Managing Physical Resources
To add and/or manage physical resources, you must have the following roles:
- Physical Inventory Operator
- Physical Inventory Operator Extended (required for delete operations)
Adding Physical Resources
You create, edit, and delete physical resources – inventory that corresponds to physical items in your library – using various editors and jobs.
With Quick Cataloging, physical items can be added to your inventory. The following types of items can be added:
- Items for existing titles (add inventory to an existing holdings record) – Adding a Physical Item to an Existing Title
- New items (add inventory together with new holdings and bibliographic records) – Adding a New Book or Journal Article
Adding a Physical Item to an Existing Title
If your library already has bibliographic and holdings records for a title and you only need to add a new item (new inventory), you can use Quick Cataloging to add the new item. You must know the item’s barcode to complete this procedure.
To add an item to an existing title:
- From the Choose Holdings Type dialog box (Resources > Create Inventory > Add Physical Item), select the Existing option and select Choose. The Quick Cataloging page for existing resources appears.
- In the Resource Information section, find the title of your item.
- When you select your title, the Title field populates with your selection. The Library and Location fields populate based on the Title selection..
- Enter the barcode for the item and, optionally, add the following parameters:
- Description – The text you enter appears in the list of holdings for the item (see Working with the List of Holdings).
- Material Type – Use the magnifying glass drop-down menu or the find (arrow) icon to find and select a value for Material Type. The material type appears only in Primo’s Get It and Details tabs. For information on customizing the labels of the material types, refer to Configuring Physical Item Material Type Descriptions.
- Item Policy – Use the magnifying glass drop-down menu or the find (arrow) icon to find and select a value for Item policy.
- Public Note – Optional.
- Select Save. The item is added to the inventory. You are returned to the Alma home page.
For locations with RFID and an active RFID connection, you have the additional option to Write to RFID and Save. When the information has successfully been written to the RFID, the information is saved to the Alma database. For additional information, see RFID Support.If you only want to update information in the Alma database, select Save.
Adding a New Book or Journal Article
You can add a new item together with a new bibliographic and holdings record.
To add a new physical item to the inventory:
- From the Choose Holdings Type dialog box (Resources > Create Inventory > Add Physical Item), select the New option.
- Select the Citation Type (Book or Article) and select Choose. The Quick Cataloging form appears. The parameters for book and journal entries are different.
- Enter values in the Resource Information fields for the book or article using the table below. Where noted, some parameters are relevant only for a book or an article. In addition, the order of the parameters is different for books and articles.
- In the Item Information section, enter and select the name of the library where you want the item to be located, or select the arrow icon to open a list of the libraries and select one. Once you select a library, the page refreshes and additional fields appear below the Library field, including one additional required field. Enter the values for the Item Information section using the table below that provides a description of the parameters.
Item Information Fields Field Description Library The name of the library where the item is stored. Select the arrow to see a list of all existing available libraries. To change the library after entering it, select the broom icon to delete it and repeat the selection. Location The location within the library where the physical item is kept. Use the drop-down menu feature or select the arrow to open a list of available locations for this library. Barcode Enter the item's barcode. If you leave this parameter blank and you chose during your Alma implementation to implement barcode generation, a barcode will be automatically generated for the item when it is saved. If you have configured multiple barcode counter sequences, the default barcode counter sequence is used. See Configuring the Barcode Generation Method and Barcode Validation for more information.For locations with RFID and an active RFID connection as indicated by the connection icon (For additional information, see RFID Support.
), the barcode can be added for the Barcode parameter by selecting the RFID read icon (or Alt+A).Material Type The material type of the item. Use the drop-down menu or the arrow to open a list of possible types. The material type manifests itself only in Primo’s Get It/Details tabs. (For information on customizing the material type labels, see Configuring Physical Item Material Type Descriptions.) Item Policy The check-out policy for the item, as in term length and other restrictions. Use the drop-down menu or the arrow to open a list of available policies. Public Note A note that appears in Primo’s Get It/Details tab. - Select Save.
An Acquisition Technical Services work order is created. For an in-depth overview of work orders, see Physical Inventory - Defining and managing work orders in Alma.
This function is used for quick cataloging. The work order is used for complete cataloging at a later time.
For locations with RFID and an active RFID connection as indicated by the connection icon ( ), you have the additional option to Write to RFID and Save.
), you have the additional option to Write to RFID and Save.When you select Write to RFID and Save, the information is written to the RFID. When the information has successfully been written to the RFID, the information is saved to the Alma database. If you only want to update information in the Alma database, select Save.
For additional information, see RFID Support.
Setting Up Prediction Patterns to Automatically Create Serial Items
Alma supports prediction patterns to enable you to more easily manage serials. With prediction pattern support, it is possible to create serial items in advance of their receive date based on a prediction template.
This capability uses the 853-855 holdings record fields for the predicted item information such as enumeration, chronology, date, and so forth. With this feature, Alma provides many predictive pattern templates from which you can select to enter the 853-855 field information.
For holdings that have a prediction pattern, the c.uresolver.getit2.item_list..ACQ.with_expected_date label is invoked in the Primo Get It tab and appears as On order until <date>.
Once you have created the predicted items, they can be viewed using the Acquisitions Received Items List to manage their receipt. See the procedure To receive new physical material for more information regarding receiving continuous physical materials and processing claims.
