LibConnect Handbook

LibConnect documentation Quick Start FAQ

Explore

LibConnect documentation

Ellie Kohler

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Open LibConnect

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Overview

LibCRM

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/LibConnect

Log directly into

LibConnect

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using your VT Authentication (recommended) or your LibApps account credentials.

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About LibConnect

What is LibConnect?

LibConnect is a Customer Relationship Management platform built for libraries. This tool offered through LibApps can help you gain a better understanding of our users and their needs. Many of the features of LibConnect with its powerful task management and flexible design can help outreach, development, and liaisons track relationships and demonstrate value.

What is the Purpose of LibConnect?

Focus on measuring engagement

Manage outreach in one place

Identify gaps in outreach efforts

Collect information for annual reporting events

It is important to note that this tool is not about measuring work done, but rather tracking data that we are obligated to report, learning about the connections we have with Virginia Tech and the world at large, and doing so in a way that allows for anonymity.

For years data collection at the University Libraries centered around reporting numbers to ARL, ACRL, and IPEDS. Now, in light of the PIBB and the present-day need for data-informed decision making, there has been an increasing emphasis on data collection throughout the libraries.

As of fall of 2020 the Data Analytics Team collected data about the work that happens throughout the library. But the distribution of work (liaison duties, consultations, instruction) across department lines can create unintended inconsistencies. For example, consultations occur library wide. For this one area, data currently is reported using 10 separate data collection devices (e.g. forms, apps, etc) and resides in 4 systems (Teamdesk, Dreamfactory, Springshare, Google Forms). This is not good data collection practice. By having different principles, definitions, data structure, and mechanisms across the libraries, problems with data collection and reporting can and have occurred, including issues of timeliness, consistency and transparency. In addition, siloed data must be manually consolidated for reporting, making the process time-consuming.

A single data collection system would coordinate and consolidate the large number of reporting systems currently being used and increase the efficiency for gathering data of reports. This will allow the Data Analytics Team to focus on analysis of programs and services and creating dashboards to supplement annual reviews, departmental reports and the strategic plan, instead of gathering and combining data for reports. This would also remedy current data collection unevenness in the libraries; some areas collect very granular data and others do not emphasize data collection at all.

LibConnect will help to create consistency by using the same principles, definitions, data structure, and mechanism across the library. This will make it easier to implement new data collection points or amend ones that need to be changed. As we systemize gathering core library metrics (that are not currently gathered, or not gathered/reported systematically) and solidify metrics/milestones for the upcoming strategic plan, this will benefit creating instructional tutorials and other educational tools to ensure that 1) information is being recorded and 2) when a change is made to data collection it is made in one place and affects all areas.

Over time, and perhaps within the first year, the University Libraries will see a net cost savings, as departments that are paying for individual systems no longer have to foot that cost, and departments that have built data collection apps will no longer have to pay employee man hours to spend time and effort maintaining these individual systems.

Why LibConnect and not another tool?

This system, and several others were evaluated in 2019 by a Library Council Task Force. The taskforce recommendation is as as follows, along with the criteria:

The system that best suits our needs at this time is

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LibConnect

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. LibConnect is a Customer Relationship Management system with project management and reporting. There is the ability to record individual interactions, and there is a lot of flexibility to accommodate recording the different and sometimes disparate aspects of work of the University Libraries.

Additionally, the task force is recommending this product with the understanding that the setup of the product would be somewhat unique to a CRM system to allow anonymity where appropriate. This could include de-emphasis on contact with specific individuals, however we do believe that the system is flexible enough to accommodate work-arounds and still be a valuable and viable tool for data collection, as well as be a tool for gathering enough information to build relationships with individuals and organizations where appropriate.

Some of the factors that go into our recommendation:

Security: LibConnect is HTTPS, and encrypted in-transit and at-rest.

Data Storage: Data is stored in the cloud using AWS.

Data Extraction and Reporting:

Extraction: The system has an API for extraction and spreadsheets of data can be downloaded in the interface. The API extraction would need to be built out by working with Springshare staff. This is on the features list, but it is not on this year’s timeline.

