Introduction
Welcome to the fourth thing in 12 Things SWKLS. This month we will be learning about the Kansas Library eCard (formerly the Kansas State Library Card or KSLC).
The activities for this lesson are due August 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm central time and are worth 2 credit hours. Estimated work time: 1-2 hours.
If you would rather complete an alternate topic, please go to the alternate topic page and pick one from the list.
Content
All Kansas residents are eligible to receive a Kansas Library eCard. With these cards users can access statewide databases and digital book collections anywhere in the state.
All your patrons need to have access to these books is a computer or handheld device, an internet or data connection, and a Kansas eCard (formerly known as Kansas State Library Card).
All libraries in Kansas, including school and academic libraries, have the rights to create, renew, and look up Kansas Library eCards for their patrons.
Exercises: (Due August 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm CDT)
Tools you will need:
- A computer or Internet enabled device
- An Internet connection
- Your library’s Kansas Library eCard admin login information (the SWKLS office has this if you don’t)
- Excel or a similar spreadsheet program
- Go to the eCard Training Page and print out the Brief Text Instructions Sheet and post them by your library’s front desk or your desk.
- Watch the What are Kansas Library eCards Tutorial (no audio, self-paced) or the Kansas Library eCards Tutorial with Lianne (has audio and video).
- Go to the Kansas State Library Website and find the Admin Login link for the Kansas eCard (formerly known as Kansas Library Card).
- Log in with your library’s administrative account. (If you don’t know what this log in is or need help, please call our office at 1-800-657-2533 and we can help.)
- If you don’t already have an eCard create one for yourself.
- If you already have an eCard find your account and make sure your date of birth is correct and your card doesn’t need renewed. If it needs renewed, renew it.
- Create a card for a library patron who doesn’t have a card.
- Remember to always check if patron has an existing card before creating a new one.
- Take a 10 question quiz to reinforce what you’ve learned.
- Post a comment below with the following:
- What you learned this lesson.
- How do you or your patrons use their eCards? Or… how do you see them using their eCards.
- How many total eCards your library has created
Extras:
- Print out Kansas eCards to give out to new card owners.
- Check out the eCard FAQ section.
21 comments
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It truly was a lesson learned as after entering the wrong year on the birth date and after calling the State Library I found out that on my administrative site I had no way to edit the account. It now will be looked into. I learned how to get a listing of our patrons that have a card. Most of our patrons use the ecards for 3M and One Click. We have 80 card holders.
Author
Ruby,
I am hoping they get your account fixed soon.
Eighty is a pretty good number for a library your size!
I hope they get your card fixed soon!
It would really be nice if we were allowed the access to “fix” our own mistakes 🙂 I can totally understand how entering a wrong birthdate can happen 🙁
I learned how to generate a list of cards issued by our Library by using the % for last name in Look up Account box 🙂
I use my KS Library card to check-out audios and too look up information.
Our 6th Grade English Teacher provides us with the needed information for each student and we create KS Library Cards for each student so that they will all have access for that information for school reports and such.
We have a total of 408 created eCards.
Author
It sounds like you have a good setup with your 6th Grade English Teacher!
The most important thing I learned is to have your log-in information correctly written down! What I thought was a lower case L is actually a 1! Someone else’s handwriting! Our patrons use their cards to access the on-line databases, although some are using to access TotalBoox! We have 74 active cards.
Author
Audrey,
I have logged in wrong so many times… I am glad to hear that your patrons are checking out books through TotalBoox.
I was pleased to learn our library could generate a list of our patrons with ecards. I was able to see that one patron had two cards and then was able to delete the expired one. Also, we had a patron pass away recently and I deleted her card as well; to hopefully prevent any future problems on that account. I have used the library ecard quite a lot in the past year, for geneology research. We have had several requests do to the current interest in restoring old cemetaries in the area. We have 64 patrons with ecards.
Author
Wow! You and Jean have a lot of patrons with cards.
Through this lesson I learned how to find a Kansas Library eCard number by just typing in the patron’s last name when looking up a card. This was very handy because when I started this lesson I couldn’t find my card! I don’t know of any patrons at our library that currently use a Kansas Library eCard, but my dad, who lives in central Kansas, uses his for audio books while he works. I have looked through some books with my card, but haven’t had time to read any yet. I hope, now that I understand how to create a Kansas Library eCard, that I can get more local people signed up! My library has created a total of 19 eCards, including the one I created for my new employee today! Also, I totally read the question about “is it possible to look up how many eCards your library has created?” wrong. I knew the answer but marked it wrong! 🙁
Author
Stephanie,
That’s great to hear that your Dad uses his card for audios while he works. Did he know about the service before you started working at the library?
I wondered if you read that question wrong! I knew you knew the answer. 😉 I bet you’ll sign up more and more people as the year goes on.
I learned that some of our patrons aren’t listed when I go to see how many total patrons we have using the site. I haven’t figured out why, but will. I also will be much quicker when creating a Kansas Library eCard for a patron and also when teaching them to use it. This was an interesting lesson.
Author
Denise,
Do you mean that you don’t see particular patrons listed that you know how cards? Or… you see a certain number, but fewer are listed? It may be that might have been added from another library account such as SWKLS, the State Library, or another local library.
I was reminded of how to create an account, which we do from time to time but not often enough to remember how without directions! It was nice to see a way to see all the patrons we have with accounts. We have 98 active accounts. We have a high school teacher who was having his students get accounts to find articles in Zinio magazines, so that may slow our new accounts. Other patrons use their cards to check out ebooks and audio books. I have read many ebooks with my account. I have used TotalBoox a little bit but find their selection a little quirky.
I learned that I can look up patrons that we have made a card for – this lesson came at a good time – we are training new people and it was a great reminder for me and good teaching tool. School has just started here and I think I am going to send out an email to teachers to remind them what they can do with a state library card. We have 133 patrons. We signed up several last year for the ACT testing – most use ebooks.
I enjoyed this lesson because it was a refresher on how to create an eCard. I learned how to renew an eCard. We have a total of 290 created eCards! I personally don’t use my eCard but we have several patrons that use it for eBooks and audio books!
Most of my patrons use their e-cards to check out e-books. This lesson was a good review for me. I learned that we have 34 e-card users.
1. I learned that I probably should be checking if the patron already has an e-card, instead of just them saying they don’t 🙂 Also, that I may want to “clean up” the list for those who are now deceased (saw that in other’s comments).
2. I feel our patrons take advantage of the state library resources and eCards. Many of the adults use them for digital book collections to use on their various devices. For our younger patrons (particularly junior high and high school) they use it for the databases. Many times we enroll an entire class at a time.
3. We have 290 eCards created by our library!
I learned how to see how many patrons from our library have an eCard. We did need to clean up some of the ones that have died or moved out of state.
Most patrons use their for ebooks. A number of them use the databases. Genealogy is a favorite of some. We have 65 cards created by NCPL.
1. I learned how to get a list of all of our card holders. That was very helpful!
2. Most patrons use the card for eBooks & audios for their devices. Some use the online resources.
3. We have 413 card holders as of today!
One thing that I learned was how to renew ecards. I use my ecard to listen to audiobooks. We have 291 cards issued.