Managing News and Announcements

What Is the News Manager?

The News Manager lets you post news items and announcements that patrons and staff see when they log in. Use it to share library updates, new arrivals, event reminders, policy changes, or any other information you want your school community to know.

To open it, go to Communication → News in the admin sidebar, or navigate to /admin/news-manager.

Creating a News Item

1. Click Create News Item (or New Post).
2. Fill in the details:
   • Title (required) — the headline of your announcement.
   • Content (required) — the body of the announcement. You can use formatting such as bold and bullet points.
   • Target Audience — choose who will see this item:
     • OPAC Patrons — students and teachers using the patron portal
     • Staff Only — librarians and school admins only
     • Both — everyone
   • Publish At — the date and time the item should become visible. Leave it as now to publish immediately.
   • Expires At — the date and time the item should stop appearing. Leave blank if it should stay up indefinitely.
   • Pin — toggle this on to pin the item to the top of the announcements list.
3. Click Save (or Publish).

What You'll See

After saving, the news item appears in the News Manager list. Patrons will see it in their Announcements section when they log in, according to the target audience and publish time you set.

Editing or Deleting a News Item

1. Find the item in the News Manager list.
2. Click Edit to change the title, content, audience, schedule, or pin status.
3. Click Delete to permanently remove the item. A confirmation prompt will appear.

Pinned Items

Pinned items always appear at the top of the announcements list, above other items sorted by publish date. Only pin items that are time-sensitive or particularly important.

Tips

• Set an Expires At date for time-sensitive announcements (such as library closure notices) so they disappear automatically.
• Use Staff Only for internal reminders that patrons do not need to see.
• A pinned item without an expiry date will stay pinned forever — remember to unpin or delete it when it is no longer relevant.