In Firefox,

1. Click on Tools
2. Navigate to Options, a new browser tab will open
3. In the left sidebar, click on General
4. In the Files and Applications section, under Downloads, select the radio button for Always ask you where to save files

After downloading SpineOMatic 8, you can always follow these same steps to change your download preferences again.

When you have finished, click on the X in the upper corner to close this Options Tab.

Click on the File Explorer icon in your Taskbar

1. Click on the Windows (C:) drive in the left sidebar
2. Click on the New Folder icon in the ribbon.

You will see that a new folder has been created and is ready for you to rename it, since it is in blue. Just start typing the new folder name. You will want to use SpineOMatic 8

Remember to include the 8 to differentiate this folder from the one previously created for version 7.

After renaming, your folder should look like this.

This is the new empty folder for SpineOMatic 8

Here's how to find your API key in version 7 of SpineOMatic.

1. Open SpineOMatic 7
2. Click on the triangle next to Review to open up all of the setup tabs
3. Click on the Alma Access Tab
4. At the bottom of the screen you will see the API Key field. The long number in the field is what you will want to use in SpineOMatic 8

SpineOMatic was created by Boston College, and the files used to live on their site. Nowadays, the newer versions live on the ExLibris page of github, and can be downloaded by anyone. Clicking on the Check for updates button version in version will not automatically update the software to version 8, since it is looking for the updates on Boston College's site. So, version 8 must be downloaded from the github site. Checking for future updates would check here as well, and hopefully will be successful.

Navigate to the github site: https://github.com/ExLibrisGroup/SpineOMatic

1. In the right sidebar, under About,
2. You will see SpineOMatic 8.1.1. Left click on it once.

The SpineOMatic 8.1.1 window will appear.

Under Assets, you will see the SpineLabeler.exe file (don't worry that the file is called SpineLabeler, and don't try to change the file name)

Left click once on SpineLabeler.exe (you will see that the cursor has changed to a hand)

A dialog box for Opening SpineLabeler.exe will open with the question: You have chosen to open: SpineLabelber.exe Would you like to save this file?

Left click on Save File

Navigate to the SpineOMatic 8 folder that you created and open it.

1. You will see the name of the file SpineLabeler.exe ... do not rename this!
2. Click on Save.

Using File Explorer, navigate to your SpineOMatic 8 folder. You will now see the SpineLabeler.exe application file. Double click on the icon to start the installation. You can also minimize your browser window at this point.

A message window will appear: Windows protected your PC. This is normal and expected.

There is a More info underlined and a Don't run button (don't click on it).

Click on More info

Then click on Run anyway

SpineOMatic 8 should open along with a Getting Started/Welcome to SpineOMatic dialog box. Click on OK

If you look back in your SpineOMatic 8 folder, you will see that several other files have been added. Do not delete any of these. SpineOMatic needs them to run properly.

1. If you do a right click on the SpineOMatic icon (the one that looks like books),
2. you can navigate to and select Pin to Start,
3. you can repeat the right click and navigate to and select Pin to taskbar,
4. and if you like, you can navigate to Send to and select the option to create a Desktop shortcut.

The Desktop Shortcut will be named SpineLabeler - Shortcut. You can rename this without it affecting the application file and causing problems with future software updates.

Click once on the shortcut name, and you will be able to rename it to SpineOMatic 8. This is especially helpful if you have version 7 installed, to avoid any confusion.

You can now close your SpineOMatic 8 folder.

The next step is to configure SpineOMatic so that can communicate with our version of ALMA.

1. If it isn't already open, open SpineOMatic 8 (you will see which version you are using in the upper left corner.
2. If necessary, click on the triangle next to review to be able to access all of the set up tabs.

Click on the Alma Access Tab. The choice from version 7 to use the Java Desktop app is no longer an option, only use RESTful API. This is a good thing.

There are two fields that will need to be filled in, the ALMA URL and the API Key. Do not change anything in the Method field.

Copy/paste this URL: https://api-na.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com into the ALMA URL field.

Click in the API Key field and paste in your assigned API Key, either from version 7 if you have it, or from your email from Core Services. Due to the length of the key, I would not recommend just typing it in. For security purposes, the API Key here is blurred out.

Click on Save to record your changes.

SpineOMatic will let you click Save as many times as you want. If you go to close the program and made any changes and didn't save them, a message will appear asking if you want to save your changes.

