• Article Type: General
• Product: Aleph
• Product Version: 19.01

Description:
In Aleph 19, once an item from the XXX01 library has been attached to a course, what is the best way to go in and update item information? The documentation says to use 'Change item information' from the circ client Items menu, or push the record to the cat client. Neither of these methods seems to allow for easy processing of large volumes of material: the first method doesn't take the item barcode from the lines selected in the reading list, so the barcode must be cut & paster; the second method requires bouncing back and forth between modules. Both methods involve entering the temporary item information each time.

Resolution:
The first step in putting an existing title/item on Reserve is to use the Search button in the Course Doc List to locate the title in the bib library and then click "Select" to link the title to the course.

From this point there are two different workflows:

1. Immediately change the item info (even though you don't have the item in hand).

2. Wait until you have the item in hand and then use the Items - "Change Item Information" function to change the item info.

As you note, the "Change Item Information" function does not work well in workflow #1: For each item, you need to click on "Change Item Information", enter the values, and cut/paste the barcode. And clicking on "Catalog" or "Cat Items" switches you to the Cataloging module.

#2 works well: You wait until you have a stack of items whose titles have been linked to courses, set the "Change Item Information" screen to the desired Sublibrary, item status, etc., and then scan the item barcodes one after another -- no need to re-enter the desired info.

If, for whatever reason, customers want to use workflow 1 rather than 2, then an enhancement is probably required. The enhancement would let you supply defaults (in circ.ini) for the Change Item Information values and/or automatically copy the barcode of the item highlighted in the Items tab in the bottom panel of the Course Doc List when "Change Item Information" is used to the "Enter Item Barcode" box.

• Article last edited: 10/8/2013