-Inventory Procedures in Alexandria V.6 Scanning from the Circulation screen Step 1 - Make an inventory plan Break up the inventory process over several weeks. The earlier you start the better! Remember to mark your starting inventory date on a calendar. Step 2 - Read your shelves. This makes it easier to find books that you missed when scanning. You indicate a section is completed by taping it off or using a sign. Step 3 - Choose your scanning methodology. You can scan books using Inventory Bookdrop mode from the circulation screen or by using the Inventory Helper module located in Tools. If you use Inventory Helper, print out the directions from the Alexandria Wiki. Go to Tools Choose Inventory Helper Click on the? in the upper left hand corner to get the Inventory Helper directions. Inventory Helper provides more direction on the inventory process, especially the utilities and reports at the end. The remainder of these directions will detail how to do the circulation screen scanning method. Step 4 - Make sure the computer is in Inventory Bookdrop mode. Type in IB or IBS (if you are using wireless scanners) and enter. (This mode will automatically check in books that are on the shelf that are checked out to students). It will also assign a fine if it is a secondary student and the item is overdue, note these occurrences and clear the student s fine as you go along. As you scan each item, the inventory date in the copy record is changed. Printing the daily transaction log can help you review problems like this that come up during the scanning process. Working in IB or IBS mode helps clear student records. Step 5 -Print out daily transaction lists as you inventory. If you are scanning in IB mode, you may want to print out daily transaction logs highlighting problems that came up during the scanning process. To print a transaction list with exceptions, type in +++E in the command line and press <Enter>. You must be in checkin/checkout mode in order to print the transaction log. The transaction log prints problems such as unknown barcodes, books out of place, or books checked in during inventory. You can take the exception transaction list and locate items with unknown barcodes.??? next to an item means the item is out of order. Look for problems like unknown barcode, lost book found, or book checked in 1
from a student so you can be sure and clear student records Step 6 - Run a Not inventoried report to check the shelves one more time after you complete your scanning. Not Inventoried report - This report should be run after all items have been scanned. It is significant because it shows what items have not been scanned. Print this and go back to the shelves and check for these items (one more time). To run a Not Inventoried report, go to Tools ReportsCopies and select Inventory. Locate the report entitled Inventory- Missing Available Items. Click on the report title link Inventory- Missing Available Items. Click on the Selection tab. On the screen that appears confirm the following: Report Type: Not Inventoried Items. Inventory Start date: Type in your starting Inventory date. Make sure that you see the modifier available through available listed in your report. See the screenshot below. 2
Click Print to run this report. After you run and print this report, go to the shelves looking for items that you missed when you scanned the collection. Scan any items that are found. Step 7- Run a Utility to move not inventoried items to Lost You are now ready to move items that are truly missing to the Lost Items patron using a utility. Be careful with this utility. Go to Tools Utilities In the left column choose Copies. In the main screen click on Check out. Under Selection it should read: To Patron 1-Lost Copies; From: Selection. Under Select By change the drop down menu to Not Inventoried Date and enter your inventory start date into the Starting date field. Next, Click Add Selection. Under Select By change the drop down menu to Copy Status: Available Available (as below) 3
Step 8 - Remove items in Lost from previous year before finalizing your inventory If you have items in lost from the previous year, you need to remove them before finalizing your inventory. Items moved to Lost last year were counted in last year s inventory. They must be removed from lost or they will be counted again. To remove items lost in previous years - Go to Tools Utilities Copies Locate the utility entitled Remove Lost Copies. Click on the utility title link Remove Lost Copies. Put in the dates you wish to delete. (The ending date should be the last date in the previous year s fiscal calendar June 30, 20XX- and the starting date can be Jan. 1, 1900) Example if you are doing in inventory in May 2012 you would use 1/1/1900 as the starting date and 6/30/2011 as the ending date. You should remove items that have been lost by patrons and from inventory that were accounted for the previous year during inventory. June 30, 2011 It is recommended that you leave in the books lost from this year s inventory until next year s inventory. That way you are giving them a second chance to show up before purging them from the system with the remove lost copies utility. Step 9 (optional) Run reports to determine what is in Lost and in Discard for the current year. To run these reports, go to Tools ReportsCirculation Special Items List Run the report for Copies Lost and for Copies Discarded. These reports can be used to re-order these materials if needed. 4
Step 10 - Run the Collapsed Super Summary report when finished with the above steps and use them to fill out the HISD Library Inventory form: Discarded items are indicated on this report and should be counted at inventory time and removed after the inventory is finalized. The same utility for removing lost books can be used for removing discards except you choose Discard under the Operation tab. See Step 8 for these directions. Removing books from discard needs to take place after your inventory report is completed. How to run Your Collapsed Super Summary report Go to Tools ReportsCopies Locate the report entitled Collection Analysis. Click on the report title link Collection Analysis. Click on the Selection tab. On the screen that appears confirm the following: Report type: Super Summary Format: Collapsed-Brief-Landscape Sort by: No Sort Inventory start date: <Your start date> Click on Print to generate the report. Landscape Go to File Page Setup and select 5
Your inventory can now be finalized. Use this Alex report to fill out the Library Inventory Report. Remember that: Books that are checked out are accounted for. For inventory purposes those books that are checked and not returned are not considered lost until you declare them lost and move them from the patron s name to Lost. Many books are returned during the summer every year. At the beginning of the next school year, you may choose to move loaned items to Lost if they have not returned. If the student is still in school, don t you want to continue to hold them accountable for the item? This is a site-based decision. Make copies for you, for your principal and for Library Services. Continue with Library Closedown Procedures. 6