YCLS Templates

Collections
Template: List Items Added by Date Range
Description: Displays owning library, item creation date, and item title, call number and barcode. Filters on
item creation date and owning library. This report does not include items marked deleted.
Suggested Use: This report can be used for tracking items added during a certain time frame. SPARK stores
information pertaining to when an item record was created, so if items that are more than 5 years old need to
be checked for condition, this report could be run to show a list of items that were added to the collection
between 01/01/2010 and 12/01/2010.
Template: List items by Copy Status
Description: Displays owning library, copy status, item title, call number, and barcode. Filters on owning library
and copy status.
Suggested Use: This report shows items sorted by their status. This is good for tracking items that are
missing or in repair as well as items that have been marked discard/weed.
Template: List of All Claims Returned Items
Description: Displays owning library, item call number, title, author, and barcode. Also displays fine stop date
(the date the items was marked claims returned). Filters on owning library, and fine stop reason.
Suggested Use: This report really only does one thing: show items that have a status of claims returned. This
report should be run, and used to check shelves for claims returned items.
Template: Total number of Items by Library & Shelving Location
Description: Displays owning library, shelving location, and count of items. Filters on owning library and
shelving location. Does not include deleted items.
Suggested Use: This report can be used to gain a general idea of inventory, and where items are. For instance,
this report could be used to get a count of items stored on the Reading Room Balcony at Martin, or in the
Bamberger Childrens Room at Red Land

Patrons
Template: Count Patrons by Permission Group
Description: Displays patron home library, permission group, and total count of patrons. Filters on home
library and permission group.
Suggested Use: This report can be used to gain a basic idea of how a librarys patrons break-up by permission
group. For instance, this report would be run to get a count of Adult 3yr patrons at Collinsville, or Juvenile/YA
3yr patrons at Mason Dixon.
Template: Count Patrons by Permission Group and Date Added
Description: Displays patron home library, permission group, and total count of patrons. Filters on home
library, patron record creation date, and permission group.
Suggested Use: Like the Count Patrons by Permission Group template, this report shows a count of patrons
registered as a specific permission group. But, this report adds patron record creation date as a filter. This
report could be used to determine how many new Juvenile/YA cards were created during Summer Reading
Club, or how many Adult 3yr cards were added between January and May.
Template: List Patrons with Outstanding Balances over $0 (w/patron contact info)

Description: Displays patron name, barcode, phone number, address, and balance owed. Filtered by home
library.
Suggested Use: This report can be used to get an idea of how much is owed to the library in fines and how
many patrons are over the maximum fines threshold. Patron contact information is provided.
Template: Patron Mailing List by Patron Profile Group
Description: Displays patron name and mailing information. Filters by home library and patron profile group.
Does not include deleted patrons.
Suggested Use: This report yields a mailing list. The profile group filter is provided so that adults can be
separated from patrons under 18.

Services
Template: Count Circulations by Patron Permission Group
Description: Displays permissions group(s), circulating library, and count of circulations. Filters on check out
date, circulation library and permission group.
Suggested Use: This report counts circulation by patron permission group, and date range. This report would
best be used to track the activity of a certain patron group during a specific time of the year. For example, how
many patrons under 18 checked out items at Kreutz Creek between May and September?
Template: Count of Circulations by Date Range
Description: Displays circulations at each circulating library for a specified date range. Filters include date
range and circulating library.
Suggested Use: This report can be used to track circulation over a period of time. For instance, this report
could be used to figure out how many items were circulated at Dillsburg between February and May.
Template: Count of Todays Circulations
Description: Displays circulations at each circulating library for current date. Filters include date and
circulating library. The date can be altered to show circulation for any one day.
Suggested Use: This report will show a count of circulations for any one day. This is most useful for counting
the days circulations, and can be run multiple times a day to track the librarys busier times.
Template: Overdue Report
Description: Displays due date, prefix, call number, suffix, title, item barcode, first name, last name, daytime
phone, patron barcode, patron email address, and circulating library. Filters on owning library and range of due
dates. This report does NOT include items marked claims returned or never checked out.
Suggested Use: This report shows items that are overdue by owning library. This report does not filter on
circulating library, but it does display this information. This can be used to contact patrons that have items
overdue- i.e. items owned by Kaltreider that are more than two weeks overdue.

