Page Comparison

Table of Contents

Handouts, resources and display documents for the class

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

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Handouts, resources and display documents for the class

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

Display – Items Holdings practice exercises_Intro Class.docx

Links to any pre-reading and reference documents

• Items - Material types for reference
• Item Policies for reference
  

Outline for the class and links to related documentation

Script for the class

Introduction

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

Please note that we have recently added a second 1-hour "Advanced" Items and Holdings class that will cover topics like moving, suppressing, and deleting (which Alma calls Withdrawing) holdings and items.  Please sign up for this class if you need to know these procedures.

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My name is ..... (and our facilitator/s in this class is/are... ).

A few notes:

• Alma went live on July 3rd and, as expected, we're learning new things about it as staff work with real data in the system. Everyone is continuing to learn Alma, and will have the support they need to do so.
  
  
• We are training on the tool of Alma, and while there is usually more than one way to do anything in Alma, we will show you one verified or preferred way to do tasks. Once you've learned the best practice, we encourage staff to discuss local procedures and workflows in your units.
  
  
• We also encourage everyone to come together in Learning Circles - either cross-functional within units or on the same functions across units - to discuss how the implementation is going and how the new features and workflows in Alma might change work at Harvard.
  
  
• Please continue to use the LTS Alma Support form to ask questions and report issues with Alma data, workflows, or roles & permissions. Asking these questions, and working groups providing answers, is an important part of everyone learning more about Alma. You can find the link on in the home page Notifications widget in Alma, in the Notifications widget; if you need to add the notifications widget, go to the Introduction to Alma wiki page link on your handout from that class.
• We will all have the time we need to learn Alma – before and after go live – and the support you need to do your work.
I want to share some along with the link to Alma documentation on the LTS wiki.


• You have a 1-page handout that contains a link to the Alma sandbox, the wiki page for this class, and a few other useful links. (If there are other handouts, describe them.) The script and all materials for this class are available to review on the wiki, and will continue to be updated with any changes in procedures.

Some quick logistics information: 

• The nearest bathrooms are...
• The nearest water fountain/supply is...
• Please log in to your computers using the following username and password: (Whatever it is for those computers - if possible, put it into a Word document and project it on the screen)
Quick recap of essential training elements:
• This is Phase 1 of Training. We are trying to make sure people are prepared to do 80% of their job on day 1
• We are training on the tool of Alma, not on specific workflows or local procedures
• We will show you one verified way to do tasks – there are almost certainly several other ways to do the same thing, and possibly better ways – you can go back, practice and find out.
Please use fidgets – they can be helpful for focusing, relaxing, staying awake...and if you are feeling tired at any point, feel free to stand up in your area, stand along the wall, etc.
Please ask questions when they come up; I will also pause between sections for questions and to make sure things are clear

• Let's start by introducing ourselves.
Now let's review the handouts together.   
• The one page handout has important links at the top, some important concepts to remember, and space for notes.
• There is also a one-page handout that lists the outline of topics for today, and the list of Items/Holdings related documentation on the LTS wiki.
The script I am using is also available on the LTS wiki.

• I'd like to confirm - Can everyone see my screen?
We have provided computers for the practice time we will take.
• It is not necessary to follow along on your machine as I demonstrate, but you are welcome to if it helps you.
We will outline the basic steps.  You will repeat what I'm showing you when practice time comes up.

• During practice time:
  • We will show some options of what you could try during this time. They are not required and there will be no test!
  • If you want to do something else, go for it!
  • Trainers and faciliators will circulate to assist and answer questions at this time.
• Please log into your computer and navigate and login to Alma at this time.& water supply are:
  
  • Lamont rooms: Restrooms are gendered by floor. Lamont 310 is on a men's room floor, Lamont B-30 is on a women's room floor.
  • 90 Mt Auburn: Two restrooms are on the opposite side of the building on the basement level, water is in the kitchenette and in a fountain by the restrooms
  • 625 Mass Ave: Restrooms are at the opposite end of the building on the 3rd floor, by the water fountain
• Please ask questions when they come up; I will also pause between sections for questions and to make sure things are clear.

Let's start by introducing ourselves. (Go around the room and ask everyone to share their name, library/unit, and how this class relates to their work.)

Now, if you haven't already, please log in to Alma.

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Items

Let's begin our work by looking at items.  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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• Holdings and items together are called "inventory" in Alma. 

  • To help understand how Alma Inventory is structured, Ex Libris has created these diagrams – you may remember seeing this structure of Alma inventory in your Intro or Search & Sets class.  

