AbraQuest 3.4 – Strengthening Our School Library Software for the Future

Our latest updates — Release 3.4.0.0 and 3.4.1.0 — are maintenance-focused improvements designed to keep AbraQuest secure, compatible and future-ready.

For over 22 years, AbraQuest has supported schools with reliable, practical and continually evolving school library software. Used by primary and secondary schools across the UK, AbraQuest provides a trusted library management system for schools that helps manage books, pupils and reading engagement with confidence.

While these releases focus on stability rather than major new features, they are an important step in ensuring long-term reliability for schools using AbraQuest as their core reading management software.

Release 3.4.0.0 – Modernising Core Components

Microsoft recently deprecated a feature that affected the User Maintenance area within AbraQuest. To ensure continued compatibility with modern Windows environments, this component has now been fully rewritten.

🔧 User Maintenance Updated

The User Maintenance module has been rebuilt to align with current Microsoft standards.

Important:
After upgrading, user details will need to be re-entered. Only the default users (defaults for teacher, sysadmin and librarian) will exist initially.

This update ensures that AbraQuest remains a secure and dependable library system for schools for years to come.

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Release 3.4.1.0 – Practical Enhancements for Everyday Use

Release 3.4.1.0 introduces small but meaningful improvements based on school feedback.

📘 Add Books – New Edition Field

An optional Edition field (50 characters) has been added when entering books.
This makes it easier to distinguish between different versions of the same title — particularly useful for larger school libraries.

🔄 Renewals – Greater Lending Control

A new global configuration option allows schools to enable or disable renewals.

Renewals remain switched on by default, but this setting gives schools more flexibility over borrowing policies within their school library management system.

This works alongside the existing “teacher not in the room” renewal controls.

🧹 Removal of Legacy COVID-19 Settings

Outdated COVID-19 configuration options have been removed to simplify system setup and keep the platform streamlined.