2.1. Report Overview

Accessing Data with Reports

Reports pull data from the Evergreen database. This database includes all information saved about items, records, patrons, and transactions. It is possible to report on almost every field in every table in the Evergreen database. 

Common data types available in these fields include:

• Item and library circulation data
• Patron circulation history
• Patron information
• Copy, title, and bib record data
• Hold requests
• Transit history
• Acquisitions history
• Billing and payment history

NOTE: Data about electronic resource usage is NOT stored in the Evergreen database, so it cannot be accessed via the Reports function. For data about your e-resource usage, please contact your e-resource vendor.

Report Set-up

There are three main components used by the reporter:

These components are saved in folders specific to the library account. Users can share their folders to allow others to clone templates and view report definitions and output but only the owning staff account can manage the contents of their folders.

Templates

Report templates tell Evergreen what fields to display in the report output and what conditions to filter on in the database. These templates allow you to build the basis of the report once, and then run it multiple times without having the rebuild from scratch every time.

NC Cardinal has created several Centralized Reports Templates for commonly needed reports. These templates should be cloned into staff accounts. Once cloned, they can be used as is or modified by library staff. 

Reports

After creating your template, you can run a report off that template by defining values for the filters you set up in the template. When a report is run Evergreen looks at the values defined for the filters and then goes through the database and gathers the records that meet those conditions.

Output

The data gathered based on the parameters defined in the report are gathered into an output file. The process of generating this file can take some time. The output file can be viewed by logging into the staff client and navigating to the Output folder in the reports interface. You may also include an email address during the report set-up. The output file will be sent to that email once complete.