Setting Up Your School Library

School Year Setup

The school year affects reports, budgets, and clearance. You need to set this up at the start of each school year.

1. Click School Years in the sidebar menu.
2. Click Create New School Year.
3. Enter the start date and end date.
4. Mark it as the current school year.
5. Click Save.

Important: Make sure only one school year is marked as "current" at any time.

Managing Grade Sections

1. Click Sections in the sidebar menu.
2. Add your school's grade levels and sections (for example, "Grade 7 - Section Rizal").
3. These sections are used when tracking which students borrowed books, and in DepEd reports that break down circulation by grade level.

Setting Loan Rules (Borrowing Policies)

Loan rules control how long students can borrow books, how many books they can take, and how fines are calculated.

Your school can have different rules for different situations:

Each rule includes these settings:

• Loan period -- how many days the borrower can keep the book
• Maximum items -- how many books the borrower can have at one time
• Maximum renewals -- how many times a book can be renewed (usually 2)
• Daily fine rate -- how much the fine increases per day when a book is overdue
• Grace period -- how many days after the due date before fines start (usually 1 day)
• Maximum fine -- the highest a fine can go (so it doesn't grow forever)
• Replacement fee -- how much to charge if a book is lost

How due dates work: The system adds the loan period to the checkout date. If the due date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it automatically moves to the next Monday.

How fines are calculated:

1. Count how many days late the book is.
2. Subtract the grace period.
3. Multiply the remaining days by the daily fine rate.
4. If there is a maximum fine, the fine will not go higher than that.

Example: A book is 5 days late. Grace period is 1 day. Daily rate is PHP 5.

• Billable days: 5 - 1 = 4 days
• Fine: 4 x PHP 5 = PHP 20

Customizing Your School's Branding

1. Click Branding in the sidebar menu.
2. You can customize:
   • School name -- shown on all pages and PDF documents
   • Logo -- upload your school's logo
   • Primary color -- the main color used throughout the system
   • Secondary color -- the accent color
   • Tagline -- an optional school tagline
3. Click Save.

What you'll see: Your branding appears on the library portal, printed receipts, clearance slips, purchase orders, and other PDF documents.