Any PO lines that are associated with predicted items must include the Claiming grace period.
For more information about prediction pattern support for managing serials, see Presentations and Documents - Serials.
Creating a Holdings Record with Predictive Pattern Content
To create a holdings record with predictive pattern content:
- Locate the holdings record (connected to a physical subscription order type) to which you want to add the predictive pattern information and open it in the MD Editor.
(The order provides the vendor Subscription interval information that is used in combination with the Next Predicted’s Item Information to calculate the expected arrival date information.)
- Select Edit > Expand from Template, select a relevant predictive pattern template that fits your requirements from the ones provided in Alma, and select OK.
Since the journal used in this procedure is a quarterly publication, the Serial prediction quarterly months template is selected.
Quarterly Publication
Expand from Template Predictive Pattern OptionsThe system adds an 853 field row (or 854/855 field depending on which template you selected) to the holdings record and a 590 field row that contains a description of the template.
853/590 Rows Added to the Holdings RecordOptionally, you can manually enter the 853/854/855 field. See http://www.loc.gov/marc/holdings/hd853855.html for more information.You can also duplicate and edit a prediction pattern template to create your own prediction pattern template. See To create/customize prediction pattern holdings templates for more information. - Select the icon in the 853 (or 854/855) row to open the form with the next predicted item’s information. You can also select F3 to open the form when the 853 (or 854/855) is the active row or you can select Tools > MARC 21 Holdings > Next predicted item’s information. (You can also use F3 to open the form when you have manually entered the 853/854/855 field and no icon is displayed.)
Next Predicted Item's Information - Make any changes you require for the next predicted item and select Close. Your entries on this form (enumeration, chronology, and issue date) determine the beginning of the prediction pattern starting with the next predicted item. The issue date is the date of the first serial in the prediction patttern. Selecting Remove clears the form.
- Select Tools > MARC 21 Holdings > Open predicted item to view the pattern that Alma created for this holdings record. The predicted pattern that is created includes the expected arrival date (see the figure below).
Each prediction cycle is for one year. If you want to create predicted items for more than one year, you can repeat the Open predicted item step.The Subscription interval field in the linked order is be populated with the value, in days, of the continuous order (such as 30 for monthly, 90 for quarterly, and so forth).
Predicted Items Created - Select Save to save the predicted items that have been created, or select Discard if you do not want to save the predicted items. This closes the Predicted Items form.
- Select the Save Record icon when you have completed making your changes.
Creating/Customizing a Prediction Pattern Holdings Template
To create/customize prediction pattern holdings templates:
- Open the MD Editor.
- Select the Templates bar in the left pane, expand the MARC 21 Holdings folder, and expand the Shared folder.
- Select one of the prediction pattern templates provided by Ex Libris similar to the one you want to create and select Duplicate. The Template Properties dialog box appears.
- Optionally, make changes to the template properties such as Name and Description, and select Save. The system creates a duplicate of the template that you can customize.
- Select the copied template and select Edit. The template details appear in the right pane of the MD Editor.
- Customize the template to match your requirements and save your changes.
To view the holdings changes that you have made after creating predicted items:
- In the MD Editor, open the bibliographic record that has the holdings for which you created the predicted items.
- Select View Inventory (Tools > MARC 21 Bibliographic > View Inventory).
The predicted items that you created increment the No. of Items total that appears on the Holdings tab in the MD Editor (Tools > MARC Bibliographic > View Inventory) for the bibliographic record of this continuous holdings record.
Number of Items Increments for Bibliographic Record Holdings - Select View Items. The predicted items of the cycle were created with no receiving date (because they have not yet been received).
While viewing the details of the List of Items page, Open Predicted Items can be used to create another cycle of predicted items. See the next procedure, below, to create another cycle. For more information about the List of Items page, see Working with the List of Items.
- For one of the predicted items, select Actions > Edit to open the Physical Item Editor page. Note that the Expected receiving date was set by the prediction pattern.
Creating Additional Predicted Items Using Open Predicted Items
To create additional predicted items using Open Predicted Items from the List of Items page using Repository Search:
- Using search, enter the search criteria for the record to which you want to create an additional cycle of predicted items, and select the Items link. Depending on your workflow and the number of holdings records, you can also select Holdings to open the List of Holdings page (see Working with the List of Holdings), and then select View items. from the row actions. The List of Items Page appears with the Open Predicted Items option. For more information about the List of Items page, see Working with the List of Items.
- Select Open Predicted Items. The list of new Predicted Items appears. Note that the Tools option enables you to view/save the list in Excel format.
- Select Save Items to save the predicted items and close the list.
- Select Back to return to your search results page.
Receiving Predicted Items
To process/manage receiving predicted items:
As with receiving materials, you must be at your library’s acquisitions desk; see Receiving Physical Material.
- Open the Receive New Material page (Acquisitions > Receiving and Invoicing > Receive), and select the Continuous tab. See Receiving Physical Material for additional information regarding receiving continuous orders for physical materials and processing claims.
- Filter the Receive New Material page to locate the PO line that contains the predicted item(s) you want to receive.
- For the specific PO line containing the predicted item(s) that you want to receive, select the Manage Items row action. The Received Items List page appears. When receiving and managing items, you can tell which items have already arrived and which are still waiting to arrive by reviewing the Date Received column.