Template Name

What does this template report

on?
People

Items

Circulation

How does this

template display
data?
List

List Items Added by Date Range

List Items by Copy Status

List of All Claims Returned Items

Total Number of Items by Library & Shelving Location

Count

Count Patrons by Permission Group

Count Patrons by Permission Group and Date Added

List Patrons with Outstanding Balances over $0

Patron Mailing List by Patron Profile Group

Count Circulations by Patron Permission Group

Count of Circulation by Date Range

Count of Today's Circulations

Overdue Report

Report and Template Terminology

General Terms
Templates- A pre-designed report that can be customized to fit specific needs. These folders contain various
reports with filters that can be manipulated to result in a specific set of data. Templates can be used multiple
times.
Reports- The report is what is run once the templates filters have been set. Reports can only be run once, and
are stored in the reports folder.
Output- An output is the result from the report. Once the report is finished running, the result will appear in the
completed section of the output folder. Often an output will show in the pending section. This indicates that
the report is running, but is not ready to be viewed. The output can be viewed multiple times, and in different
ways. Most commonly, these are viewed as Excel files.
Clone- If a change needs to be made to the template itself (add a display field, eliminate a filter, etc.) a clone
must be made. Cloning makes a copy of the template, and allows edits to be made to the template, or for the
template to be moved to a different folder, while retaining the original template in its original location.
Displayed Fields- Displayed Fields are the fields that appear in the output. These fields are designated when
the template is created.
Base Filters- Base Filters are the first of two categories of filters available when creating a template. The type
of output determines what kind of filter that output would create. Anything that does not require the
combination of multiple rows of data is considered a Base Filter. Home Library, check-out date, and stat
cat are all base filters.
Aggregate Filters- Aggregate Filters are filters that require multiple rows of data to be compiled. For instance,
if count or count distinct is used as filters, they are considered aggregate filters because they require the
report to do calculations.
Value-Value is used in conjunction with the filter operators. For instance, in a report showing all items that
are marked claims returned the status of the items would equal the value claims returned. This way, only
items with a status of claims returned will show up in the result
Pivot Label Column- The pivot label column determines what piece of information is used as the column. For
instance, in a report recording circulation, selecting owning library as the pivot label column will result in a
spread sheet that has the owning libraries along the top, and all of the other information along the side:

Circulating Library

Owning library
(This is the Pivot Label Column)

YCCOL
YCDOV
YCMAR
YCCOL
YCDIL
YCKRE
YCKAL

YCDIL

YCDOV

YCGLA

YCMAR

YCKAL

YCGUT

Sources
A Source is the starting point, or subject of the report. The Source menu displays different table options used
for creating reports. Each source has a different set of fields, and can be used to create a report to show
information as it relates to the original source.

Commonly Used Sources:

ILS User- Reports on patrons- including patron counts, and patron activity
Circulation- Reports on circulation- including circulation counts, items that have not circulated, and circulation
by patron group or location
Item- Reports on the items- including volume counts, item locations, and bib record information

Data Types
The data type indicates how a piece of information is stored, and what kind of information it is. The data type
determines how this piece of information can be used or viewed.
bool- Short for boolean, this data type notes that the field is either true or false.
int- Short for integer, this data type notes that the field contains a number.
interval- This data type contains intervals, such as 5 weeks or 10 months.
id- id fields are unique identifiers that the system assigns to each transaction. For instance, each circulation
has a unique id. Id types can be counted, and are good for running reports that count circulations, or other
transactions.
link- The link data type signifies that there is another source table associated with this field.
money- Fields with this data type contain monetary amounts.
org_unit- Short for organization unit, this data type notes that notes that the field is a location- like a patrons
home library. When used as a filter, this data type prompts a list that locations can be selected from.
text- The text data type notes that the field contains plain text. This data type is good for display fields, as it
will list whatever is entered into fields like patron name, call number labels, prefixes, and suffixes.
timestamp- The timestamp data type contains very specific date and time information for whatever action
was taken. This information is somewhat challenging to read in its raw form, but can be changed to a more
useful format with the use of a transform.