Reporting: The reporting system allows a user to create templates of different types of reports, including being able to dictate which data types should be included, which fields should be included, and naming and saving those templates so they can be run with two clicks in the future. Users have the ability to pull data using custom fields from the system created by the user, and they are working on a scheduling system so that a user can have the reports run automatically and the user just shows up to download them on certain days of the month. The system provides a list of all of the reports that have been created, who created them and when. Finally, the system generates a block of text that describes the report and adds it to the top of the spreadsheet. For example, "This report contains interactions of the type Instruction that include Faculty members of the College of Science organization." He said their goal is that every report is self explanatory if you come back to it months later.

Flexibility: This is a new product, and doesn’t have a lot of features, however the core functionality and flexibility that is needed in a data collection system is there. With every update the product includes more features. Depending on how it is initially set up, there is the needed flexibility to allow for each area to collect additional data they need/want to make decisions while still standardizing the areas of data collection for combining and reporting to governing bodies.

Price: This is one of the lowest cost options. The quote was for $3,499.00 per year.

Expertise (Low Code): This is a low code solution. We can customize the look of the page with coding, but no coding is required for the actual setup and use of the application. A system administrator would not have to know or utilize coding to update or maintain the system.

Integration(with current tools): This software is a Springshare product. The Library currently uses a suite of Springshare products, including LibCal, LibGuides, LibAnswers, LibStaffer, and LibInsight. Currently, LibCal and LibAnswers can be automatically integrated into LibConnect, although Springshare is actively working to integrate their other products. Also worth mentioning is that data can be batch uploaded into the system, which would make initial setup very easy.

Ease of use: This system has a fairly intuitive interface for end users and structure that mimics other systems currently being used in the library. It has good help documentation and a responsive support team. As noted above, there is the ability to customize the look of the page with coding.

Legal/University approval: Springshare (the company that developed LibConnect) is approved. They have signed the full FERPA agreement, and the library has not had to go through the procurement process to add modules to the LibApps instance in the past. The task force is fairly confident that LibConnect is a module in the LibApps instance, and as such would not need extra approval.

Levels of access: This software has both Admin and User access permissions. LibConnect is currently working on updating the permissions system, to enable the creation of groups in the system, assignment of those various groups different permissions on each data type in the system (create, view, edit, delete for either all owned by the user, all not owned by administrators, and all), and then finally, assignment of individual users to those groups. The update will allow a very deep nuance in permissions and the library should be able to have a lot of different levels of access to the system as needed. These permissions can also apply to things like running reports in the system as well. As of communication in May of 2020, roll out is anticipated by the end of June of 2020

Visualization tools: LibConnect currently has some rudimentary visualization through the people and organization profiles but not through the reports. It will, however, have an API to build a connection to other visualization tools.

LibCRM will be able to ingest our data that has been collected in various systems across the library, based on a sample structure provided. They would need to do the work on the backend, and have indicated that they are happy to do so. They are also working on more ingest systems similar to what already exist for People and Organizations that would allow a user to do the ingest themselves. He said they would expect that to be released before the end of the year.

LibCRM has a sufficient

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documentation

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library for both initial configuration and for users, as well as a

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video course

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to help with setup and live training opportunities. The cost of these are covered under the subscription cost.

The goal was to find a unified system that was at least as good or better than the current systems being used across the library (Data Collection Apps, Teamdesk, Google Forms, LibInsight Forms, Qualtrics forms). The composition of the task force included representatives who had built, structured, were currently using or had extended knowledge of the above systems, as well as representatives from IT.

Navigate LibConnect Homepage

Homepage Overview

Notification Settings

At a Glance

Current List of Assigned Tasks

Current List of Assigned Profiles

Current List of Assigned Projects

Homepage Overview

Images (click to enlarge)

About

When you log into LibCRM, you land on your personalized dashboard.

Instructions

In addition to the latest news and announcements from Springshare, you'll find the following: Notification Settings, At a Glance, Current List of Assigned Tasks, Current List of Assigned Profiles, Current List of Assigned Projects

Links to more information:

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Springshare Documentation: Navigating your LibCRM Dashboard

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Quick Start

Note: Currently being updated to reflect the new user interface 6/6/2022

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Link to more viewing options

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, including slideshow and transcript

Interactions

Interactions Overview

Interactions allow you to record different methods of interacting with people and organizations. For each interaction you add, you will assign it an

interaction type

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The form is a long form, however you do not need to fill out every single field. Required fields are marked with an *.

