Background
Item records in Alma provide the basis for a wide range of operations in technical and public services, such as checking things in/out, placing requests, billing, labeling, binding, tracking of in-process materials, and compiling statistics. Every item record in Alma must be attached to a holdings record, which is attached to the bibliographic (bib) record.
Clarification on the use of this document
At the Circulation Desk, DO NOT use these instructions. Your guidelines are covered in Circulation quick cataloging item creation (forthcoming).
Technical Processing Staff, follow the instructions below only in the absence of any specific procedure. See also: Items - editing, required fields info
Scenarios
When to create a new item record
- for any volume new to the collection that is a monograph (single-volume or MVM) and hasn’t had the item record created in the acquisitions or cataloging process
- for accompanying material that is shelved and circulated separately
- for any other piece or unit in the library's collection that you want to display in the catalog as a distinct item (note: a real barcode is optional for rare or fragile items, but Alma will assign a unique “faux barcode” [e.g. ucb00076137] to each item record as it is created if you don’t add a real barcode)
- use an item record to represent any actual, physical, (usually) barcoded piece in the library's collections
Newly received serial issue item records are handled differently
- in Alma unbound issues of serials have individual item records (with Alma-generated faux barcodes) prior to being processed for binding. In order for the Acquisitions Receiving module to properly track receipt/payment, unbound serial issues item records should be predicted or created ad-hoc through the Acquisitions Receiving module rather than using the directions below. Please refer new unbound serial issues without item records to your Technical Processing staff
- for "comes bound" or "treated as comes bound" serial issues use the Acquisitions Receiving module to create the item record and receive the issue. Please refer new serial issues like this without item records to your Technical Processing staff
- use the Alma Bind tool to combine multiple unbound units into a bound unit, whether the unit is being sent to Bindery Preparation Division (BPD) for binding or Preservation (CONS) for boxing/encasement
Do NOT create any item record
- for accompanying material that is not shelved and circulated separately
- for analytic titles--there should already be an item record for the volume attached or related to the parent set title record
Creating a new Alma item record
- Check to see if the item can be added to an existing cataloged bib using Monographs: Additional copies added at shelving locations.
- If you’re at the Circulation Desk and there’s no matching bib record or there’s a matching bib but no holdings record for your library using the same call number as the piece in your hand, refer to the Circulation quick cataloging item creation document (forthcoming).
- If you’re Tech Processing staff and there’s no matching bib record for a piece in hand, follow Quick cataloging new item/bib creation (to send to Metadata Services) (forthcoming).
If you’re adding a new item to a newly cataloged bib, see Items - editing, required fields info for basic outline. See When to edit an item record for further details on filling in various item record fields (e.g., how to format a Description field).
When to edit an item record
At the Circulation Desk, DO NOT use these instructions. Your guidelines are covered in Circulation quick cataloging item creation (forthcoming).
Technical Processing Staff, follow the instructions below only in the absence of any specific procedure. See also: Items - editing, required fields info
When you’re absolutely sure there’s an existing item record that’s a match to the copy in your hand but you need to modify any of the following fields:
Required for all item records:
Required for serials and multi-part titles:
Optional:
- Notes
- Replacement Cost
- Item Call Number (including adding a prefix)
Editing existing item records:
The following tasks should only be completed by Tech Processing or cataloging staff when you’re absolutely sure there’s an existing item record that’s a match to the piece in your hand. If the piece has a barcode, search Physical items by Barcode, and click on the barcode in the search results to edit the item record, then you can make the following changes (click on Save when you’re done!):
Add Notes
- click on the Notes tab
- Notes that need to be seen when the item is checked out or returned (notes about existing damage, checking for materials in pockets, directions to route to Tech Services) belong in Fulfillment Notes
- Notes that do not have to do with item condition or routing upon check-in should be recorded according to the Internal note 1 format guidelines
Correct the CopyID
- if the spine label is already marked as a different copy number than what the item record says
- if you have multiple pieces, none of which are marked with a copy number (common when merging collections)
- if you have multiple pieces and all are marked with the same copy number (common when merging collections)
- in the latter two cases, don’t forget to replace the spine labels on the piece(s) you’ve renumbered!
- also in the latter two cases, check NRLF holdings for any copies already held by the library that receives the merged copy (e.g., also check for 'nbma' holdings if the library is merging with MAIN)
Correct the Description
Please note: corrections to Descriptions often also require adjustments to the 866/867/868 fields in the holdings record.
- for MVMs, use v. in lowercase with no space between the period and numbering (e.g., v.3).