- Use the Sort routine, Receiving status, and Location options in the PO Line Items section to organize and locate the predicted item(s) to be received.
- Select Receiving date from the drop-down list for Sort routine.
- Select Not Received for the Receiving Status.
- Select the specific location/library for Location.
- Select the Receive row action for a specific predicted item, or select the check boxes for multiple rows and select Save and Receive to save and receive multiple items. When receiving items with a barcode, select the check box and scan the barcode. See the section Scanning Items for more information about scanning barcodes.
- Repeat the receiving steps above until you have completed receiving all the predicted items.
Working with the List of Items
The List of Items page lists physical items related to a physical title. This page appears after selecting:
- Items in the results after a search for a physical item (see Searching Alma)
- View all items in the Physical Item Editor (see Updating Item-Level Information)
The List of Items page provides the following columns of information:
- Barcode
- Library
- Location
- Call Number
- Item Call Number
- Year
- Volume
- Description
- Process Type
- Access Number
- Receiving Date
- Temporary Location
- Status
- No. of Requests
- Inventory Number
- Inventory Price
- Material Type
- Item Policy
- Copy ID
- MMS ID
The List of Items page contains the following filters:
- Status
The filtering options are All, Item not in place, and Item in place.
- Library
The filtering options for Library are dependent on the libraries that you have configured.
- Location
The filtering options for Location are dependent on the locations that you have configured.
- Year
The filtering options presented in the drop-down list are determined by the year content specified in the Chronology I parameter in the Physical Item Editor for the items listed.
- Volume
The filtering options presented in the drop-down list are determined by the volume content specified in the Enumeration A parameter in the Physical Item Editor for the items listed.
- Description
The filtering options presented in the drop-down list are determined by the description content specified in the Description parameter in the Physical Item Editor for the items listed.
- Receive Date
The filtering options are All, Received, and Not Received. This filter uses the date information provided in the Receiving date field as entered in the Physical Item Editor. When you select the Received option, the list is filtered to display all the items with a receiving date of today or earlier. Selecting the Not Received option filters the list to show only the records with a future date or no date specified in the Receiving date field.
For more information, see the Filter a List of Items video (0:47 mins).
The List of Items page contains the following page links:
- Resource description – Open the MARC simple Record View page for the bibliographic record. See Viewing Metadata Read-Only in the Simple Record View Page.
- Location – Open the MARC simple Record View page for the holdings record. See Viewing Metadata Read-Only in the Simple Record View Page.
- View all holdings – Open the List of Holdings page. See Working with the List of Holdings for more information.
The barcode link (Barcode column) opens the Physical Item Editor page, which enables you to filter the list of items by status and sort according to the sort routines that were configured (see Configuring Physical Item Sort Routines).
Items with an empty Description column are monographs. Items with text in the Description column are serials.
The following row actions are available:
- View hidden – View any hidden columns.
- View – View the item in the Physical Item Editor page.
- Edit – Edit the item in the Physical Item Editor page. For more information, see Updating Item-Level Information.
- Duplicate – Duplicate the item using the Physical Item Editor page. Note that internal and statical notes are also copied over to the new item when duplicating an existing item. For more information, see Updating Item-Level Information.
- Change Location – Submit a permanent or temporary move item request on the Create Request page. For more information, see Creating a Request.
- Withdraw (if you have the required permissions) – Delete the item, after confirming. Select OK to remove the item. For more information on withdrawals, see Withdrawing One or More Items.
- Toggle missing status – Toggle the item status between Item in place and Item not in place. The Process Type also toggles to Missing when the status is Item not in place. This option appears if there is no process type or if the process type is Missing, for roles with relevant privilege and scope.
- Work order – Create a work order process for the item on the Create Work Order page. For details on work order requests, see Creating a Work Order Request.
Buttons on the page enable you to perform an action on one or more of the item records by selecting the check box in the row for one or more records.
The List of Items section provides the following options/actions:
These actions are available for books only. For journals, the actions are available only from the List of Holdings and not from the List of Items.
- Add Item – Add an item in the Physical Item Editor. After entering the basic item information, if you have additional information to add to the tabs below (or view), use the Save and Edit option to display those tabs.
- ENUM/CHRON Information
- Notes
- History
- Bind Items – Select the check box of at least two items to bind the selected items together into one. For details, see Binding (Merging) Items in the List of Items below. This button is available if the item's associated bibliographic record has only one holdings record.
- Change Holdings – Link to a different holdings record on the List of Holdings page. For more information, see Working with the List of Holdings.
- Open Predicted Items – Opens the list of predicted items. See Setting Up Prediction Patterns to Automatically Create Serial Items for more information.
- Withdraw Items (if you have the required permissions) – Delete the item, after confirming. Select OK to remove the item. For more information on withdrawals, see Withdrawing One or More Items.
- Relink to Another Bib – Move from one bibliographic record to another bibliographic record. For more information, see Relinking Items to Another Bibliographic Record.
When the list of item records display over multiple pages, the button options are performed only on the selected rows on the current page that you are viewing. This is a known issue.
Binding (Merging) Items
You can select two or more items on the List of Items page (see Working with the List of Items) to combine them into a single physical item. Items can be bound only if they are in place, are not in the acquisition process, and have not been bound previously.
When items are bound together, the previous items are deleted and a new item, with no history, is generated.