The entire interaction form is pictured below, or you can go directly to the

form

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to see details. Detailed information about

Fields in the Interaction Form

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and

Interaction Types

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are in the sections below, along with screenshots.

If image is not correct: scroll down to the bottom of the embedded picture and choose the Desktop Image Icon

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Creating a New Interaction

You can create a new Interaction from many different places: the Interaction page, within a Person Profile, an Organization Profile, or a Project.

from the Home Page

within a Profile (Person and Organization)

within a Project

from the Home Page

Directions

Click on Interactions from the At a Glance menu or on the top ribbon.

Then choose the New Interaction button at the top right.

Enter in the information requested. See Filling out a New Interaction for more information.

Images (click to enlarge)

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Filling Out an Interaction

Filling out an interaction is just a matter of filling out the form fields. You do not have to fill out every field for every interaction. Below is a short video that guides you through the process to enter an interaction.

Detailed information about

Fields in the Interaction Form

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and

Interaction Types

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are in the sections below, along with screenshots.

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Fields in the Interaction Form

Fields in the Interaction Form

Interaction Title

General Info

Interaction Source

General Info

Profile

General Info

(Record) Owner

General Info

Interaction Type

General Info

Interaction Date

General Info

Interaction Time

General Info

Internal to library

Fields for All Types

DEI related

Fields for All Types

Community Engagement related

Fields for All Types

Number of participants

Fields for All Types

Strategic Plan Area (Library Strategic Plan Initiatives)

Fields for All Types

Strategic Plan Sub-Area (Library Strategic Plan Initiatives)

Fields for All Types

Outcomes (Optional Details)

Fields for All Types

Detailed Location (Optional Details)

Fields for All Types

SCUA Areas of Research (SCUA)

Fields for All Types

SCANS (SCUA)

Fields for All Types

Audio/Visual Reformatting (SCUA)

Fields for All Types

Location

Additional Info

Duration

Additional Info

Details

Additional Info

Related Project(s)

Additional Info

Related Tasks(s)

Additional Info

General Info

Required

Interaction Title

Directions

Each Interaction has to have a title.

Please make it concise and descriptive, similar to an email subject line title. Interaction titles are keyword searchable, however, for the most part they are a way for you to be able to understand your interactions.

Examples

Name of workshop or class you are instructing

If you are at a service point, simply the word “Reference” will work.

Images

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When to use

Every interaction

Field Type

Open Text Field

Selection Choices

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Interaction Types

Reference

Consultation

Instruction Event

Non-Instruction Presentation

Event

Exhibit

Interview

Meeting

Other

Proctoring

Unknown

A reference interaction is a (usually) 1:1 interaction that typically takes place at a service desk, and involves external clients/patrons. Does not include items recorded in ILS (book checkout, etc).

Reference

Additional Questions

Reference Interaction Type: Please choose whether the interaction was a reference interaction, directional (i.e. where are the bathrooms), or assistance with printing.

Images (click to enlarge)

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Show hidden columns

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Adding many Interactions at one time

If you would like to upload many at one time, the system has the ability to upload the data from a spreadsheet. Contact

elliek@vt.edu

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libcrm-admin-g@vt.edu

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about how to do this.

Currently the system has no way to add recurring interactions.

Profiles

There are two types of profiles, person profiles and organization profiles. A Person Profile is centered around individual people. An Organization Profile is centered around organizational units including units within Virginia Tech, within the Library, and extending out into the community.

All profiles can be connected to Interactions and Projects by adding them where Profile is requested.

Person Profiles can be connected to Organization Profiles by creating a Membership.

Go directly to

Anonymous Person Profiles

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Person Profiles

A Person Profile is centered around individual people. Person Profiles can be connected to Organization Profiles by creating a person-to-organization Connection.

Searching in Person Profile records

Navigate to the person profile page by going to Records > People at the top of the page or click on People in the

@At a Glance⁠

dashboard.

