Annual housekeeping

Yearly tasks to keep your library tidy.

Patron audit

• Settings → Patrons → "Inactive 365 days"
• Review the list
• Reach out to dormant patrons (one email)
• Deactivate accounts that don't respond

Book audit

• Settings → Catalog → "Never checked out"
• Review the list
• Move stale books to "Storage" status (still in catalogue but not on shelf)
• Or weed permanently

Lost-copy purge

• Catalog → Filter "Lost" or "Inactive"
• Review old lost copies
• Confirm they're not coming back
• Delete the copy record (if no loans reference it)

Year-end statistics

• Settings → Analytics → Year-end report
• Total loans, top books, top patrons (anonymized)
• Useful for board reports or year-end summaries

Genre and topic cleanup

• Catalog → Genres → review the list
• Merge duplicates
• Delete unused

Email template review

• Settings → Email Templates → walk through each one
• Update dates, library hours, contact info
• Test sends to verify links work

Backup

• Most libraries trust our daily backups
• For peace of mind, export your catalogue and patron list once a year: Settings → Export
• Store the CSV somewhere safe (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.)

Welcome new staff

• January: refresh all staff on the system
• Have a "what's new at Shelfwise" session if there have been platform updates