Using My Account and Placing Holds in FindIt

Thank you!

06/11/2009

~ brittanie

When I first started using the Austin Public Library site, it's user interface was a little hard to navigate. But after watching this easy-to-follow screencast tutorial, I now know how to place holds on books AND use FindIt. Very knowledgeable instructor and great video to have online!

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Hello. I am a Reference Librarian here at the Austin Public Library and today I will show you how to access and manage your account and place holds using FindIt, the library’s online catalog.

To access your library account online, first go to the Austin Public Library homepage and click "My Account." The login screen will open in a new window. You will need your library card number and PIN number to log in. If you do not know or remember your PIN number, you will need to contact Customer Service during our open hours at 974-7475, or click here to Ask a Librarian. You can also create a PIN by clicking "Create One." After you enter in your library card number and PIN, click "Display User Information."

On this page you can see some basic information about your account including your overdue fines, items currently checked out, and items you currently have placed on hold. You can renew items by clicking in the boxes next to the items you would like to renew and clicking "Renew Selected Items." You can cancel hold requests on this page by clicking in the boxes next to the requests you would like to cancel and clicking "Cancel Selected Items."

You can also change your PIN and update your account information from the My Account page. To change your PIN, click on "Change My PIN/Password" and enter in a new PIN number. To change your account information, click on "Update My Account Information" and enter in your new info.

The last thing you can do from your account page is turn on the "My Favorites" feature as well as view any authors and subjects that have been added to your favorites list. My Favorites will notify you by email when new books by a particular author or on a particular subject are added to FindIt. You can activiate My Favorites two ways: you can click on "My Profile" and have FindIt track all of the authors and subjects you check out books on, or you can manually add authors and subjects of interest as you find them in the catalog. To have FindIt automatically keep track of the authors and subjects of the books you check out, click on "My Profile," choose how often you would like to receive notifications, check the box, and click "Submit." To turn the feature off, just click on "My Profile," uncheck the box, and click "Submit." To manually select authors or subjects you would like to add to your favorites, find a book whose author or subject is of interest to you, view the detailed record, and click either "Tell Me When New Materials By This Author/These Topics Are Available."

You can view what has been added to your favorites by going back to your account page and clicking on "My Favorites." You can also delete anything that has been added to your favorites list from here. Just select "Modify," check the boxes next to the authors or subjects you would like to stop receiving notifications about, and click "Remove Selected Authors/Subjects."

You can place a hold on any item in our catalog, have it sent to any branch you like, and then receive email or postal mail notification when your item arrives. It is easiest to place holds when you are already logged on to FindIt. Just search for the item you want, view the detailed record by clicking on "Details/Place a Hold," and click "Place Hold." You can do this while you are not logged in as well; however, when you click "Place Hold" you will be asked to log in with your library card number and password. Again, you can view all of your current hold requests from the My Account page. If you place a hold on an item that is currently on the shelf at another branch, it will take 2-3 days for it to arrive at the branch of your choice. If you place a hold on an item that is currently checked out at all branches, you will receive the book when it is your turn in line and a copy is returned to us. Whether or not you will receive notification via email or postal mail will depend on the information you gave us when you signed up for your account. Please call 974-7475 to change your contact information, or click on Ask a Librarian.

Thanks for watching.