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There are several methods that can be used to search for person profile records.

Keyword

Type

Record Owner

Clear Search

Keyword

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Use this filter to show profiles containing that search term in the Name, Email, Type and/or Record Owner fields.

Note: This search will not return information from open text fields like “Description” from person profiles or “Details” from Interactions.

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Anonymous or Unknown Person Profiles

The following person profiles are set up to preserve anonymity of our students, or to record interactions where the patron may be unknown.

Note: Before you create an anonymous profile, contact

elliek@vt.edu

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List of Anonymous Profile Names

Library Patrons

Patron / Library User, Unknown

General library patron. This profile is mainly for user services and reference desks.

Library Front Desk, VetMed

This "person" is used to keep track of the reference/informational and directional interactions that take place at the Vet Med Library's front desk on a monthly basis.

Students

VT Student, General

General VT student profile for anonymous students

VT Student, Undergraduate

General undergraduate VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, Freshman

General freshman undergraduate VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, Sophomore

General sophomore undergraduate VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, Junior

General junior undergraduate VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, Senior

General senior undergraduate VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, Graduate

General graduate VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, Resident Intern

General resident intern VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, Master's Degree Graduate

General Master-degree seeking VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, PhD Degree Graduate

General PhD-degree seeking VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, MD Degree Graduate

General MD-degree seeking VT student profile for anonymous students.

VT Student, Veterinary

General veterinary VT student profile for anonymous students.

Faculty

VT Faculty, General

General VT faculty profile for anonymous faculty members.

VTCSOM, Faculty

VTSCOM faculty profile for anonymous VTSCOM faculty members.

Community Partners

Community Partner, General

General non-VT community partner. This designation is used when you know the patron is a non-VT community member.

Prospective VT Student /Family,General

General prospective student or family member, currently non-VT for anonymous library patrons

Alumni

VT Alumnus, General

General graduate of VT.

Colleagues

Non VT Colleague, General

General profile for anonymous faculty, & staff (including libraries) outside of VT

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How to use

When using anonymous profiles, always go from the most specific information to the least specific information. For example:

If you know that the person you are interacting with is a senior undergraduate, then choose VT Student, Senior.

If you only know that this person is an undergraduate student, then choose VT Student, Undergraduate.

If you only know that the person is a student, then choose VT Student, General.

If you don’t know at all, you can choose Patron / Library User, Unknown.

If you are using an anonymous profile and you know the organization that person is attached to, attach the organization type as well. For example:

If recording an interaction with a student from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, add VT Student, General and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) to the Profile section of the interaction.

Create a New Person Profile

Navigate to a new Person Record

To create/add a new person profile first go to Records >People at the top of the page or click on People in the

@At a Glance⁠

Dashboard.

Do a search to see if the person is already in the system, and if not

Fill out the form to add a new profile by clicking on the “New Person” button at the top

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Fill out A New Person Profile

The table below describes the fields used in a person profile.

First Name

Last Name

Record Owner

Email Subscription

Type

Pronouns

Pronoun write In

(Record) Co-Owners

Phone Number

Prefix

Description

Relationships

Memberships

Save

General Info

Required

First Name

Description

Each person record has to have a first name.

Images (click to enlarge)

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Selection Choices (where applicable)

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Person Profile

@Type⁠

Use the link provided above to see the different types of person profiles.

Creating Many Profiles at one time

If you would like to create multiple profiles at one time, the system has the ability to upload up to 10k profiles at a time. Contact

elliek@vt.edu

⁠

libcrm-admin-g@vt.edu

⁠

about how to do this.

Organization Profiles

Organization Profiles are centered around different organizations within the Library, the VT campus, and beyond. Organization Profiles are connected to person profiles through Memberships.

Searching in Organization Profile records

Navigate to the person profile page by going to Profiles > Organizations at the top of the page or click on Organizations in the

@At a Glance⁠

Dashboard.

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There are several methods that can be used to search for organizational profile records.

Keyword

Type

Record Owner

Clear Search

Keyword

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Use this filter to show profiles containing that search term in the Name, Email, Type and/or Record Owner fields.

Note: This search will not return information from open text fields like “Description” from person profiles or “Details” from Interactions.

