Daylight Explorer™ can track the audiotapes, books, compact disks(CDs), Documents, DVDs, periodicals, sheet music and video tapes in your church library.
Each title in your library can catalog more than one copy. Each copy can be checked in, checked out and reserved.
Logically, each library item has a Borrowers and Reservations node under it. The Borrowers node holds the record of the person who has checked the item out. The Reservation node holds the details of all current reservations as well as the record of the person who has made each reservation. Multiple reservations can be stacked up to one year into the future. Borrowers and reservors are assigned with drag n drop functionality so there is no typing.
When you want to check an item in or out, double-click it in the right pane and it's property page will come up. For both checking in and checking out, all you have to do is click the Check In or Check Out button. Fines (if any) and due dates are calculated for you. Fine rates and default check-out periods are fully customizable in the Program Options dialog.
When you want to reserve an item, you bring up the New Reservation dialog by selecting the Reservations node and then clicking the New menu. The beginning and ending dates for the new reservation are calculated for you based on the earliest available time slot. Optionally, you can adjust these dates by typing them in directly. The program will check to make sure that the dates you enter will not conflict with any other outstanding reservations for the same item.
When an item has been checked in and ready to be picked up by a patron with a reservation, you can easily notify him or her by right-clicking on the reservor's node and clicking the Send E-mail menu. Your e-mail client application will be launched with the reservor's default e-mail address inserted in the proper field and a customized message will be composed telling your patron that the item is available. Similar functionality is available for borrowers who are late in returning items.
By clicking the Show Schedule menu, you can display, in graphical calendar form, the remaining checked-out period as well as all outstanding reservations for any given library item. Checked-out periods and reservations are shown as distinct, color-coded blocks. This feature gives you a quick visual clue as to when a library item might be available.
With a few clicks and no typing, you can create a report showing each checked-out library item, when it is due, the name of the borrower and the borrower's phone number.
Almost every property page in Daylight Explorer™ contains a large icon that represents the type of record that is being shown in order to provide you with a visual check on the kind of data you are working with. The property page in the illustration shows a pair of quarter notes which denotes the fact that the data being displayed is for sheet music.