Transforms
The transform determines how the data is interpreted and displayed. Each data type has a specific set of
available transforms; the raw data transform is the only one available for each data type.
Average- When this transform is applied to a field, the output will contain the average value of the field from
every row or value that meets the filter criteria.
Count- This transform gives a count of all the fields found. *note* count tends to be less reliable than count
distinct
Count Distinct- This transform gives a count of all unique fields found. Count distinct gives more reliable
results, as count will sometimes count things more than once.
Raw Data- This transform presents the data exactly as it is stored in the database.
First Five Characters- This transform tells the system to only return the first five characters of whatever is
entered into the field. This transform is most useful for sorting zip codes.
First Value- First Value sorts through data, and only returns the value that was added to the database first.
For instance, if you have a list of patrons who were added on the same day, first value will return only the
name and information of the individual who was added first, the entry that has been there the longest.

Last Value- Last Value is identical to first value except it will return only the value that was added most
recently, the entry that has been there the shortest.
Lower Case- This transform returns all text information in lowercase letters.
Max- Similar to first and last value, max sorts through data and only returns one entry. In this case, max
returns only the highest value available.
Min- Min is identical to max except it returns only the lowest available value.
Substring- This transform can only be used for filters, not for display fields. This allows a report to be created
that would return results that contain a string of text- no matter where that text falls in the field. For instance,
this transform could be used to create a report that shows everyone with a last name that contain son.
Upper Case- This transform is identical to lower case except it returns results in uppercase.
Round- Round presents numerical data as the closest integer.
Sum- This transform adds all the values of all applicable fields, and only returns the total.
Age- Age presets a timestamp as the interval between it and the current date. For example, by applying this
transform to a birthdate field, this could be used to create a report that displays the ages of patrons that live
in a certain area.
Date- This transform presents the timestamp as a YYYY-MM-DD formatted date.
Day Name- This transform present a timestamp as the name of the day of the week.
Day of Month- This transform only displays the numerical day of the month. For instance, if the timestamp is
July 14, 2015 this transform will only display 14.
Day of Week- Similar to day of the month, this transform displays a numerical day of the week. For instance, a
timestamp generated for a Monday would appear as a 1, and Sunday would appear as a 7.
Day of Year- Similar to day of month, and day or week, this transform converts the date into a numerical value.
For instance, February 2nd would appear as 32, as it is the 32nd day of the year. December 31st, would be
365.
Hour- The hour transform converts the timestamp into a 24-hour format, without minutes. For example, 3:15
PM would be 15 and 3:27 AM would be 3.
Hour of Day- This is identical to Hour
Month Name- This transform displays only the name of the month, such as January or June.
Month of Year- Similar to Day of Month, or Day of Year, Month of Year converts the month into a number.
January 3, 2015 would just appear as 1.
Months Ago- This transform presents the number of months that have passes between the time listed in the
field and the time the report is run.
Quarter of Year- This transform displays the date as a numerical quarter. For instance, a timestamp from June
2015, would appear as a 2.
Week of Year- This transform converts the timestamp to a numerical value representing the week of the year
(1-52).
Year- This transform displays only the year portion of the timestamp (2011, 2015)
Year + Month- This transform removes the day information from the timestamp and displays the numerical
month, and year. For instance, July 5, 2014 would display as 2015-7.

