Frequently Asked Questions

Please read this FAQ section throughly, hope you will get answers to most of your questions.

General Questions

What is Librarika?

Librarika is a SaaS based Integrated Library System (ILS) platform built on the cloud.

Who can use Librarika?

Librarika is an open platform for anybody wanting to manage their physical or virtual library online using Integrated Library System (ILS). That includes Universities, Colleges, Schools, Polytechnics, Medical Institutes, Public Libraries, Non-profit organizations, Government Agencies, Corporate Offices, Departments, Social Institutes, NGOs, Family and even a personal library.

Is Librarika free to use?

Yes, the basic plan of Librarika is free for anyone for up to 2,000 (10,000) catalog records. Please click Create Free Library to start with your library right now.

Is Librarika easy to use?

Librarika ILS is super easy to use, you need no technical skill to manage or use your library in Librarika?

Do you have a user manual?

Yes, we are building a user manual for our librarians. Currently, the manual is in early stage and may contain grammatical and other errors. Please use it as reference and ignore any such errors. The manual is available at Librarika Manual (alpha).

Is my communication to Librarika service encrypted / secured?

Yes, Librarika ILS is now only offered through https secure connection using industry standard 2048-bit SSL encryption technology. So, we can say that all your data communication over the Internet are fully protected and safe.

What if we have multiple library branches?

Librarika supports multiple library branches for all its packages and it is very straight forward to use catalog item with multiple branches. You can take advantage of this feature.

Do we need our own server for Librarika installation?

No, Librarika is pre-installed on our cloud server, you don't need to install any software on your own server.

Do we need to install Librarika on our desktop or server?

No, Librarika is available on the Internet, you don't need to install anything on your desktop or server.

What upgrade options are available?

Currently, we offer Basic Pro, Silver and Gold subscriptions as our premium plans. Please visit Librarika Premium Plans to learn more about our subscription plans.

I need a custom package, is it possible?

Yes, custom package are designed to meet the specific needs of libraries with larger collections. Depending on your requirements we may be able to provide you custom package after careful analysis. Please go to Contact Us page and let us know about your custom requirements.

How can I upgrade my Library to a Premium Plan?

Our upgrade process is completely automatic. Please log into your library dashboard using your library admin account. Navigate to Manage -> My Plan section, select which plan you want to upgrade to. Click on the Upgrade Now button, enter payment information and you will be upgraded instantly. Please go to Contact Us if you are facing any difficulties.

What do you mean by "More Controls" in your Premium Plans?

We have some carefully designed opt-in options in Library Preferences section and in cataloging section. Such as ability to "Hide the book store panel" or turn of "Enable member access request" or control "URL Visibility" for catalog items. These options are not significant in day to day activities, but may be handy for some cases.

Is there any maintenance cost involved in Librarika library?

No, there is no maintenance cost for Librarika library.

How do I delete my Library?

Though we want you to stay with us, but it is ok to remove your library if your are not satisfied with our service.
You can delete your entire library along with your user account. Please go to the Manage -> Library Information section in your dashboard. Click on the Remove Library tab and proceed with the removal.

Catalog Related Questions

Can I publish my library catalog online using OPAC?

Yes, OPAC is built in on each Librarika library instance, you can start publishing catalog right away after creating your library.

Can I add book information from the Internet?

Yes, using our "Smart Add" module, you can import book directly from the Internet with just an ISBN number.

Do you support bulk import of library items?

Yes, we do support importing your library catalog from CSV file. Please read the guideline for further details at Import Catalog Items.

Can I use Barcode scanner in my catalog?

Yes, Please see the barcode scanner section for details.

Do you send reminders for reservations or overdue items?

Yes, Librarika sends special reminders for overdue items. Librarika also supports email and on-site notifications on various member activities.

How can I delete a book from my library catalog?

You can delete book from your catalog very easily. Please go to the Catalogs -> Catalog Items section in your dashboard. Find the book in your catalog and go to the View detail page. Click on Edit Item button on the top of the page. There you will find the Delete Item? option to delete a book. This will delete the book with all of its copies entirely from your catalog, so please be careful when deleting items. You need Library Admin permission in order to delete an item.

