Managing hard copies

This guide explains how you, as a librarian or admin, can manage your library’s physical copies in Librario.

Hard copies are the physical books, journals, and other media in your library. You can add as many copies as you like to each publication. This is especially useful for frequently requested titles or when you keep copies at several locations.

The lending philosophy

Librario deliberately does without overdue notices and strict loan periods. Instead, a transparent overview of who has borrowed which copy fosters collegial collaboration. This approach has proven itself in practice: people are not punished for honestly documenting their loans. When someone needs a copy that is on loan, direct communication often leads to a pragmatic solution.

In the account settings you can adjust the text users see when they borrow or return a copy.

Recording new copies

The dialog for adding a hard copy. Input fields for shelfmark and location, plus a checkbox for reference-only copies. — The dialog for creating and editing hard copies

Whenever you acquire a new copy of a publication, you should record it in Librario. Navigate to the relevant publication and click Edit. In the Hard copies area you can add a new copy via Add hard copy.

The form offers these key fields:

The shelfmark identifies the copy on the shelf
The location states where the copy can be found
Enable the Reference-only option when the copy should not be lendable

Assigning systematic shelfmarks

The shelfmark is the “address” of a copy on the shelf. A well-considered scheme makes books much easier to find. The most popular approaches are based on subject area or publication date.

When structuring by subject area, you use prefixes such as “STAT-123” for structural-engineering literature. The advantage is that thematically related titles stand together. It is best to align the scheme with your established categories.

Structuring by publication date (e.g. “2023-042” for the 42nd copy in 2023) is especially suited to journals, where the chronological information matters. Combinations are possible too, such as “STAT-2023-042”.

QR codes for easy borrowing

Librario automatically generates a QR code for every hard copy. It lets people borrow or return a copy quickly with their smartphone. To print a QR code, open the hard copy and choose Print label. Attach the code where it is clearly visible, typically on the spine.

A central inventory overview

You reach the central management area via the user menu (top right) under Our Account. Here you find important functions for systematic organisation:

Manage hard copies gives you a complete overview with extensive filter and search functions. Under Manage locations you can tidy up and merge location names. These tools are especially valuable for regular stocktakes and ongoing inventory care.

Handling loan requests

When someone needs a physical copy, they place a loan request straight from the publication page. Librario turns it into a task and notifies your team, so you can coordinate these requests without anything getting lost in an email inbox. The whole library team handles them, so you can hand this routine to working students or an assistant and still keep the overview (see roles and permissions).

Board and queue

You find every open loan request under Tasks → Loan requests. The board groups requests by title and shows, for each title, the number of open requests and an availability status: whether at least one copy is immediately available to lend, whether all copies are on loan (with the duration of the longest running loan), or whether there are no lendable copies. Overdue requests are highlighted in colour; when a request becomes overdue is set by the processing deadline.

The loan-requests board lists open requests grouped by title, with columns for the number of requests, the availability status (immediately lendable, all on loan, or no lendable copies), and overdue highlighting. — The loan-requests board bundles all open requests, grouped by title

Clicking a title opens the title-specific queue in the order requests came in. There you see the status of each copy, including the current borrower and loan duration for copies on loan.

The title-specific queue shows the open requests in the order they came in, plus the status of each copy with the current borrower and loan duration. — A title’s queue shows the open requests and the state of every copy

Fulfil or decline

You settle a request in one step: pick a free copy and lend it straight to the requester with Borrow. Librario closes the loan request automatically and notifies the person of the fulfilment. The physical hand-over, for example through the internal post, is organised by your team; Librario records the loan and sends the notification. When a request does not fit, Decline it directly from the queue; the requester is notified in that case too.

For held titles, you see the hold in the queue and lend a returned copy to the next person waiting.

Notification routing

How new loan requests reach your team is set by administrators in the account settings, under Automatic assignment → User requests. You either assign requests to a person or notify a shared mailbox. If a request in the shared mailbox is not picked up within the configured processing deadline, Librario sends a reminder to the same address list so no request is left behind.

Frequently asked questions

What deleting a copy does

Deleting a hard copy also deletes its entire history irrevocably.

Tidying up location names

Because locations are entered as free text, typos can creep in. Under Manage locations you see the number of copies per location and can correct or merge names.

Moving copies

To move a copy to another location, open it in the detail view. Via Edit you can update the location and save the change.