Output Types
Aggregate- Aggregate outputs bundle data from multiple rows together, and only displays the sum. For
example, in a report displaying a total count of missing items by patron, using the count transform (which has
an aggregate output type) would total up the amount of missing items next to the patrons name instead of
displaying the patrons name multiple times followed by a 1.
Non-Aggregate- Transforms with Non-Aggregate outputs, such as Raw Data display data row by row, without
any combination. In the example above, using the raw data transform would yield a report listing the patrons
name multiple times followed by the number 1.

Operators
Operators are using in filters to determine what information should be included in the reports results.
Operators determine what data to display, and what data to exclude from the results. These designations allow
reports to be run that show circulation between January and June, or a report that only shows items with a
checkout date equal to March 5, 2015.
Equals- The equals operator only returns results that exactly match what is entered as the value. For
instance, if a report is run to show patrons whose municipality equals Windsor Borough, then it will only return
patrons who have Windsor Borough entered in their municipality stat cat.
Contains Matching Substring- This operator will search a field and only return the result if it contains the
specific string of text entered as the value. This operator is case sensitive; meaning a search for bills with the
note Food For Fines will only display results that also contain Food For Fines. Food for fines or food for
fines would not be included.
Contains Matching Substring (Ignore Case)- This operator works exactly the same as the one above, except it is
not case sensitive. For this operator a search for food for fines would return FOOD FOR FINES, Food for
Fines, and Food for fines. This is a good operator to use to ensure all similar results are included in the
results, and something isnt excluded because of a typo.
Greater Than- The greater than operator displays results that are greater than the designated parameters.
For instance, if a report is run to show items that have a circulation date greater than 2008, then the report
will return anything that circulated after December 31, 2008.
Greater Than or Equal To- This operator works exactly as the one above, except it would include items that
circulated in 2008 as well.
Less Than- Like the greater than operator, the less than operator searches for and displays results that are
less than the entered parameters. For instance, a report showing items that have not circulated since 2007
would have a last circulation date less than January 1, 2007.
Less Than or Equal To- This operator works exactly as the one above, except it would include items that
circulated in 2007 as well.
In List- In List is similar to equals except it allows a list of entries to be created, or provides a list of entries
to choose from. This is a good operator to use for any report that filters on home library, stat cat, patron profile,
or shelving location- as it allows one, or multiple items to be selected.
Not In List- This is the reverse of the aforementioned operator. Not in list will return results that match
parameters that are not in the list created.
Between- This operator requires two parameters to be specified, and then only returns results that would fall
between those parameters. For instance, in order to find materials that circulated during Summer Reading
Club, a report could be run requesting results with circulation dates between June 1st, and August 31st.
Not Between- Not Between works in the same way as between in that two parameters are specified, and it
returns results based on those parameters. However, if not between is used, only results that fall outside of
the specified parameters will be returned. For instance, a report asking for total circulation during a year,
except for what was done during Summer Reading Club would ask for circulation not between June and
August.
Is NULL- The is NULL operator returns results that have no data in the specified field.
Is Not NULL- This works exactly opposite of is NULL; it will return results with any data in the specified field.
Is NULL or Blank- Using this operator instead of is NULL ensures that results that contain data, but are blank
are included in the reports filter. In the case of text strings, this operator should be used to truly include any
empty fields.
Is Not NULL or Blank- Like the operator above, this includes blank fields. This should be used so that all blank
fields are eliminated from the results.