The following links provide in-depth examples of binding workflows:
To bind items together:
- On the List of Items page, select the check boxes for two or more items and select Bind Items. The Bind Items – Items List page appears.
- Select Next. The Bind Items – Generate Work Order page appears.
- Optionally, select a work order type and work order department from the relevant fields, and add notes in the Note field. Choose from the following options:
- Select Create and Edit to create the newly bound item and open the Physical Item Editor page, where you can edit the item’s details (see Updating Item-Level Information).
- Select Create to create the newly bound item. The item appears as a single item on the List of Items page.
Relinking Items to Another Bibliographic Record
You can move individual items from one bibliographic record to another bibliographic record at the item level. For a holdings record that has multiple items attached to it, this means that you can move a single item from one bibliographic record to another instead of moving all the items attached to the holdings record.
When an item is relinked to a different bibliographic record and there are no more items associated with the bibliographic record:
- If the request is on the title level, the request is canceled.
- If the request is on the item level, the request moves with the item.
To relink items to another bibliographic record:
- On the List of Items page (see Working with the List of Items), select the item that you want to move and select Relink to another Bib. The Relink Items to Another Bibliographic Record page appears. Note that you may also select the Change Location row action for an item on the List of Items page to submit a move request. See Creating a Request for more information.
- Browse to enter a resource description. The Repository Search page appears.
- Complete a search for the bibliographic record to which you want to link.
- From the search results, select the title to which you want to relink the item, and select Select. The holdings for the title that you selected appear on the Relink Items to Another Bibliographic Record page.
You can also create a new holdings record (Add New Holdings) to which you can link the item that you want to move.
- Select the holdings record to which you want to relink the item, and select Select.
- If the item that you are moving is the last item linked to its previous holdings record, the system prompts you with the options below for handling the previous holdings record. Make a selection and select Go. You are returned to the List of Items page.
- Don't change the holdings record
- Delete the holdings record
- Suppress the holdings record from externalization
- Delete bibliographic record that have no other holdings
Updating Item-Level Information
The Physical Item Editor enables you to update item-level information for physical items.
Physical Item Editor, General Tab
New items can be created while working with records in the MD Editor. See Navigating the MD Editor and Add Item for more information.
To update item-level information for a physical item:
- Search for the physical item that you want to update. For more information, see Searching in Alma.
You must be searching for a physical item—not title—for this procedure to have the outcomes described below.
- Edit the item that you want to update. The Physical Item Editor page appears. See the tables below for a description of the parameters on the Physical Item Editor page organized by the following sections/tabs.
Physical Item Editor Page - Page Header Field Description Resource Description This identifies the title, author, and so forth. Select this link to open the bibliographic MARC simple Record View page. See Viewing Metadata Read-Only in the Simple Record View Page. Holdings This identifies the holdings record location information. Select this link to open the holdings MARC simple Record View page. See Viewing Metadata Read-Only in the Simple Record View Page. Barcode This identifies the barcode number for the item. Process type This identifies how the work order is being processed. See the General Tab table below for more information. Holdings ID This displays the holdings record ID number. Item ID This displays the item ID number. Status This specifies the status of the item (such as item in place). View all holdings Select this link to open the List of Holdings page associated with the item that you're editing. View all items Select this link to open the List of Items page that lists all the items associated with the same holdings record. Browse Shelf Listing Select to open the browse shelf listing where you can search for call numbers that can be copied and later pasted into the Physical Item Editor page when you select Back to return.When you use this option, it automatically fills the Library and Location parameters from the item record information and the Call Number Type (if it has one, determined by the Call Number Type configuration for Physical location on the Edit Physical Location page).See Browsing the Shelf Listing for more information.Physical Item Editor Page - General Tab Parameter Description Barcode This parameter identifies the item’s barcode. If the barcode parameter is empty, add a barcode using one of the following methods:- Manually type in a barcode.
- Select Generate. If your Barcode Generation Configuration is configured with multiple barcode counter sequences (see Configuring the Barcode Generation Method and Barcode Validation for more information), a pop-up appears from which you can choose the barcode generation sequence for this item.
If your Barcode Generation Configuration includes library-level barcode counter sequences, the system checks the holdings location displayed for the physical item that you are editing and presents the library-level barcode counter sequences for that library in addition to the institution-level barcode counter sequences that have been configured.If the system checks the holdings location displayed for the physical item that you are editing and determines that there is no library-level barcode counter sequence configuration for that location, only the institution-level barcode counter sequences appear in the pop-up dialog box.
- Select Save. If the barcode parameter is empty when you select Save and you have configured your system for automatic barcode generation, the system automatically creates a barcode for the item using the default barcode counter sequence (see Configuring the Barcode Generation Method and Barcode Validation for more information). As described above, if there is a library-level barcode counter sequence configuration that matches the holdings library, the default library-level barcode counter sequence configuration is used (when there are multiple library-level barcode counter sequence configurations for the same library). If there is no library-level barcode counter sequence configuration that matches the holdings library, the default institution-level barcode counter sequence configuration is used.
- For locations with RFID and an active RFID connection as indicated by the connection icon ( ), the barcode can be added/updated in the Barcode box by selecting the RFID read icon (or Alt+A). For additional information, see RFID Support.