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Create a New Organization Profile

Creation of organization profiles is restricted.

Contact

elliek@vt.edu

⁠

if you would like

a new profile created

need the ability to create organization profiles

Organization Profile Types

Organization Profile Types

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Projects

About Projects

A project allows you to create, organize and collaborate on related interactions and tasks.

Within a project, you can also upload notes and attachments, allowing you to easily share important documents, meeting minutes, etc., with your team.

When creating a project, you can either start from scratch or apply preset settings saved to a project template

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Searching in Project Records

Navigate to the Projects by clicking on Projects at top of the page or click on Projects in the

@At a Glance⁠

dashboard.

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There are several methods that can be used to search for project records.

Keyword

Use this filter to show projects containing that search term in the Title, Status and/or (Record) Owner fields.

Title

This search functions like a keyword search that only applies to the title field. Title in this instance means the title of the project.

(Record) Owner

write in a record owner or click on the arrow to choose a record owner from library personnel

Status

Search by project status, whether it is Active, Completed or Inactive.

Updated

Search by date last updated. To utilize this search, you can choose between two dates. A calendar will appear to facilitate this search.

Due date

Search by project due date. To utilize this search, you can choose between two dates. A calendar will appear to facilitate this search.

No. of Members

use this filter to show only projects having a certain number of project members From the dropdown, select the operator you want to use: greater than (>), less than (<), or equal to (=). In the number field, use the up/down arrows or type in the number of members to filter by. For example: to show only records with more than 3 members, select the greater than (>) operator from the dropdown, then enter 3 in the number field.

Clear Search

Once you have entered information for a search, a Clear Search button will be available to reset your search. NOTE: Searches will carry across search pages (for example, narrowing a field on a person profile search will carry across as you change tabs and begin searching interactions), unless you use the Clear Search button.

Keyword

Description

Use this filter to show projects containing that search term in the Title, Status and/or (Record) Owner fields.

Links

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You can also use this method to search for any project templates you have created, but clicking on the Template Projects tab.

Creating a Project

Navigate to a new Project Record

To create/add a new project first go to Projects at the top of the page or click on Projects in the At a Glance Dashboard.

Do a search to see if a project is already in the system, and if not

Fill out the form to add a new project by clicking on the “New Project” button at the top of the page.

Fill out a New Project Record

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From Template Project: If you would like to create this project from an existing template, use the dropdown menu choose what template you would like to use. Template project allow you to apply preset options and details.

Project Title: Give your project a descriptive title.

NOTE: Although there is currently no naming convention, it would be best if we could come up with some kind easy to remember project naming convention, especially if this is a feature that will be heavily utilized. Please send suggestions to elliek@vt.edu or libcrm-admin-g@vt.edu. This section will be updated as naming conventions are adopted.

Is this a Template? Checkbox: Leave blank if you want to create a new project. Select only if you want to create a reusable project template rather than an actual project.

Brief Description: add a short overview or mission for the project

Start Date: Specify a start date for the project.

Due Date: Specify an end date or due date for the project.

Status: By default the status of a new project will be Active. However, you can change the status to Inactive, or Completed.

Project Title: Give your project a descriptive title.

Is this a Template? Checkbox: Leave blank if you want to create a new project. Select only if you want to create a reusable project template rather than an actual project.

Brief Description: add a short overview or mission for the project

Start Date: Specify a start date for the project.

Due Date: Specify an end date or due date for the project.

Status: By default the status of a new project will be Active. However, you can change the status to Inactive, or Completed.

Project Members: Select library personnel who are collaborating on this project

Associated Records: Choose Person or Organization Profiles associated with this project.

Details: you can use the Details field to add a more detailed overview of the project, links, or other information.

(Record) Owner: By default, you will be the project record owner, however change that and/or assign additional library personnel as project record owners.

Parent Project: If this project itself is part of a larger project, you can designate it’s parent project from the projects listed. This can help to keep related projects more organized

Save: click the save button

Project Templates

Project templates allow you to quickly create new projects using preset settings. This is useful if you frequently create the same types of projects over and over: instead of having to re-enter the same owner, details, associated records, etc. for each one, you can simply load the template when creating your project. Then, all you need to do is fine tune your new project's settings.