Transform

What Type of Transform is

this?
Aggregate

Non-Aggregate

What Data Types is this Transform Available for?

bool

int

interval

id

link

money

org_unit

text

timestamp

Average

Count

Count Distinct

Raw Data

First Five Characters

First Value

Last Value

Lower Case

Max

Min

Substring

Upper Case

Round

Sum

Age

Date

Day Name

Day of Month

Day of Week

Day of Year

Hour

Hour of Day

Month Name

Month of Year

Months Ago

Quarter of Year

Week of Year

Year

Year + Month

Manipulating SPARK Report Outputs in Excel

Interpreting Data
Sorting- Box B
The sort function is found on the data toolbar (Box H) and allows information to be arranged in a certain
order. For instance, if the spreadsheet shows information about circulation, the sort function could be used
to arrange things by checkout date, or alphabetically by home library. More than one parameter can be added
to this function, allowing excel to sort information, for example, by home library, then by checkout date, and
then alphabetically by title.
Filtering- Boxes C and N
Filtering is crucial when it comes to dealing with the especially large spreadsheets that reports often output.
This function allows unnecessary data to be hidden from what is being displayed. For instance, when a report
showing circulation by municipality is run, all of the municipalities will be shown. If the desired outcome was
only the circulation for Kaltreiders service area, all of the municipalities that dont fall under Kaltreiders
service area could be filtered out.
Using the Sum tool- Box M
The Sum tool adds all the values in a selected area, and displays a total. This function is especially useful for
adding a total of circulations, or items, from a larger, itemized list.
Format- Box L
The Format menu contains most of the tools used to modify the cells, columns, and rows on the output
sheet. This tab contains the AutoFit column width and height functions, as well as the format cells menu. The
format cells menu allows the individual cells, or swaths of cells, to be formatted so they all show information
in a similar way. This function is useful for standardizing dates, and the way currency is displayed.
Wrap Text and Merge Cells- Box K
The wrap text and merge cells functions can be used for formatting the way text fits in cells. Merging Cells
is the easiest way to create a title box, or a heading on a graph (as seen below).
Merging a group of cells does not impact the size of the rest of the cells in the row or column, only the selected
cells.

The wrap text function is another way to format a cell so that all entered text is visible, without impacting the
rest of the cells in the column or row. Wrapping text can be done to one cell, or multiple cells, and is useful for
creating heading boxes that contain long strings of text. Wrapping text simply means allowing the text to go
onto a second or third row, as excel, by default, places all text in the same row.

This Is
Wrapped Text

Since the text is longer

than the column is wide,
wrapping it ensures
everything is visible.

Font Formatting- Box I

This menu contains multiple functions used for formatting the appearance of text within the spreadsheet, as
well as a few functions for formatting the appearance of cells. These functions include font, text size, text style
(bold, Italic, and underline) and text color. For cells, this menu contains tools to change the fill color of the cell,
add borders to the cell, and align text within the cell.
Saving as PDF- Box D
Often, the easiest way to save a spreadsheet so that it is printable, but not able to be manipulated by others, is
to save it as a PDF. This allows the document to be printed and saved, but not edited in anyway. In order to do
this, simply select save as from the file tab, and change the Save as type entry from Excel Workbook to
PDF.
Printer Formatting- Boxes E, F, and G
Most excel sheets require some formatting in order for them to print in a way that is easily read and used.
Simply hitting the print button will often lead to documents with multiple pages, and only partial information.
The drop-down menu in Box E indicates what is to be printed. This allows the entire workbook, a specific sheet,
or a specific selection of cells to be printed. Box F determines the page orientation. Landscape works better
with sheets that contain a lot of columns, whereas portrait is good if there are a lot of rows, and a limited
number of columns. Box G contains a drop-down menu that hosts a few different formatting options, including
options that will fit all columns, all rows, or the entire sheet on one page.
Views- Boxes A and J
The view tab (box J) contains multiple functions for viewing the spreadsheet. The Page Break Preview
option (Box A) displays the spreadsheet with page breaks. From here, the page breaks can be adjusted so that
certain information appears on a page, and certain information appears on another page. Unlike the page
format options in Box G, this function allows for more specification regarding what appears on the page.
Worksheets- Box O
Documents in Excel are saved as workbooks. Within a workbook, there can be multiple worksheets. The
tabs in Box O can be used to toggle between worksheets, and the tab at the very end of the row, allows new
worksheets to be added.