Copy ID The item’s copy ID, used to identify individual copies of the same title when multiple copies exist at the same location. Material Type The item’s physical form, such as a book or CD-ROM. Select from the predefined drop-down list. Note that the material type manifests itself only in Primo’s Get It/Details tabs. (For information on customizing the material type labels, see Configuring Physical Item Material Type Descriptions.) Item Policy The item’s override policy for loan rules. Defines the conditions under which a request for this item can be fulfilled. Select from items in the drop-down list (see Configuring Item Policies). Provenance The provenance code indicating the item’s origin, as selected from options in the drop-down menu. To configure these options, see Configuring Provenance Codes. Is Magnetic Options are Yes or No. Specifies whether or not the item contains digital properties that may be damaged by a self-check machine. If Yes is selected, the self-check machine does not attempt to demagnetize the item, which can cause damage to the resource. The value would typically be Yes for items such as CD-ROMs and digital cassettes. Note that this parameter only appears after you have entered the basic, required information and selected Save and Edit.
Use the quick pick list icon to open the Select PO Line page to locate a PO line for the item.
After you have selected a PO line or if a PO line is already selected for the PO Line parameter and you have the appropriate role, select the View Details link to view more information regarding the selected PO line.
PO Line Selected in the Physical Item EditorOnly PO lines for physical standalone items appear in the list.Issue date The issue date generated from a prediction pattern. Receiving date The date the material was actually received/activated for the first time. Select the Receiving date box and select the receiving date from the calendar dialog box. Expected receiving date The date the item was expected to be received. Enumeration A
The main level of enumeration, usually the volume.
Note that this should be used only for serials.
Enumeration B
The second level of enumeration, such as quarter.
Note that this should be used only for serials.
Chronology I The main level of chronology, usually the year. Chronology J The second level of chronology, usually the month. Description (Generate) System or user-generated description based on entries in the Enumeration and Chronology fields above. Select Generate to have Alma enter the Description. To configure a description template, see Configuring Description Templates. This field determines if the physical item is monograph or serial. If the field is defined (contains any characters), the item is a serial (or possibly a multi-volume monograph with volume numbers that appear). If the field is empty, the item is a monograph.Only the first 256 characters of the description appear in the Primo Get It tab (in a drop-down list). It is recommended that the description be shorter than this so that it is properly visible in the Get It tab.Pages The item’s number of pages. Pieces The item’s number of pieces. Replacement cost The charge administered to the patron if the item is lost. Receiving operator The Operator who received the item Process type How the work order is currently being processed. When selecting a value in this field, the At field displays the location in which the work order is performed. After saving the item, the following information appears on the Repository Search page:- Process type: How the work order is currently being processed
- Status: Value is Item not in place
This information also appears on the Resource Request Monitoring page (see Managing Requests and Work Orders).To remove an existing work order from an item, clear this field when accessing the Physical Item Editor page from the Edit link for an item. The Status of the item displays on the Repository Search page as Item in place.For more information about assigning a work order process to an item, see the Assign a Process to an Item video (2:54 mins).Physical Condition Select one of the following options to identify the physical condition of the item: - Brittle
- Damaged
- Deteriorating
- Fragile
After a physical condition has been identified and saved with the item record, this information can be selected for publishing when publishing physical inventory and used as criteria for advanced search. When running the Change physical items job, Physical Condition is available as a parameter for changing other fields.At A work order department for the work order that appears in the Process type field. After saving the item, value of this field (that is, the location of the item) displays on the Repository Search page as the At: field value.Inventory Information: Inventory Number Enter/allocate an inventory number for this physical item, up to 20 characters. You can enter a number manually. If inventory numbers are configured for your library (see Configuring Physical Item Sequences), select Allocate to enter the next number. If more than one numbering sequence is defined for the library, select the desired sequence from the Sequence List dialog box and select Select. If you want to, you can use the same number for multiple physical items.Inventory Date
Enter or select an inventory date.
If you select Allocate to set an inventory number, this field is populated with today's date. If required, select an alternate date.
Inventory Price The price of the item. If you select Allocate to set an inventory number, the price is taken from the PO line, if one exists (using the currency of the PO line). You can change this to reflect the item's actual value to the library (how much it will cost to replace, for example). For values less than 1, enter a leading 0. For example, 0.44, not .44.The value is assumed to be in the default currency for your institution. For more information, see Configuring Currency Subsets.Clear Inventory Information (button) Use this option to clear all inventory parameters in this section. Note that this does not apply to the other numbers/date information for Receiving and Weeding. Receiving number
Enter/allocate a receiving number for this physical item. Note that this parameter only appears when a Receiving Number sequence is configured (see Configuring Physical Item Sequences).
You can enter a number manually or select Allocate if receiving sequence numbers are configured for your library. When you select Allocate, the next number in the sequence is added to this parameter. If more than one numbering sequence is defined for the library, select the desired sequence from the Sequence List dialog box and select Select. If you want to, you can use the same number for multiple physical items.
Weeding number
Enter/allocate a weeding number for this physical item. Note that this parameter only appears when a Weeding Number sequence is configured (see Configuring Physical Item Sequences).
You can enter a number manually or select Allocate if weeding sequence numbers are configured for your library (see Configuring Physical Item Sequences). When you select Allocate, the next number in the sequence is added to this parameter. If more than one numbering sequence is defined for the library, select the desired sequence from the Sequence List dialog box and select Select. If you want to, you can use the same number for multiple physical items.
