The software on the Sort Assists in Central, Law, and EPS, as well as the software in use in LSS, has been updated. This has introduced a slight change in the process for encoding tags.

The Encode Tag function using Tag Utility on the LSS machine is not working so staff need to encode tags using the Circulation Assistant Software instead.

When you first open the ‘Encode Tag’ function on the Sort Assist/Circ Assist, you need to click on Settings before encoding. This screen looks quite different. Some of the changes are as follows:

1. You need to change the criteria for the 4 dropdown menus from “Always Ask” to “Fixed Value”:

a. This status will automatically change to “UC- CAN:CU” and does not need to be changed.
b. This status relates to set size. First, unselect “DVD sets”. Then choose the appropriate set setting as before. If you have a kit of 50 pieces or more, you can now encode these by selecting “other” in the dropdown menu for set number and manually typing in the kit size. [Update 21/02: The software on the Sort Assists currently does not include this drop down menu so sets/kits cannot be encoded on the Sort Assists. This is being looked at.]
c. This status will automatically change to “11” and does not need to be changed.
d. Change the MARC type to the correct item type (book, magazine, compact disc etc).

You can then press ok and encode the tags as usual.

Note that if you close the “Encode Tag” function you will need to reset these settings the next time you reopen the encode function. It is important to set the correct settings each time you do a session of tag encoding.