If your template project contains tasks, these will also be copied to any new project created from that template. For example, if you have a few start-up related tasks you like to complete for each project, you could add these to your template so you don't have to recreate them with each new project.

Creating Project Templates

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From the Projects page, click on the New Project button at the top of the page.

Project Title: In the New Project window, give your project a name in the Project Title field.

Is this a Template? Checkbox: check this box

Note: this will hide the start date and end date fields. These can only be set when creating a new project, whether it's from scratch or from a template.

Brief Description: add a short overview or mission for the project

Status: By default the status of a new project will be Active. However, you can change the default status of the template to Inactive, or Completed.

Project Members: Select library personnel who are collaborating on projects created from this template.

Associated Records: Choose Person or Organization Profiles associated with projects created from this template.

Details: you can use the Details field to add a more detailed overview of these projects, links, or other information.

(Record) Owner: By default, you will be the project record owner, however change that and/or assign additional library personnel as project record owners.

Parent Project: If projects made from this template is part of a larger project, you can designate the parent project from the projects listed. This can help to keep related projects more organized

Click the Save button.

Using a Template to Create a New Project

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To create a new project from one of your templates:

Go to New > New Project.

Alternatively, click on Projects in the navigation bar, then click on the New Project button at the top of that page.

From Template Project: In the New Project window, use the From Template Project dropdown to select the template you want to use.

Save: Make any needed customizations to your new project's settings, then click the Save button.

Managing Template Projects

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To manage your templates, click on Projects in the navigation bar.

Template Projects: Click on the Template Projects tab on the Projects page.

A. To view or edit a template's settings, click on the pencil icon in the Action column.

B. To delete a template, click on the blue trash icon in the Action column.

Tasks

Tasks allow you to keep track of your progress towards certain goals or outcomes. Tasks can be part of a larger project, or simply a reminder to follow up with a person by a certain date.

NOTE: Tasks should be created for individual use, and are not tracked by the library. Tasks is an add-on productivity/organizational feature provided in the LibConnect module. Please utilize this feature (or not) as it works with your work flow.

Each task can be assigned to one or more users and has its own status, so you can track its completion.

Adding a New Task

Navigate to a New Task Record

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From the Tasks page, click on the New Task button.

Alternatively, find the project, person, or organization profile where you want to add a task click the New Task button in the Current list of Tasks box

Fill out a New Task

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In the New Task dialog, use the Subject field to briefly describe the objective of your task.

From the Assoc. Profiles field, select any person or organization profiles this task will involve.

From the Projects tab, select any projects this task is a part of.

Enter a Start Date (optional) and Due Date (optional) for the task.

By default, your new task will have a status of Pending. However, you can change this to Completed if needed.

By default, you will be the owner of the new task. However, you can choose a different owner if needed.

In the Details field, add any additional info about this task that may be helpful.

Use the Assignees field to select the user(s) who will be responsible for completing this task.

If you have any files you'd like to attach, click the Choose Files button to upload them to the Attachments field.

Click the Save button. This task will be added to the Tasks page and will also show up in the Tasks box of the each project, person, or organization that was selected.

Create a New Task from a Project or Profile

⁠

If you are viewing a project or person/organization profile, you can add a new task directly to it. Just click on the New Task button in the Current List of Tasks box. When you do this, the project or profile you're viewing will automatically be associated with the new task.

View and Manage Tasks

From the Dashboard

⁠

Below the At a Glance box on the dashboard is the Current list of Assigned Tasks box, where you can view and manage all of your assigned tasks.

A. Click on the task's name to view it's info, associated projects, and notes.

B. Click on the Edit (pencil) icon to edit the task's general information, status, start and end dates, reassign ownership of the task, etc.

C. Click on the Delete (trashcan) icon to permanently delete the task.

Caution: deleting a task will result in the task no longer appearing on your profile or any associated project. All data related to the task will be permanently lost.

Search and Update Tasks

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Click on Tasks in the navigation bar to view all tasks in your system.

Enter text in the Keyword filter to show only tasks containing that search term in the Subject, Task Owner, and/or Related Projects fields.