Weeding date
Enter or select a weeding date for this physical item. Note that this parameter only appears when a Weeding Number sequence is configured (see Configuring Physical Item Sequences).
If you select Allocate to set a weeding number, this field is populated with today's date. If required, select an alternate date.
Location Information: Permanent Location Select the permanent library and library location. The holdings will be deleted if there are no other items in the original location.Item Call Number Type Select an alternative identification number type for the call number from the drop-down list. The options in the drop-down list vary depending on how your system is configured. Some examples of options include: - Library of Congress classification
- Dewey Decimal classification
- National Library of Medicine classification
- Source specified in subfield $2 (see Source (Subfield 2) for more information)
Item Call Number The call number for the specific item when it may differ from the call number which may be present in the holdings record. Source (Subfield 2) Enter the call number source that is equivalent to the $2 in the holdings record. This is relevant when the call number type is Source specified in subfield 2. See Browsing the Shelf Listing for more information. Storage Location ID The ID number of the location where the item is stored. ~~~~~ Enter a prefix and/or use it in combination with Generate and/or Calculate, as described below.~~~~~Generate Generate an item call number using any of the following methods: - Leave the Choose prefix parameter blank and select Generate.
If the holdings library for the item does not match a library in one of the sequence configurations, the system looks for an institution-level sequence configuration.If the holdings library for the item matches a library in one of the sequence configurations and there is more than one sequence configuration, a pop-up dialog box appears with a list of sequence configurations from which you can choose.
- Enter the exact prefix for the sequence configured in the Accessions Numbers configuration (see Configuring Accession Numbers for more information) and select Generate. When the system finds a matching sequence configuration, the system responds with the following message:
An accession number sequence with the prefix <prefix> was selected and will be used to generate the call number upon save. The expected value is <expected value>.
- Enter the first few characters of a sequence configured in the Accessions Numbers configuration (see Configuring Accession Numbers for more information) and select Generate. The system looks for a matching prefix configured in the Accessions Numbers configuration using starts with matching logic. If it finds multiple matches, a pop-up dialog box appears with a list of sequence configurations from which you can choose.
The number that is generated will be determined by the matching sequence found in the Accession Numbers configuration (see Configuring Accession Numbers for more information). The number is generated after you select Save.The Other Settings parameter item_call_numbers_generate_enable must be set to true for Generate to appear (see Configuring Other Settings (Resource Management) for more information).For more information on generating an item call number, watch the Generate Alternative and Temporary Item-Level Call Numbers video (2:51 mins).Calculate Use Calculate to create an alternative item-level call number based on existing call numbers in the Alma repository. Enter a full prefix for the Choose prefix parameter to help the system locate a matching prefix in the Alma repository in order to create a call number.The call number that is created is generated after you select Save.Your system may be configured to use both Calculate and Generate on the Physical Item Editor page or only one of either of these features.Calculate needs to be configured by Ex Libris.Due to a technical issue, when using Calculate with both the Alternative and Temporary call numbers for the same prefix at the same time, an identical sequence is calculated and saved in both.When enabled for your institution, the use of Calculate can be restricted at the library-level so that only institution-level sequence configurations can be used. See Library for configuration information regarding the Disable Item Call Number Calculation option.Temporary Location Information: Item is in Temporary Location (Yes/No) Whether the item is located in a temporary location. Setting this to No does not clear the item's temporary library and location values (see the next two fields). There are some situations in which you might want to mark the item's temporary library and location before indicating that the item actually is in that location.You can remove items' temporary location indications in bulk using the Change physical items job. See Performing Global Changes on Physical Item Records for more information.For more information about modifying this setting using the Change Physical Items job, see the Remove Temporary Item Location Indicator video (5:27 mins).Temporary Location Select the temporary library and library location.A temporary library must be specified in order for the Choose prefix, Generate, and Calculate features to appear for a temporary location.Temporary Call Number Type The call number type used for the item at the temporary location. Temporary Call Number The item’s call number when using the temporary call number type at the temporary location. Source (Subfield 2) Enter the call number source that is equivalent to the $2 in the holdings record. This is relevant when the call number type is Source specified in subfield 2. See Browsing the Shelf Listing for more information. Temporary Item Policy The item’s temporary override policy. Policies are configured and appear in the drop-down list. Choose prefix Enter a prefix and/or use it in combination with Generate and/or Calculate. Generate Generate a temporary call number using the methods describe above for Generate. See Temporary Library for more information. Calculate Use Calculate to create a temporary item-level call number based on existing call numbers in the Alma repository. See Calculate and Temporary Library above for more information. Due to a technical issue, when using Calculate with both the Alternative and Temporary call numbers for the same prefix at the same time, an identical sequence is calculated and saved in both.Due Back Date The date the item is due back from the lender. Physical Item Editor Page - Notes Tab Note Type Description Max Length Public note Note content displayed in the Primo Get It tab under the Holdings column. See Displaying Public Notes. 400 characters Fulfillment note Note content displayed during the circulation process. For example, the content may contain the statement “Check for discs” to prompt the circulation desk at item checkin. 400 characters Internal Notes: Internal note 1 Note content for internal use by Alma staff. 400 characters Internal note 2 Note content for internal use by Alma staff. 400 characters Internal note 3 Note content for internal use by Alma staff. Specifically, this note may contain content regarding a shipped resource sharing lending item, as sent to Alma by the NCIP source system in the NCIP message's shipping note. The shipping note appears in the following format:||Shipping Note||<text of shipping note>||Shipping Note||The shipping note is used by NCIP implementers, such as OCLC Navigator, to update the library system with additional information about shipped resource sharing lending items such as information about the resource itself, the requester, and the locations from where it is requested and is to be picked up.400 characters Statistics Notes: Statistics note content is selected from a customized drop-down list that you configure. See Configuring Statistics Notes for information about configuring fixed drop-down lists of options for statistics notes.Statistics note 1 Note content selected and saved is exposed in Analytics under New > Analysis > Physical Items. 4000 characters Statistics note 2 Note content selected and saved is exposed in Analytics under New > Analysis > Physical Items. 4000 characters Statistics note 3 Note content selected and saved is exposed in Analytics under New > Analysis > Physical Items. 4000 characters The Operator column appears only for managers and administrators. See Configuring Users' Ability to View Operator Details. - Select one or more of the following tabs to view or make changes to the physical item’s information:
- General Information (see the Physical Item Editor Page - General Tab table above)
- ENUM/CHRON Information (see the Physical Item Editor Page - ENUM/CHRON Tab table above)
- Notes (see the Physical Item Editor Page - Notes Tab table above)
- History (see the Physical Item Editor Page - History Tab table above)
- Select Save when you have completed making your changes.