How can I delete a single copy of a book from my library catalog?

Please go to the Catalogs -> Catalog Items section in your dashboard. Find the book in your catalog and go to the View detail page. Scroll down to the Copies section at the bottom of the page. You will see all the copies listed along with Edit and Delete option. Click on Delete option to delete a specific copy. This will delete the the copy with all reference to circulations from your library. So please be careful when deleting copies.

Members / Patrons Related Questions

How many library members do you support?

We support unlimited members for your library. It depends on up to you how many you can support.

Do you support members login?

Yes, we do support members log into your library and you can also control members login access from one simplified member's interface.

Can a member checkout or check-in items online by themselves?

Yes, members can checkout or check-in items online. This feature is especially suitable for unattended personal, family or corporate library where a dedicated librarian is not always available. You can turn on or off self-service mode from the preferences section.

Can member request items online?

Yes, members can request items online. You can turn on or off these feature from the preferences section.

Do you support bulk import of library Members / Patrons?

Yes, we do support importing Members / Patrons from CSV file. Please read the import guideline for further details at Import Members / Patrons.

Can our library member access Librarika from other mobile devices?

Yes, Librarika can be accessed from any internet enabled devices.

How can I give login access to a Member?

It's easy, go to Dashboard -> Circulations -> Members section of your library. Click Add New Member button, enter member information along with email address, also select Allow Member Login checkbox and finally click submit. You are done, now member will receive an email invitation automatically with all the instructions to join the library.

Can I set an initial Login ID and password for our members?

No, the way it works is member set their own Login ID and password when they join a library in Librarika.

What to do if a member doesn't receive the invitation email we have sent?

Invitation email is important to join a Library. If the email is getting blocked by the spam filter or firewall, please use an alternate email address to send the invitation. Either way, member needs to receive an email to their mailbox in order to continue with their membership and receive important reminders regarding their booking activities.

Alternatively, you can also follow this Member Access Request As An Alternative to Member Invites process.

E-Books Related Questions

Can I host E-Books with Librarika?

Yes, this is a custom package, so you will have to pay extra for your E-Books storage space.

What E-Book formats do you support?

For hosted E-Books, we support both PDF and EPUB formats. For external e-books, you can provide any valid URL.

Can my library member read E-Books online?

Yes, Member can read PDF / EPUB or download hosted e-books online right from the browser using our online Epub and PDF viewer. For external e-books, we don't have such online viewer option.

Do you have download protection for hosted E-Books

Yes, we provide a layer of download protection for hosted E-Books by creating temporary URL and requiring member login. This means only the members can download or read the hosted E-Books, no permanent or publicly accessible link is given to the members / patrons. However, once a member downloads an e-book, we believe the protection is no longer applies.

Can I host E-Books outside Librarika?

Yes, you can host E-Books outside Librarika and add a link to your respective catalog item.

Can I make my external E-book link private only for members?

Yes, we support the privacy of your E-book links with 4 options, that is Public / Members / Booking Always / Active Booking. You can set them independently for each of the items in your catalog.

Do you host copyrighted or DRM protected contents?

We believe our librarians are completely liable for adding items to their catalog. We don't encourage using copyrighted or DRM-protected contents.

Payment Related Questions

What payment options do you support?

We support multiple payment options including PayPal, Master Card, Visa, Discover, Amex, Diners etc.

Do you support PayPal?

Yes, you can make payment through PayPal. Please select pay with PayPal option during checkout.

Do you store sensitive credit card information?

No, your sensitive information doesn't hit our server, so we don't have any access to your credit card number and sensitive data. You can be 100% assured that we don't store any of credit card data on our server or database.

What payment processor do you process your transactions through?

All of our payments are processed through the renowned 2Checkout, Inc payment processing service.

Is 2Checkout reliable?

Yes, they are one of the leading E-Commerce payment processor service in the world and PCI compliant. Please read more about them at their own website 2Checkout.com.

What currency do you support?

