan to group members only. You can assign to this group desired loan lengths and, if needed, an expiration date, at which point textbooks and other materials return to the regular collection.

Inventory provides another method of tracking missing textbooks kept in storage or in off-site collections such as classrooms. In addition, reports can be run based on homeroom, student, teacher, subject etc…. Lists of items not returned can be produced for teaching staff.

Reports

  • Frequently used reports and tracking features integrated into the Circulation module, directly available to librarians from the same screen as other circulation tasks
  • Ability to run transactions for the entire library, by patron or by item
  • Ability to print receipts and statistics for Today's Transactions, Today's Loans and Today's Returns
  • An extensive number of circulation reports preloaded in the ReportTool  module, accessing current M3 Circulation transaction data when ran

Tracking

  • Ability to track in-house usage statistics with the In-House Circulation function
  • Ability to quickly and easily upload transactions from portable scanners directly into circulation for off-site locations (such as bookmobile) and emergency backup support.