For locations with RFID and an active RFID connection as indicated by the connection icon (When you select Write to RFID and Save, the information is written to the Alma database. When the information has successfully been written to the Alma database, the information is saved to the RFID. If there is more than one piece specified for the Pieces parameter, you are prompted for handling the additional pieces. See below for an example of the prompt. For additional information, see RFID Support. ), you have the additional option to Write to RFID and Save.If you only want to update information in the Alma database, select Save.
Deleting Physical Items (Withdrawals)
A withdrawal is the process of deleting items from the catalog to ensure that the catalog is up to date and represents only those items that are actually in the collection. Although withdrawn items do not appear in Alma and are not published to Primo, librarians and staff users can view a historical record of these items in Analytics reports. Withdrawn items appear as Lifecycle = Deleted in Analytics.
This section describes the methods that are used to withdraw items (one or more items, or a set of items).
Withdrawing One or More Items
To delete an item from the physical inventory, you must have the following role:
- Physical Inventory Operator Extended
There are two methods for withdrawing (deleting) items on the Items List page. One option is to use the Withdraw row action to withdraw one item at a time. The other option is to use the check box column to select more than one item and select Withdraw items.
While withdrawing an item, you can delete or suppress holdings records that do not have any items. Depending on the settings of the following parameters in the Customer Parameters table (Resource Management > Configuration Menu > Other Settings), Alma may also suppress bibliographic records:
- suppressBibWithDeletedHol – If set to true, Alma suppresses bibliographic records whose holdings records are deleted.
- suppressBibWithSuppressedHol – If set to true, Alma suppresses bibliographic records that contain only suppressed holdings records.
If suppressBibWithSuppressedHol is set to false, Alma publishes the bibliographic record.In a scenario where you have a title with just one item and a process type that is excluded from publishing (such as Acquisition), the associated holdings is suppressed as well. The parameter suppressBibWithSuppressedHol thus controls whether the bibliographic record is published.See Excluding Resources with Specific Process Types from Publishing for more information.
See Configuring Other Settings for more information regarding configuring suppressBibWithSuppressedHol and suppressBibWithDeletedHol
To withdraw one or more items:
- Search for the item(s) that you want to withdraw (see Searching in Alma).
- In the search results row containing the item(s) that you want to withdraw, select Items.
Depending on the type of search that you initiated and what's available in your inventory, selecting Items may display different results.
- If you selected an All titles search or a Physical titles search and there is only one holdings records, the List of Items page appears with Withdraw items. For more information about the List of Items page, see Working with the List of Items.
- If you selected an All titles search or a Physical titles search and there are multiple holdings records, you must select View all holdings and select the View Items row action for the specific holdings record (see Working with the List of Holdings) from which you want to withdraw multiple items.
- If you selected a Physical items search and the holdings record contains a single item, the Physical Item Editor page appears first. Select View all items to display the List of Items page.
- Process one of the following withdrawal actions:
- Select the Withdraw row action and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
If the last item was removed from the holdings record, the Last Item dialog box appears.
Last Item Dialog BoxSelect one of the following options and then select Go.- Don’t change the holdings record – Select this option if you do not want to withdraw or suppress the holdings record.
- Delete the holdings record – Select this option if you want to withdraw the holdings record.
- Suppress the holdings record from externalization – Select this option if you do not want to withdraw the holdings record, but you want to prevent the record from appearing in Primo or an external discovery system.
- Delete bibliographic records that have no other holdings – Select this option if you want to delete the bibliographic record with which the item is associated if the bibliographic record has no other holdings. In this case, both the holdings record and the bibliographic record with which the item is associated are deleted.
- Use the check box column to select one or more items and select Withdraw items.
This option currently appears only when there is a single holdings record.
- Select the Withdraw row action and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
Withdrawing Sets of Items
You can withdraw items from either a physical titles or physical items set by running the Withdraw Items job. For more information, see Running Manual Jobs on Defined Sets.
