You can set up one or more open search accounts to allow students and teachers to search your catalogue anonymously by navigating a hierarchy of images. When searching anonymously they are referred to as "generic PicPAC users" meaning everyone shares the same access rights to the catalogue, i.e., they all see the same books when they search your catalogue. Generic accounts can be used for search kiosks (desktop computers, laptop computers, and other devices) to provide this access, they are usually placed in the library and referred to as Generic PicPAC kiosks, and they are usually allocated to students from from Prep to Year 3.


Generic PicPAC Account Usage


You may set up and configure any number of generic accounts and create appropriate PicPAC user interfaces to be used for different PicPAC audiences, e.g., Prep, Year 1, Year2. You can have a generic PicPAC account which applies to all students and/or you can create generic PicPAC accounts for specific year levels and align each PicPAC to the appropriate parts of your collection.


Each PicPAC is accessed by a person signing into Infiniti and, e.g., library staff would normally sign into PicPAC kiosks set aside for general use in the library each day. Specific PicPAC accounts for target audiences for use from anywhere would normally be opened by individual students signing into their account. Library staff may also sign into target audience kiosks in the library to match a visiting class. 


Generic accounts serve the following major purposes:

  1. Open library search stations or kiosks, e.g., desktop computers, laptop computers, and other public devices. Note: Before you can configure a generic search kiosk you must know which generic account you intend to use for the kiosk, or create a new generic account especially for the kiosk.
  2. To allow remote searching of your catalogue from outside your library, e.g., from a link on your school website.
  3. To allow students and teachers to connect to your catalogue from outside your library, e.g., from your school learning management system.

Note: For security, generic PicPAC accounts can only be assigned to the System Group = 'Library Users'. Additional privileges are not available.


Open Generic PicPAC


Note: Infiniti has one generic PicPAC account created when first implemented. Others can be added for use with different target groups of students. The details of this are shown here. You can change these account details if required.

  1. Open your preferred web browser.
  2. Connect to Infiniti at {yourschool.concordinfiniti.com} (or use a shortcut already setup by your IT support services):
    1. login = picpac.
    2. password = opacuser.
  3. Each PicPAC kiosk will stay open or active for up to 12 hours.
  4. Repeat the same login procedure for up to 10 stand-alone kiosks anywhere.

Note: As these kiosks are associated with a generic user account profile (login), these accounts are not able to perform tasks that are individualistic in nature, e.g., make reservations or check their loan history. Students must login with their own credentials or ask circulation staff to make reservations for them.


Getting Started With PicPAC


Each new Infiniti installation has a PicPAC Starter Pack which has been configured to operate in a generic fashion across most school collections, i.e., it will probably find some resources in your catalogue. The Starter Pack should not be edited or changed, but rather it should be preserved as a sample for future reference. To get started with setting up a PicPAC you should copy the Starter Pack and modify it:

  1. Go to: Configure > Settings > PicPAC
  2. - copy the Starter Pack.
  3. - rename to a suitable name, e.g., Year 1, My First PicPAC.
  4. Watch the videos below.

Note: Once you have created a copy, and edited it for a specific audience, e.g., Year 1, you can use your newly minted Year 1 PicPAC as your starting starting position to create a Year 2 PicPAC.


Tailoring Each PicPAC To Show Specific Books


A catalogue search can be crafted for each image at the lowest end of the PicPAC hierarchy. The search will execute each time a student clicks the image and will retrieve all the books in your catalogue based on filters you use to craft the search. This will result in the the target audience for that PicPAC seeing exactly the books you want them to see simply by clicking an image. This outcome is achieved by creating a catalogue query search.


Checking PicPAC Search Results


As the collection of books in your library changes (books added and removed) your PicPAC will dynamically reflect these changes based on your query search. To check your new PicPAC or periodically check any Infiniti PicPAC to ensure it returns the expected results to the target audience:

  1. Go to: Configure > Settings > PicPAC
  2. - review the PicPac.
  3. - name of PicPAC displays in top left corner, e.g., Year 1.
  4. - select audience from list, e.g., Year 1. Note: You can now emulate what this audience will see as they click on images.

Note: Best practice is to check each branch of the hierarchy. If no books are available at the bottom level of a branch then the branch, and images on the branch will not display to avoid taking students down a branch that is empty. Revise the filters as necessary to achieve the outcome you want.


Generic Access Control


When setting up generic kiosks ensure you have aligned each generic account to the sites and sections you want the generic account to search.


Note: You may switch on sites and sections which may not be available for loan but which you wish to make visible on the PicPAC kiosks.


Year Specific PicPAC


You can choose to make one or more PicPACs that are specific to an academic level or a specific group. The PicPAC creation process is identical to the process covered in the videos below with the exception that you assign the PicPAC to a specific audience, e.g., Year 1.


Outcome of Resultant Search


After selecting your filters, you should confirm that the resultant search will return the expected results for the target audience.


Check outcome for the target audience:

  1. Go to: Configure > Settings > PicPAC
  2. - copy the Starter Pack.
  3. - rename to a suitable name, e.g., Year 1, My First PicPAC.
  4. Watch the videos below.

Note: Once you have created a copy, and edited it for a specific audience, e.g., Year 1, you can use your newly minted Year 1 PicPAC as your starting starting position to create Year 2 PicPAC.



PicPAC Management Videos


Checking PicPAC Accounts


This video is an overview of setting up a generic PicPAC which can be adapted to setting up a specific audience PicPAC.



Create A PicPAC User Interface


This video is an overview of creating the user interface for a generic PicPAC which can be adapted to setting up a specific audience interface.