Our base charges are in USD. But, 2Checkout supports 200+ countries and 87 currencies. So, you can pay with your own currency that is supported by 2Checkout, Inc.

Why the charge is higher when I choose my own currency during checkout?

The conversion rate is dynamically calculated by 2Checkout based on international exchange rate. In that case, you may choose to pay in US dollar, and your bank will convert the currency giving you local best rate.

What if I need an invoice? Do you send any invoice after the payment?

Yes, 2Checkout, Inc will send you an invoice right after the payment. If you still need a separate invoice from us, you can print the invoice from the My Plan (Dashboard -> Manage -> My Plan) section.

My subscription will expire soon. How can I renew?

The renewal operation will be done automatically by 2Checkout. Please make sure that your payment information is updated and instruct your bank to authorize the transaction originated from 2Checkout.

How can I update my payment information?

Please go to https://2co.com and enter your sale order number and the exact email address your entered during the last checkout. It will then allow you to update your payment information. Please contact us if you have forgotten your sale number or email address.

Barcodes & Labels Related Questions

Do you support Barcode scanner?

Yes, libraries around the world using Barcode scanners with their Librarika ILS libraries. So we believe you also can use on yours.

Do I need to install any software to support barcode scanning?

No, barcode scanner usually works automatically whenever you connect it to your computer / machine.

What barcode scanner do you support?

You can use any latest barcode scanner, especially that can read CODE_39, CODE_128, EAN_8, EAN_13 barcode format and ISBN number from the book. Actually, we don't have any preferences here, most of the scanners come with the support for these formats.

Where can I purchase a barcode scanner from?

If you have not purchased one already, please visit Amazon - Barcode scanners and order one for your library. You can also purchase from your local market whichever is suitable for you.

Do I need to configure anything for barcode scanning?

No, normally you don't need any configuration.

However, by reading the scanner manual, you can set a couple of special input modes which is by far used by the advanced users only in rare situations.

Do you support barcode printing?

Yes, we support barcode printing for accession number and member number.

Can I use barcode printing on my free Librarika library?

Barcode label printing is a Premium feature. So, you can use it only after upgrading to a Paid Plans.

User Accounts Related Questions

How can I create a Librarika Account?

Yes, you can create a Librarika account from the Sign UP page of our Librarika.com main website.

Do I need a library membership to create a Librarika Account?

No, you don't need a prior library membership.

Can I apply to join a Librarika Library?

Yes, by logging into the Librarika main account at https://librarika.com. You can submit member access request to any library in librarika platform. However, you membership application will be reviewed by the respective library officials.

Can I join multiple Libraries using my same Librarika Account?

Yes, one Librarika account can be used to join multiple libraries, do check-outs and check-ins, etc.

I have just received a confirmation email. What is my username?

Usually, your email address is treated as your username. So, please enter your email address whenever you log into your library website. For ease of use, you can also enable Facebook login from your profile settings section. This will enable your password-less login through Facebook.

Miscellaneous Questions

Do you have GDPR statement? If so, where can I see it?

Yes, we have a GDPR statement explaining our stands on new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can access it here at GDPR Statement.

What is 429 Too Many Requests? What can I do?

In order to protect our system from automated bots, vulnerability scanner and brute-force attack, we have set security policies in our servers. These policies monitor bots like behaviour and block the clients for a specified duration in order to keep the system up and running. We have found that these policies has helped us a lot. The error 429 with “Too Many Requests” message is shown because of that.

However, our policies are not 100% perfect and may sometimes block legitimate clients. Specially, if too many people are using the system at the same time showing bots like behaviour or if your ISP public IP is being shared with a broad range of user base.

If you are facing this issue frequently, please share more information about your library and the public IP addresses your network is using to access the internet. We will then be able to investigate the traffic pattern and if legitimate, we can increase the limit for those IP addresses.

I need to report an issue, where can I submit the bug?

Yes, we have a place where you can submit any issue that needs to be taken care of at https://github.com/Librarika/Issues/issues.

I have more questions, what can I do?

No problem, please Contact Us with your specific questions.
Good Luck!