Try Lyra with sample data

The fastest way to learn Lyra is to have realistic data and click around. This guide loads a sample catalog and a roster of fictional patrons into your school, has you run the everyday tasks (a checkout, a hold, a look at the OPAC), and then clears the sample data so you can bring in your real catalog and roster with a clean slate.

The sample data lets you explore Lyra with realistic content without tracking down your own files first, and without loading a real student roster you may not be ready to upload yet. The roster you will connect is a fictional one that Lyra hosts for exactly this purpose, so no real student information goes anywhere.

Register your account.

If you have just signed up, you have already finished onboarding and have created a school with at least one library. That is all you need to start.
Import the sample catalog.

Download the sample file and save it somewhere you can find it — anywhere is fine. You’ll point the catalog importer at it in the steps just below, so there’s nothing more to do the moment it finishes downloading.

Download the sample catalog (MARC)

In your library’s navigation pane (this is where you land after onboarding):
1. Go to navigation path: Catalog then Imports.
2. Drop the file you downloaded (sample-catalog.mrc) on the drop target, or select button: Choose files and pick it.
3. Under field: Import mode, choose setting: Add to catalog.
4. Select the import button to start the import.
This sample file contains bibliographic and holding data just like a MARC file you might export from your existing system. Other ways of adding items to your catalog are covered in Adding items and Catalog import.

Lyra drops you on the imports list, where you can watch the new import’s status. When it finishes, open it and look over the rows on its tab: Added copies tab. Your library now has a healthy catalog.
Connect the sample roster.

Rather than uploading roster files, you will connect to Lyra’s fictional OneRoster source the same way a school connects its real student information system. Nothing here is a real person.

The roster lives at the school level, so use the level switcher at the top of the sidebar to go up to School level, then open navigation path: Roster then Sync and choose button: Connect roster source. In the wizard:
1. Authenticate. Tell Lyra where the roster comes from, then enter its credentials:
  1. From the field: Roster source dropdown, choose Other.
  2. A field for the system’s name appears. Enter Lyra sample data.
  3. Fill in the connection values below.
    
    Base URLhttps://mock-oneroster.lyralibrary.com
    Client IDmock-one-roster-client-id
    Client secret1bca1a2bf3594040c30041a87284dcee3f44e69b33759f82ebe134a4f46eb8af
  Select button: Test connection to verify the connection works, then select button: Continue.
2. Choose schools. Keep the one sample school checked, then select button: Continue.
3. Select homerooms. Leave the pre-checked homerooms as they are, then select button: Continue.
4. Faculty roles. Leave the defaults in place, then select button: Continue.
5. Review and connect. Check the summary. The sample school has no patrons yet, so there is nothing to settle before the first sync.
Select button: Connect. The first sync runs right away. When it finishes, you will have students, faculty, and homerooms, with students sorted into homerooms exactly as a real sync would arrange them. The full sync setup is documented in OneRoster roster sync.
Check out a book.
1. From School level, open navigation path: Libraries and select your library’s card.
2. Go to Library level navigation path: Circulation then Check Out.
3. Choose any patron from the list to start loaning to them.
4. Type T 32383, a barcode from the catalog, into field: Copy barcode.
5. Select button: Check out.
A handheld barcode scanner makes circulation much faster, and almost any USB scanner works. See What you’ll need for picking one. No scanner yet? On a device with a camera, button: Scan with the camera under the field does the same job.
If you have one, try scanning the barcode instead of typing it. You don’t need to click anywhere first: field: Copy barcode already has the cursor, and if you have clicked elsewhere on the page the scan pulls the cursor back to it anyway. The field populates and the checkout completes just as if you had selected the button.

T 32383

The loan is now live, with a due date set by your library’s default loan policy. Checkout covers the full session.
Place a hold.

Let’s place a hold on a title that is now checked out so you can watch a hold move through its lifecycle.
1. Select the title of the book you just checked out to open it.
2. Select button: Actions, then choose menu item: Place hold….
3. In field: Patron, type the name of any patron (such as Harper) and choose any patron that comes up.
4. Select button: Place hold.
You should now see that hold in the tab: Holds tab on the item page. Select the patron’s name to see the hold from their account. Notice that the hold is active but not appearing on any of the navigation path: Holds pages. This is because the book is still checked out, so there is no copy for screen: To Pull yet and no action is needed from library staff. It is on screen: All Holds, waiting for a copy.
Check in.
1. Go to Library level navigation path: Circulation then Check In.
2. Type T 32383 or scan the book’s barcode to check it back in.
This triggers the hold you just created to become ready for pickup, which will be apparent by the way the check-in is represented in the card: Recent Check-Ins list. If you visit Library level navigation path: Holds then All Holds, you’ll see the hold listed there as Ready.
Explore.

Now that you’re acquainted, try out different features.
- Set up the OPAC and see how your patrons will find and interact with your catalog.
- Ask Vega about what’s in your collection and ideas for lists to feature on the OPAC homepage.
Swap the sample data for your real setup.

When you are ready for your real catalog and roster, clear out the tour’s data so the practice data and your real data never mix. All of this happens at the school level, so switch there once and stay: in the level switcher, choose School level. You land on the school’s screen: Libraries page, and everything below happens from there.
1. Delete the sample library. On the sample library’s card, open the actions menu (⋯) and choose menu item: Delete. Type the library’s name to confirm. This permanently removes the tour’s catalog and circulation data; you stay right on the screen: Libraries page. (More on managing libraries.)
2. Create the library you’ll actually use. Select button: Add a library and give it the name you want going forward. This is the home for your real catalog and operations.
3. Remove the sample roster. Patrons belong to the school, not to any single library, so they do not leave with the sample library.
  1. First disconnect the sample sync, so it stops running. Go to navigation path: Roster then Sync, scroll to the bottom, select button: Disconnect, and confirm.
  2. Then open the school’s navigation path: Configure then Settings, scroll to the bottom to find the card: Permanent Deletions card, select button: Delete roster data, check setting: Also delete checkout history, type the word the dialog asks for, and select button: Delete.
Removing roster data and deleting a library are permanent. That is exactly what you want here, since none of this tour’s data is real, but it is worth being sure you are clearing the sample school and not a library you meant to keep.

Try Lyra with sample data

See also