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4.7. Uploading Cover Images

Last Updated 11/03/2023

Directly Uploading Cover Images within a Bibliographic Record

As of version 3.9, a staff user with appropriate permissions can upload a cover image directly within a specific bibliographic record. Uploaded images will override images provided by Open Library. NC Cardinal recommends utilizing Open Library whenever possible, but uploading cover images when Open Library does not have a cover image available for a title, or the cover image in Open Library is incorrect.

Acceptable file types are jpg, png, xpm, xbm, gif, and bmp. All uploaded images are converted to PNG at the time of upload and scaled to small, medium, and large for various uses within the OPAC and staff client.

The scaling algorithm will size images to fit the dimension of each bounding box, while preserving aspect ratio. This means that the largest dimension of any image will be scaled to match the bounding box. 

• Small = 55 px wide x 91 px high
• Medium = 120 px wide x 200 px high
• Large = 475 px wide x 787 px high

How to Upload a Cover Image

The process of uploading a cover image is fairly straightforward. Follow these steps:

1. Before beginning, make sure you have the cover image you plan to use saved in an appropriate file type.
2. Locate the Bibliographic record for the title that needs a new cover image.
3. Under the Other Actions menu on the right is an action to Upload Cover Image.
   
4. Clicking the Upload Cover Image action opens a modal. Click Choose File and select the image of the cover that you have saved.
5. Click the Upload Cover Image button.
   

Potential Errors

If there is an error uploading your file, you will be shown error text in the modal. Error messages include the following:

• Not authenticated. Expired login?
• Not authorized. Check your permissions.
• Not found. Bib record deleted?
• Invalid global compression value. Talk to your system administrator.
• Do not know where to upload files. Talk to your system administrator.
• Can not save uploaded file. Talk to your system administrator.
• File size larger than configured limit. Check your library setting or try a smaller file.
• Error parsing the image. Is it a common image filetype?
• Error uploading or processing file.

Where to find uploaded images

When the upload is complete the bib record will refresh and you will see the small (thumbnail) version of your image in the upper left of the record:

To see what the image looks like in the OPAC, you can click the Patron View button. The Patron View button will open the OPAC in a new tab, displaying the record as it appears to a Patron.