Checkout During Horizon Outage
Here are some helpful hints on checking out material for your patrons when you have an Horizon outage. There are a few major reasons that Horizon may not be available to you when a patron wishes to check out material: Circulation computer is down, unable to connect to Horizon client, Internet down, or a power outage. Below you will find some ways that you can still “checkout” your patron’s material. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the SELCO Help Desk.
Circulation Computer Outage
You can use a secondary Circ PC to connect to Horizon if you have one.
You can use a different Staff PC to connect to Horizon if you have one.
You can use a Public PC to scan patron and item barcodes into a document (Word, Notepad, Excel, etc) to enter into Horizon when it is available again.
NOTE: If your Public PC has Deep Freeze or equivalent software, make sure you save the file periodically elsewhere, such as a flashdrive, in case the PC reboots and the file gets wiped.
Horizon Outage
If your library has self check machines, patrons may be able to use that to check out material.
If the patron has access to the mobile app on their device, they may be able to check out material with the app.
If neither of the previous options work, you can use your Circulation PC to scan patron and item barcodes into a document (Word, Notepad, Excel, etc) to enter into Horizon when it is available again.
Internet Outage
If the patron has access to the mobile app on their device, they may be able to check out material with the app.
If your library has a hotspot, you could use it along with a mobile device such as a laptop or chromebook to connect to Horizon and circulate “normally”.
If none of the previous options work, you can use your Circulation PC (or any PC) to scan patron and item barcodes into a document (Word, Notepad, Excel, etc) to enter into Horizon when it is available again.
Power Outage
You can use a laptop, for as long as the battery charge holds out, to scan patron and item barcodes into a document (Word, Notepad, Excel, etc) to enter into Horizon when it is available again.
NOTE: Make sure to save the document periodically, especially if the battery charge is low.
If you do not have access to a laptop you will need to write the barcodes down on paper to enter into Horizon when it is available again.