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Handouts, resources and display documents for the class

Handout – Items and Holdings Handout - 1 pager.docx (word doc)

Display – Items Holdings practice exercises_version 2.docx – or –  Items Holdings practice exercises.docx

Links to any pre-reading and reference documents

• Items - Material types for reference
• Item Policies for reference
• Moving Holdings and Items for reference
  

Outline for the class and links to related documentation

Script for the class

Introduction

Welcome to the Items & Holdings class. In this class, we will look at items and holdings for physical materials across functional areas (acquisition, cataloging, circulation). This class will include time for hands-on practice.

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• Please log into your computer and navigate and login to Alma at this time.
  
  

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Items

Let's begin our work by looking at items. In this section, we will review general information about items, try the on the fly "add physical item" process, review editing items, and look at deleting (which Alma calls withdrawing) items.

General Background

Items records cross over into most functional areas – from ordering, to cataloging, to inventory maintenance, to de-acessioning.  For that reason, they are part of this class for staff across functional areas.

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In Alma, all items are attached to holdings. This is a core difference from Aleph. A holding may or may not have an item.  

Understanding how Alma Inventory is structured

Ex Libris has created diagrams that show how data in Alma is structured. You may remember seeing this structure of Alma inventory in your Intro or Search & Sets class.

Show images on this page: Items & Holdings

How items function in Alma

• A bib may have a holding without items.
  
  • Examples are an analyzed monographic series, a multipart work, or an older serial:
    
    • First, let's look at a monographic series: Conduct an "All Titles" search for MMS ID 990091802930203941 (Archaeological studies Leiden University) - If not already expanded, click "Expand > All"  This record has only Holdings (no Items). 
    • Now, let's look at a mulipart work: Conduct an "All Titles" search for MMS ID 990074312040203941 (Oxford history of art) - If not already expanded, click "Expand > All"  This record also only has Holdings (no Items)
    • Some of our older serial tiles do not have items : Conduct an "All Titles" search for MMS ID 990051690120203941 (Quarterly digest of statistics (Accra, Ghana : 1959) - If not already expanded, click "Expand > All" This record also only has Holdings (no Items)
      

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• • Please note that because not all physical items held have item records, these summary statements may not reflect actual holdings. (If you are interested in an example: Ghana living standards survey (MMS ID 990027316770203941). We also hold v. 1-4, but they do not have item records.)
    
    
    
     
    
    

• I need to highlight a major vocabulary change in Alma related to the term Item Status.
  
  

  • In Aleph, the field called "Item Status" was used to define terms of use (loan policy) for an item.  This data migrated to a field called "Item Policy" in Alma, which is used along with Location to determine terms of use for an item.  
    
    

  • The Item status that displays in Alma  is determined automatically by the system and is one of two values:
    
    

    • Item in place (item is not checked out, in transit, or in process)

    • Item not in place (item is in process, transit, or checked out)
      
      

      • Any time something is not in place the "availability" status will be "unavailable." (Appropriate request links will still be present in the public catalog).

      • Ex.: Conduct a "Physical Items" search for Barcode 32044021628698 (A Scots quair) - Note that the Status is "Item not in place"
        
        

• Item Process type is another significant vocabulary change – this should not be confused with the Aleph Item Processing Status.  In Alma, Item Process type is used when an item is undergoing some kind of library processing or circulation activity. Process types are defined centrally for Harvard. Note, this is not the same as the Aleph Item Processing Status (IPS).  In many cases, Aleph IPS migrated to Alma Item Internal Notes. If you have question about migrated data points for items, please refer to the item data mapping guide.
  
  

  • • Items are marked with a process type of Tech Services Work Order when an item is in any stage of the Technical Services workflow.

    • Items are marked with a process type of Technical - Migration when the item was at certain Aleph IPS value and has not yet been updated by LTS via batch job, or manually updated by staff. 

    • There are a number of circ-related process types defined by Alma:

      • Claimed Returned

      • Hold Shelf

      • Loan

      • Lost

      • Missing

      • Resource Sharing Request

      • Transit

    • In some cases the process type reflects an item in a Work Order (e.g. technical service processing), and in other cases process type reflects a circulation-related status (e.g. missing).

      • Work order process types show up as options in the item record process type drop down list. The item process type in the header can list work order types, or circ-related types.

      • Ex.: Conduct an "All Titles" search for MMS ID 990087654890203941 (Theodore Rex) and click on Items
        

Creating Items

Item creation occurs at various times based on workflow and type of material.