Enter text in the Subject filter to show only tasks containing that search term in the Subject field..

Use the Owner filter to show only tasks owned by any of the selected Record Owners.

Use the Rel. Projects filter to show only tasks related to any of the selected projects.

Use the # Assignees filter to show only profiles having a certain number of assigned users.

From the dropdown, select the operator you want to use: greater than (>), less than (<), or equal to (=).

In the number field, use the up/down arrows or type in the number of assignees to filter by.

For example, to show only records with more than 5 assignees, select the greater than (>) operator from the dropdown, then enter 5 in the number field.

Use the Status filter to show only tasks with the selected statuses.

Use the Due Date filter to show only profiles that are due within the selected date range.

If you have applied one or more filters, click on the Clear Search button to reset them.

Use the page controls to change how may projects display at once and to navigate between pages.

Click on a column heading to sort by that column in ascending order. Click it a second time to sort in descending order.

Click on the refresh icon to refresh the list of tasks.

Click on the task's subject to view it's info, associated projects, and notes.

To edit a task's general information, click on its pencil icon.

To permanently delete a task, click on its trashcan icon.

Memberships and Relationships

When you create a new person profile record, one of the most important fields to fill out is the membership field.

Memberships show how Person Profiles relate to Organizations, as well as how Organizations relate to each other. This is important for reporting purposes.

(Relationships show how Person Profiles relate to each other.)

Adding a Membership

When adding in a new person profile record, it is important to add in how they relate to an organization or organization.

When choosing an organization you want to be as specific as possible.

Example:

If you know that a faculty member works in the College of Science in the Department of Chemistry, choose only the Department of Chemistry.

If you only know that professor is in the College of Science, choose College of Science.

Clicking on the +New Membership button will send you to the membership screen.

Once you hit Save in the membership screen, you will be back in the new person record.

⁠

Membership Type: Choose the membership type

@Memberships⁠

from the drop down menu. If that person works for or in an Organization, choose “is a part of,” otherwise choose “works closely with”

⁠

Choose the membership type from the dropdown menu.

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Membership with: This is a keyword field that will bring up choices of different organizations. Choose as many that apply, however, keep in mind that you want to choose as specific a record as possible, and since the organization records are linked, you will not need to manually link a single person to every organization they may be related to.

Editing/Deleting a Membership

Note- you can only edit or delete memberships on profile records you own.

Edit a Membership

Open the Person record and go to Current list of Memberships

Scroll or use the search function to find the membership you wish to edit

Under Actions, use the blue pencil icon to edit the membership

⁠

Delete a Membership

Please be careful!!

Open up the Person record and go to Current list of Memberships

Scroll or use the search function to find the membership you wish to delete

Under Actions, use the blue trashcan with an x on it to delete the membership

If you delete a membership in error, re-add the membership or contact

elliek@vt.edu

⁠

libcrm-admin-g@vt.edu

⁠

immediately and ask them to restore the membership

⁠

Adding a Relationship

You have the option to show how a person record relates to another person record within LibConnect.

When you are adding a new Person record, you have the opportunity to add a new relationship. Clicking on the +New Relationship button will send you to the membership screen.

Once you hit Save in the membership screen, you will be back in the new person record.

Relationship Type: Choose the relationship type from the drop down menu. The relationship types are:

works with

works for

supervises

has collaborated with

Relationship with: This is a keyword field that will bring up choices of different person records. Choose all that apply.

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There are four kinds of relationship types:

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Editing/Deleting a Relationship

Note- you can only edit or delete relationships on profile records you own.

Edit a Relationship

Open the Person record and go to Current list of Relationships

Scroll or use the search function to find the relationship you wish to edit

Under Actions, use the blue pencil icon to edit the relationship

Delete a Membership

Please be careful!!

Open up the Person record and go to Current list of Relationships

Scroll or use the search function to find the relationship you wish to delete

Under Actions, use the blue trashcan with an x on it to delete the relationship

If you delete a relationship in error, re-add therelationship or contact

elliek@vt.edu

⁠

libcrm-admin-g@vt.edu

⁠

immediately and ask them to restore the relationship

Reporting

LibConnect has a robust reporting system. You can filter profiles or interactions using any combination of their system fields or type-specific fields. Unless you have specific permissions set up, you will only be able to see reports that you create.

