Creating a Community Patron Record in Alma
Virginia residents who are not affiliated with the College and who do not live in Virginia Beach must obtain a TCC community patron library card for limited borrowing privileges or public computer access. Virginia Beach residents must use a Virginia Beach Public Library card as the community card. Community card applicants must have a government-issued photo ID and proof of a current Virginia address to obtain a TCC community patron library card at any library circulation desk. Applicants under the age of 18 must have a parent or legal guardian complete the top portion of the application and sign the application. Additionally, affiliated members of a Virginia Tidewater Consortium for Higher Education institution and the VIVA Borrowing Program may have reciprocal privileges if they present their college identification and a Consortium library card issued from their home library.
Before issuing a community card, ask the patron if they have ever been a TCC student, TCC employee, or have had a TCC community card. The reason for asking these questions is to prevent duplicate records.
Answer
- Log into Alma.
- Search Alma to see if the patron already has a record.
- Search by using the persistent search box.
- Use the Users + All search option and type the patron’s first name and last name. You can also search by phone number and email address.
- If a record exists in Alma (as a former student or faculty/staff), use that record and change to community. In order to change a record to community, you must have authority based on your user role in Alma. If you do not have that authority, have the circulation supervisor or circulation assistant change the record.
- If the patron does not exist, create a record in Alma.
- Go to Fulfillment > Manage Patron Services
- Click on the Register New User button to generate a new user registration form.
- Use the Form and Guide below to complete the registration and click on Update User.
- After clicking on the Update User button on the registration form, the new patron record appears. The next step is to add the library card’s barcode number to the patron’s record.
- Click on Add Note to access the patron’s detailed record on the side panel.
- To add the community card barcode, go to the Identifiers tab.
- Click on the Add Identifier button.
- Select Barcode as the Identifier type.
- Enter the barcode number (without “C”) from the community patron card.
- Click on the Add and Close button.
- When the barcode is added to the patron’s record, it shows the creator of the identifier.
- To add the Driver’s License number, go to the Identifiers tab.
- Click on the Add Identifier button.
- Select Driver’s License as the Identifier type.
- Enter the customer identifier number from the Driver’s License.
- Click on the Add and Close button.
- To add a “Form on File-CH” note to the patron’s record, go to the Notes tab in the patron’s record.
- Click on the Add Note button.
- Type Form on File-CH
- Choose General for the type of note.
- Click on the Add and Close button.
- To check out items to the patron, click on the Save button at the top of the page. You should automatically go to the Loan page to checkout items.
New Patron Registration Form and Guide to Filling in the Form