- serials are typically marked with v. or no. (e.g., v.127, no.359) or by date (e.g. 1999, May 2017, spring-summer 2005).
- when a level change is used on a piece do not include the level change designation, instead use a colon to separate the numbers (e.g. v.42:3 or v.86:9-12, v.7:1:5:3a)
- typically for serials where a mistake was made when the issue was predicted as an unbound or when binding was done
- also done to annotate gaps within the piece that weren’t recorded in the item record when it was created. Gaps in multi-issue serial volumes should be noted in a separate parenthetical after the numbering and chronological information, e.g., v.27 (1993) (lacks v.27:4).
- note that chronological parentheticals are not added to MVM Description fields and MVMs rarely need lacks notes
Correct the Item Policy
This should only be done under the authorization of the Circulation Manager
- for items that migrated with the wrong Item Policy
- for items need to be Library Use Only but weren’t set that way
- may need to be updated when moving an item to another sublocation
Correct the Material Type
This should only be done under the authorization of the Circulation Manager or Tech Processing because corrections may also need to be made to the cataloging, not just the item record
- for items that migrated with the wrong Material Type (there are many)
- for items that were created with the wrong Material Type (not common)
Change the Permanent Shelving Location
This should only be done via the item record if there is only one piece for this title in your library (do not do this for serials or any other multi-volume record!) and should be authorized by the Circulation Manager. Serials, MVMs, and multi-copy monographic items have separate documentation forthcoming. Refer to your Tech Lead if work needs to be done in these situations before the documentation on holdings changes is released.
- for single monographic item records (with no other copies or related items on the bib) that migrated with the wrong Permanent Location or had their Permanent Location set incorrectly
- for single monographic item records (with no other copies or related items on the bib) that are being permanently moved into a different sublocation within your Library
- DO NOT use this for serials, MVMs, or multiple-copies of an SVM (documentation forthcoming)
- DO NOT use this for Transferring to another Library (documentation forthcoming)
Add a Replacement Cost
If the value of an item is over $150 this field should be filled in
- added by the owning library at time of new receipt, if necessary
- added by owning library when it’s clear that an item is going to be billed and it’s discovered that a replacement would cost more than $150
Add a prefix
- if a prefix needs to be added that’s true for all copies under this call number and shelving location
- edit the holdings record
- in the 852 field, after the $$i field, add $$k and the prefix code
- if the prefix you need on the piece does not apply to all of the copies using the same call number in the same shelving location (e.g., a special provenance code)
- use an item record Item Call Number field with the prefix entered at the front of the call number, then a space, then copy the Call Number from the holdings record with spaces in place of the subfield codes
- set the Item Call Number Type field to Library of Congress classification (or the appropriate option if a different numbering method is used)
Resolve an Item Call Number situation
- decisions need to be made about whether to eliminate the individual Item Call Number and relabel/reshelve the piece to match the holdings or to create separate holdings under different call numbers so the pieces are clearly shown in UC Library Search
- these decisions may need to be referred to selectors and/or shelving/circulation managers before they can be resolved
Fix the barcode
If the piece you’re working on does not have a barcode, but you’re sure you’ve found the right record to match it and the barcode field is empty or contains an Alma-generated barcode (starts with “ucb”) you may:
- add a Barcode where there was none
- From a Physical Items or Physical Titles list, choose Items from the … More Actions menu (or if you see an Items button next to … click on that), then on the List of Items page choose Edit from the … More Action menu
- If necessary, select any existing text in the Barcode field, then scan your new barcode (this will likely save and close the item record; if it does not, click on the Save button)
Special use item records – inventory control item record
Occasionally, for special projects, units may create a single item record to track use of multiple pieces of a material type or a title as a group via in-house use counts. We are referring to these as inventory control item records to distinguish them from regular item records that represent a specific individual piece in the collection. The Item Policy field must be set to “Inventory Control” so that the inventory control item cannot be requested in the UC Library Search view (nor via an Alma request). If attached to a multi-part bib with other item records, the Item Description field should say Inventory Control to distinguish it from actual library materials.
Inventory control item records may be attached to a fully cataloged bib if the use needs to be tracked at the title level, such as the former “Use Study” items that were attached to every serial title with unbound pieces to track in-house use of any unbound issue of the title over time.
Alternatively, inventory control item records may be attached to a brief, suppressed Institution Zone (IZ) bib created to represent a group of bibs. For example, in BIOS, all of the microfiche, which have individual bibs and item records (with or without circulation barcodes) but don’t circulate, are represented by a single suppressed brief record with a circulation barcode that is used to create a cumulative count all in-house use of any microfiche title in BIOS.
By jcripe on 05-02-2024