A few changes are needed for the call number on the Marking slip (and on call number labels) to appear the way we need it to.

1. Click on the Call Number Format Tab
2. On the right side of the window you will see Tweak & Test click on it.

1. A new pop up box will appear, opening on the LC/Child.Lit.NLM tab by default. You will not need to make any changes on this tab.
2. Click on the Holdings Tab

This is what the Holdings tab looks like before any changes are made

1. Click in the box next to break on spaces between elements to add the check mark.
2. Click on the box next to ... but leave it visible inside parentheses to uncheck the box.
3. Click the radio button next to Break before
4. Click on the box next to Remove character(s) from holdings to uncheck the box.
5. In the yellow box, type in the left and right parentheses on separate lines.
6. Click on the pink x to close this pop up window.
7. Click on Save.

Note: None of the changes made in SpineOMatic will actually change information in the Alma records, the changes only affect the Marking slips and call number labels. Alma will remain unchanged. Any real call number errors would still need to be changed in Alma itself.

1. You will see the Call Number Format tab again.
2. Click radio button for Custom, and check the box for Print flag slips. This is where we can customize the Marking slip (aka flag slip), but other settings need to be changed first.
3. Click on the Print Setup Tab.

This is what the screen looks like before any changes are made. There are a lot of changes that will need to be made to this tab.

1. Because there are different settings for spine labels and for Marking slips, you will want to make sure you see Custom/Flag Slips at the top of the screen.
2. You will need to select the printer you want to use as well as specific fonts.
3. Page orientation also makes a difference.
4. As do the number of characters on each line and the number of lines allowed on a Marking slip or call number label.

You should not change the margins or line spacing.

First, you will need to specify a printer.

1. For the Printer type: click the radio button for Single label desktop.
2. Click on the three horizontal dots next to the Printer field. The list of printers available to you will appear.
3. Use the left and right arrows in the scroll bar to locate the printer that you want to use.
4. When you find it, left click on it once to highlight it,
5. click on Apply, then click on Print (don't worry, nothing will actually print at this time). The dialog box of the printers should go away, and you will see your printer choice in the Printer field.

Next , you will need to choose a font for the text that will appear on Marking slips and on call number labels.

Microsoft Sans Serif is the default font, so you will need to navigate up and down through the fonts to see all of them. The list includes all of the fonts on your computer. For computers that are used to make call number labels as well as Marking slips, the font that is used is  Courier New, 10 pt. Bold. If you are only making Marking slips, you can choose any font that is easy to read, preferably with serifs, and where it is easy to distinguish between number 1s and lowercase Ls You can set the text font to bold, and no smaller than 12 pts. If the font you choose is problematic to read, you may be asked by the Marking staff to choose another font (for the sake of everyone that might have to deal with the slip, please don't pick a tiny font).

1. Click on the three horizontal dots next to the Text Font field.
2. In the Font window, scroll to find your desired font, and click once to highlight it.
3. In the Font Style window, click once on the style you would prefer.
4. Select the font size (no less than 12 points., please).
5. When you have made your choices, click on OK.
6. The font you have chosen will appear in the Text font window. If you decide that the printout would look better with a bold font, you can check the box next to bold.

Next up is adding the barcode font. This allows a real scannable barcode to appear on the Making slips, which is beneficial to some Marking procedures. The way this is done is by selecting the Free of 9 barcode font that was installed earlier. The procedure is nearly the same as selecting the text font. Please do not select a font smaller than 18 points, or make the barcode font bold - the barcode scanners have difficulty reading them.

1. Click on the three horizontal dots next to the Barcode Font field.
2. Navigate to and select Free3 of 9 font,
3. In the Font Style window, click once on Extended.
4. Set the size to no less than 18 points.
5. When you have made your choices, click on OK.
6. The barcode font will appear in the Barcode font field.
7. Click on Save.

Next, check your margins and other settings. There are different settings for Marking Slips and call number labels.

For Marking slips,

The Top margin should be set to 0.5

The left margin should be 0.1

The line spacing should be at 0.2

Select the radio button for Portrait. It is possible to print 4 Marking slips on a page, which would require landscape page orientation, but those instructions are not included here.

Under the Maximums,

Set the Lines/label to 30.

The characters/line can stay at 50, unless the library location has a longer title, such as Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, then this field can be changed to 80 to avoid error messages.

Click on Save

This is what the Print Setup Tab will look like once all of the changes have been made.