• You may create an item when you are doing "quick cataloging" or "on the fly" item creation, such as when an item is found in the stacks but it doesn't appear to exist in the catalog. 
  • A holding will be automatically created based on the item values selected.

• Items may also be created during the process of placing an order, or when cataloging.

"Quick Cataloging"

I am going to show you a method for quickly adding an item to the system, using the Resources > Create Inventory > Add Physical Item function.  

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Practice time (show instructions on screen): Please try this Quick Cataloging Add Physical Item process. 

Editing items

Now we will cover updating existing items.

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Practice time (show instructions on screen): Now try searching for an item via a Physical Title search or Physical Item search, make some edits to the item, and save your edits.

Deleting (withdrawing) an item - overview

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.

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While withdrawing an item, you can delete or suppress holdings records that do not have any other items.

Withdrawing one or more items - steps

Search for the item(s) that you want to withdraw.

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Practice time (show instructions on screen): Let's try deleting the items you create during the quick cataloging process.

Additional documents about Items

Before we move on to holdings records, I want to show you some reference documents on the LTS wiki regarding items:

• Items - Material types for reference
• Item Policies for reference
• Item Statuses, Process Types, and Fields – has migration info, and a link to a full list of all item fields, with descriptions, at the Ex Libris documentation site.

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Holdings

We will now turn our focus to holdings records.  In this portion of the class, we will walk through viewing, editing, and creating holdings records.

Viewing holdings

• First, I'll search for a title using either the all titles search or physical titles search: keyword search (can use Bossypants).
• I'll open the hodling by clicking on "holdings" in the expanded view below or using the action button.
  • if there are multiple holdings, you will get a list.
• If I click on the holdings record number, I can view the holdings. 
  • In Alma, you can view a record or edit a record.  If I click on edit, the Metadata Editor will open. This holds true for Bibs as well. 

Editing holdings

To be able to edit a holding, you have to be either currently viewing the full holding in view mode, or you have to be in the Metadata Editor.  You can click on "edit record" from the view mode to open the Metadata Editor.

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• If you are already in the Metadata Editor looking at a Bib record, you can click on the View Inventory icon, or type CTRL + (letter i)
  • here you will see the list of holdings, and you can either view or edit
  • Alma will keep also keep track of holdings that you are working on. These will display on the left hand pane. You can click on any holdings in your left pane to display and edit that holdings.
    • When you open things to edit (bibs or holdings) they become locked to you.  Make sure to release them when you are done.  Otherwise they are locked for editing (view-only) for 7 days after your last edit. More information about using the MD Editor can be found in the MD Editor Overview documentation.
• You can add or delete fields using the Edit menu. 
• Use the Save icon when your edits are done, and then release the record using the File menu. 

Adding a new holdings

When you place an order for a physical item, Alma will automatically create a holdings and item for you.  There may be some workflows where you need to create a holding record manually, perhaps when processing a gift book.

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Practice time: Now let's try working with holdings.  Following the instructions on the screen, find a holdings to view.  Then add a new holding for this title.  

Suppressing holdings

Unlike Aleph, in which a MARC STA (status) tag was used to indicate record suppression, Alma has a workflow for suppressing a holding.

• Search for a title
• In the results list, click “Holdings” on the right.
  • A list of holdings appears; 
  • choose a holding, and click on “Edit.”
    • You are taken to the MD Editor with the holdings record visible.
    • Click on the Tools drop down menu in the MD Editor.
    • Click “Set Management Tags” from that Tools Menu
    • Click on “Suppress from Discovery” – which is a check box that has a toggle function.
    • The holdings record is now suppressed – you can see this by looking at how the blue house icon in the left pane of the MD Editor turns into the “evil eye” icon (gray circle with red slash through it). 
    • Big difference from Aleph: when you suppress a holding in Alma, all attached item records are also suppressed from discovery (e.g. HOLLIS) 

UNsuppress holdings

It is easy to remove record suppression in Alma.

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This same process also applies to suppressing/unsuppressing bibliographic records. 

**Creating an item

Earlier, I showed you how to create an item record using the "Quick Cataloging" method.  You can also create an item right from the MDE. 

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Practice time: Now let's try doing some more work with holdings.  Using the instructions on the screen, find a holdings to edit.  Try suppressing and unsuppressing holdings and creating items. 

Additional topics

Some other topics that are important with regard to holdings and items are:

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• duplicating items
• duplicating holdings
• templates for holdings

Closing

In the next day or two, you'll receive an email that includes an evaluation for this class. Please take a few moments to fill it out - your feedback will help us improve this class and will help me improve my training skills. 

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