If you create a report that you need to run regularly, you can save it as a report template. A report template saves the filter settings you have in place, allowing you to easily apply them to future reports.

When viewing a report, you can customize which table columns to show or hide, giving you a customized view. You can then export that customized report to an Excel (.xls) file if needed.

Create a New Report

⁠

Click on Interactions in the navigation bar.

On the Interactions page, click on the New Report button.

In the Configuration dialog box, click the Start New / From Template dropdown and:

Select Start blank if you want to create a report without any preset filters.

Select Start from a template if you want to create a report using a saved template. Your new report will be preset with that template's filters, but you can further customize it as needed.

If you are starting from a template, select the one you want to use from the Template dropdown.

Click the Confirm button.

Customize and Generate Your Report

After you create a report, you can select filters to apply to your report.

Primary Report Filters

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If you create a report about Interactions, then at the top of the report page, you'll find the Interactions Filters. You can use these to filter by interaction fields like Source, (Record) Owner, Type, etc. This is in addition to any custom fields you've added to your Interaction Types.

Initially, you'll be presented with a few common fields to filter by.

Depending upon a field's type, you can select an option from the filter's dropdown menu and/or enter a value.

For example, the (Record) Owner field is a dropdown list of all interaction owners you can select from, while the Title filter allows you to search for terms in an interaction's title.

To add or remove filters, click on the Add/Delete Filters option.

This will display the Add/Delete Filters dialog box, where you can select and deselect the fields you want to filter by.

To include custom fields added to your Interaction Types, select the Custom Fields checkbox.

When finished, click the OK button.

If you selected the Custom Fields checkbox above, the Custom Fields category will display on the report page.

From the Type dropdown, select an interaction type, then select the custom field to filter by from the Field Name dropdown.

This will display the Value field, where you can provide the criteria for your filter.

To add more custom fields to the list, click the Add Custom Field option.

When more than one filter is selected, the Must Match All Custom Fields toggle will appear. This can be enabled to require interactions to match all custom field filters, or disabled to require interactions to match at least one of them.

To remove a custom filter, click on its delete_forever icon.

To clear all applied filters, click on the Clear Search option.

Additional Filters

Where the primary filters allow you to filter based on data about an interaction, the additional filters allow you to limit the report based on the data you’ve associated with it.

⁠

To add a filter, click on Add/Delete Filters option in the Additional Filters panel. This will display the Add/Delete Filters dialog box.

Select the checkbox next to each filter you would like to include in the report. To remove an enabled filter, deselect its checkbox.

When finished, click the OK button.

The fields you selected will appear in the Additional Filters panel.

Depending upon a field's type, you can select an option from the filter's dropdown menu and/or enter a value.

For example, the Project Title filter is a text field, whereas the Project Owner field is a dropdown allowing you to select one or more project owners from a list.

Generate Your Report

After you've selected your filters, click the Generate Report button.

⁠

NOTE: If you change the filter options after generating a report, you will need to click the Generate Report button again to update the results.

View and Export Your Report

⁠

Once the report has finished loading, a data table containing the matching records will appear at the bottom of the page.

In the first column, you'll find the Title of the interaction. Click on any link in this column to view the corresponding interaction.

The subsequent columns include details about each record. Click on any column heading to sort the table by that column's data.

You can show or hide fields from the data table by clicking on Options and selecting Set Report Data Fields. In the dialog box that appears, use the checkbox next to each field to show (check) or hide (uncheck) it.

The last column is the Actions column, where you'll find a shortcut to editing the interaction. If you have the necessary permission for that interaction and it's an editable type, click on its edit icon (the icon will be grayed out if you don't have permission or if it cannot be edited, such as an interaction imported from a connected LibCal system).

Use the pagination controls below the table to change the number of items displayed per page and navigate between pages.

To export a report, click on the Export XLS option above the data table (you can also click on the Export XLS button at the top of the page). You will be prompted to give the exported file a name, then it will download in Excel (.xls) format.

The file will include the entire set of matching interactions (not just those visible on screen).