All of these settings in SpineOMatic are customized for each computer. Since the software resides on your hard drive, you can set things up the way you want locally and it won't affect anyone else's settings. The only global setting is the connection (URL) to Alma.

Next will be customizing the Marking slips.

Each marking slip is customized for each cataloger to include the current date and the cataloger's initials (no need to write this information by hand each time).

SpineOMatic has several fields included as the defaults for the Custom/flag slips (what we call Marking slips). However, to make our Marking slips better, and the whole Marking procedure smoother, more fields will be added to the Marking slips.

1. Click on Call Number Format Tab
2. Next to the XML sources you can see the default fields. These fields live in the Alma Bibliographic records, and SpineOMatic extracts these fields to create Marking slips and call number labels.

The additional fields that will be added are:

• fulfillment note
• pieces
• library name
• title_abcnph
• current date
• cataloger's initials

SpineOMatic can't complete this next part unless it has a record to work with, something that has already been cataloged in Alma. If you like, you can use the barcode in the example on the step below: 010003109627 or 010000897800.

1. Click on the radio button next to Review,
2. Click on the scan button, (the box itself will turn from pink to green),
3. Then scan in (or type in) a barcode number. If you type in the barcode, press Enter when you are finished.

1. You will see information about the record appear in the yellow output box. However, more information than these default fields is needed
2. To add more fields, double click in the xml sources box

1. A new sidebar will appear on top of the output box with choices you can add to the Marking slip
2. In the XML sources box, you will want to press Enter to create a blank line to work in
3. To add new fields, scroll through the list and double click on the names of the files that you need

1. SpineOMatic allows customizations to the fields with the addition of special characters. To see what the choices are and how they make the text behave, click on these codes.
2. A pop-up window will appear listing different prefixes you can add before a desired XML field. For example, the ! is what makes the barcode look like a barcode and not just numbers. Lines in the default fields already have codes added. For the new fields that will be added, the most common code will be the ~ (the tilde), located on the key next to the number 1 on the keyboard [plus the Shift key]. The tilde starts a new line for the text, which helps make the Marking slip easier to read.
3. To close the pop-up window, click on the pink X.

These are new fields that will be added that you may not be familiar with if you used SpineOMatic version 7. Library name is essential for dealing with Library Service Center [LSC] items. Fulfillment_note, pieces and title_abcnph help with processing books and media items and other items with multiple pieces, such as maps, leaflets, disks, music scores and DVDs with multiple discs.

Here are the other new fields (they wouldn't fit with the rest of the screen). When you are all finished customizing your Marking slip, you should have all of these same fields on your computer in this same order.

1. Going back to actually adding new fields...Double Click at the end of the <barcode> line.
2. Scroll through the list of available XML fields in the left side bar, and navigate to <library_name>, and double click on it.

3.     It will appear next to <barcode.

4.     Click between <barcode> and <library _name> and press Enter to move <library_name>to a new line

If a field ends up in an unexpected place, you can cut and paste and press enter to add new lines to move the fields around.

5.    Add a ~ (tilde) before the library name field.

1. Continue to repeat these steps to add all of the necessary fields. Add tildes before fulfillment_note, pieces, library name, location name, call number, title, title_abcnph, current date and your initials lines. Do not add a tilde before the issue level description line. Note: In addition to a tilde, you will need to also a an = sign before the title_abcnph to override the normal formatting (usually too many characters to all fit on one line), or you will get an error message without this symbol in place.
2. To add your initials, start a new line after the current date line, and type tilde (~) and then type the desired text (no space between the tilde and the text).
3. Click on Save to keep your customizations.
4. Click on the Print Setup Tab.

Changes you make to the Marking slip will not appear in the output window until you rescan the current barcode number, or scan in a new one.

1. You can confirm that you will be making single label Marking slips.
2. Click on the radio button next to Auto Print. This will automatically send the Marking slip to your printer. If you would prefer to proofread it first, you can leave the radio button for Review selected, but then you would need to manually click on the button to Send to desktop printer.
3. If you will only be making Marking slips, you will not need to see these setup screens every time. You can hide them by clicking on the triangle next to Review.

You will now see the condensed window. To make Marking slips, click on the scan button (if you are not sure if you've clicked it or not, the box next to scan will turn green.

Here's an example of a completed, customized Marking slip. If the item does not have any associated pieces, or fulfillment notes, then nothing should appear on the slip.

12 May 2021 version