Performing Global Changes on Physical Item Records
To update physical inventory, you must have the following role:
- Repository Manager
- Repository Administrator
You can update item-level information for physical items. You must first add the items to a set.
After the job is run, the job report identifies how many records were updated and whether any records failed.
When running the Change Physical Item job changes an item's location, a new holdings record is created with the new location. If the previous holdings record with the old location was linked to a PO line, the PO line link is broken. Manually reassociate the PO line using the Actions > Associate a PO Line option on the List of Holdings page (see Working with the List of Holdings).
To perform global changes on item-level information:
Run the Change Physical Item job. For more information, see Running Manual Jobs on Defined Sets.
Managing Physical Item Inventory Using Shelf Reporting
To manage physical item inventory using shelf reporting, you must have one of the following roles:
- Repository Manager
- Physical Inventory Operator
- Fulfillment Services Manager
The Shelf Report provides you with an efficient process for managing the library’s inventory. Using the Shelf Report functionality, you are able to manage Physical Inventory to see if items are in place, misshelved, or missing.
You can take an Excel file or a .txt file containing barcodes and compare that information with the information stored in the Alma database to identify items that are misshelved or are missing from inventory. Specify the following criteria to identify the records in Alma that you want to compare with the Excel or .txt file:
- Library
- Location
- Alma inventory range (by call number) or Alma inventory set (by set name)
The Shelf Report tool runs the Shelf Report job that provides a report with the following information to help you identify where you have issues with your physical inventory:
- Number of items in place - Items in the input file with the status In place.
- Number of known items that are not in place - Items that were not in the input file with status Not in place.
- Number of items on the shelf but are marked not in place in the database - Items that were in the input file but with the status Not in place.
- Number of missing items that are marked in place in the database - Items that were not in the input file but with status In place.
- Number of items on the shelf but are out of the range specified or not in the set specified - Items with a barcode in the input file that match an item in inventory but the item is not in the range or set.
- Number of barcodes with no matched item in the database - Items with a barcode in the input file that do not match any items in inventory.
From the report results, you can access a robust set of options for managing your inventory. You can preview the items flagged in the report (from the Repository Search results page), create an itemized set of the items flagged in the report, or download a list of barcodes (for items with no match).
For more information about the Shelf Report for managing physical item inventory, see the Shelf Tool For Managing Physical Inventory video (4:37 mins).
To submit a Shelf Report job:
Review the procedure below in its entirety to understand what prerequisites must be completed before submitting a Shelf Report job.
- Create the Excel or .txt file to be used by the Shelf Report job (for example, by using a hand-held scanner. The file must contain the barcodes of the items that you want to check against the Alma inventory.
- Open the Shelf Report page (Resources > Manage Inventory > Shelf Report).
- In the Inventory section, identify the type of Shelf Report job you want to run by specifying Range or Set for the Inventory definition parameter.
- For both Range and Set Shelf Report jobs, you must specify the Library and Location for the shelf inventory that you are checking. The library and location information defined in Alma is provided in drop-down lists from which you can select this information.
- If you are submitting a Range Shelf Report job, provide the following additional criteria:
- Call number type – The call number type such as Library of Congress classification or Dewey Decimal classification.
- From call number – The beginning call number in the range of call numbers in the Alma inventory to be compared with the barcodes in the Excel or .txt file (identified based on "starts with").
- To call number – The last call number in the range of call numbers in the Alma inventory to be compared with the barcodes in the Excel or .txt file (identified based on "starts with").
- Set name – The set of items. If the set contains items in a library or location that is not chosen in the job filter, these items are disregarded. For example, if the set has an item in the Law library and Stacks location and the filter selected is for the Law library and Reference location, the item in the set from the Law library and Stacks location is disregarded and not used in the report.
- In the Select File section, specify the Excel or .txt file to be used by the Shelf Report job. This is the file that you previously created (perhaps by using a hand-held scanner) that contains the barcodes of the items that you want to check against the Alma inventory that you have identified by either a range of call numbers or by a set that you have specified in the Inventory section above.
The format of the Excel or .txt should be one barcode per row, and the first row should be the heading Barcode. See below for an example.
Excel or .txt Barcode List - Select Submit. A Shelf Report job is queued for processing.
See the procedure To review the results of a Shelf Report job below for more information.
To review the results of a Shelf Report job:
- Open the Monitor Jobs page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Monitor Jobs).
- When your Shelf Report job completes, select the History tab.
- Select Report from the row actions for the Shelf Report job that you want to review. The Job Report page provides details that are organized into the following sections:
- Header information that provides the processing details of the job such as Process ID, start and end processing time, and so forth
- Job criteria that you specified in the Shelf Report request
- Analysis results of the comparison between the Alma inventory and the file of barcodes that you specified in the Shelf Report request
-
Expand the Analysis section to view the following result details:
- Items in place
- Missing items but marked in place
- Items on shelf but marked not in place
- Known items not in place
- Items on shelf but out of range/set
This indicates that the item is on the shelf but not in the correct shelf location.
- Barcodes with no matched item
- For rows 1 through 5 in the Analysis section, select Preview Items from the row actions to view the first 50 results in the Repository Search results page or select Create Itemized Set from the row actions to create a set (of all results) that you can use for further processing. For row 6, select Download List to create an Excel or .txt file (determined by what you used in the Shelf Report request) to do further processing with the barcodes that had no matched items.