    • Trainer can show images on this page / draw something similar on the board, as needed: Items & Holdings

• In Alma, anything with a holding is referred to as a Physical Title or Physical Inventory.  
  • Most holdings and items represent physical pieces in our collection. 
  • A difference from Aleph is that most electronic resources will not be represented by holdings, instead they will be represented by Electronic collection and portfolio information. 
• In Alma, all items are attached to holdings. This is a core difference from Aleph, where creating a holdings was not required. 
  • Alma will not allow you to create an item without a holding. 
  • When creating an item, Alma will also create a holding if one does not already exist for that library/location.
  • You may be wondering – what about the things in Aleph that didn't have holdings?
    • Aleph items that were not attached to holdings were attached to holdings in Alma during data migration.
      • During migration, Alma either attached the item to an existing holding (when the library/location were the same) or, if they were not, Alma created a new holding.
• In Alma, a holding may or may not have an item.  
  • Examples of a bib that has a holding without items: are an analyzed monographic series, a multipart work, or an older serial.  (Trainer, 3 examples below if you want to show one, two or all)
    
    • • a monographic series: Conduct an "All Titles" search for MMS ID 990091802930203941 (Archaeological studies Leiden University) 
      • a mulipart work: Conduct an "All Titles" search for MMS ID 990074312040203941 (Oxford history of art) 
      • older serial tiles do not have items : Conduct an "All Titles" search for MMS ID 990051690120203941 (Quarterly digest of statistics (Accra, Ghana : 1959) 

• Alma allows setting of Temporary locations values, which can be helpful for some materials, such as Reserves and Serials.
  • When temporarily moving items from one location to another, staff have the option of inputting an end date for the temporary location in Alma. 
    • On this date an automated job will warn staff to return these items to their regular location.

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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 want to highlight 2 changes in vocabulary in Alma related to Items.
  

  • In Aleph, the field called "Item Status" was used to define terms of use, or 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 (Trainer: do an All Titles search for Theodore Rex, click on the Items hyperlink, to show on the screen during this explanation):

    • 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).

        
        

  • Item Process type is also different than Aleph Item Processing Status.  
    • In Alma, Item Process type is used when an item is undergoing some kind of library processing or circulation activity. 
      • It will be one of two kinds of statuses:  a Work Order status (which is what is replacing pseudopatrons; something like Tech Services Shelf Prep, or Preservation Review); or a Circ-related status (like On Loan, Missing, On Hold, Lost, etc).
    • Process types are defined centrally for Harvard. 
      • 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.

Creating Items Using "Add Physical Item"

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• First, we must do a search.
  
  
•  To ‘”view” items,
   
  1. You can do a Physical Item search—Trainer demo this 
     1. choose Barcode as your search criterion, then Scan or type the barcode: HB9TPS into the Search box.
     2. This brings up a single result for the item.

  Trainer briefly describe/walk through the display. You can click on “Other details” to see Circulation information.

  
  
  • You can do a Physical Title search – Trainer demo this using the title created in the prior section
    • you will see hyperlinks for "Items" at the bottom of the search entry, as well as "Items" in the ellipsis menu.  
      
      • Clicking on either of these will take you to the item list first
      • Then you can click View under the ellipsis menu.
  • You can do a Physical Item search – Trainer demo this using the title created in the prior section
    • And there is NO way to only view the item from this kind of search.  If I click on the hyperlinked barcode, or "Items" in the ellipsis menu, those both take me to the screen to EDIT the item.
      • So if you want to view an item, do a title search.
        
        
• To **edit** items,
  
  •  You can do a Physical item search—Trainer demo this – choose Barcode as your criterion, then Scan or type the barcode: 32044119644607 into the Search box. This brings up a single result for the item. You can click on the Edit Item button in the Row Action Item list or “hot buttons”. This opens the item in the Physical Item Editor where you can edit information in any of the 4 tabs.  
    

     

  • You can do a Physical item search – Trainer demo this using the title created in the prior section
    • you can choose Edit Item right from the search results page, and it will take you right to the Physical Item Editor form.
      
      
  • If you launch a Physical title search - Trainer demo this using the title created in the prior section
    • you will see hyperlinks for "Items" at the bottom of the search entry, as well as "Items" in the ellipsis menu.  
    • Clicking on either of these will take you to the item list
    • Then you can click Edit under the ellipsis menu, or click on the hyperlinked barcode, and then you will be on the Physical Item Editor form.
      • So if you want to edit an item record, doing a Physical Item search cuts out two extra steps.
        • In short – use Title search to View items, Use Items search to Edit Items
          
          
• On the Physical Item Editor page, there are lots of fields you can edit.
  • Select one or more fields on the different tabs to view or make changes to the physical item’s information.
  • There is a list of the required fields in the Alma documentation – Trainer show top of this page: https://wikiharvardwiki.harvardatlassian.edunet/confluencewiki/x/2J5dDQBsiVAg
    • Trainer select a few item record fields to edit
• Click Save when changes are complete.

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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, on the Ex Libris documentation site.

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• You may have seen already how if you open a bib or holdings record in the Metadata Editor, it will be locked to you for editing for 7 days 24 hours unless you "release" it.  
  • This is the opposite of what we encountered in Aleph.  In Aleph, if you had an Item record open on your screen, other staff would get a pop up about the record being "locked by another user".
  • Item records will never be locked in Alma – but both holdings and bibs will be "locked" from editing if another staff member has one open or hasn't released it yet.
• So in the case of holdings, it's important to note whether you want to just **view** a holdings (which won't open it in the MDE or lock it to you), or if you need to **edit** a holdings.
  • If you accidentally land in the MDE, clicking the back arrow to get out of the screen will not release the record.
    • You need to regular click on the folder in the left column, and the option to Release All Records will appear.  Click on this, both for the bib and holdings folders.
      • (Trainer: demo doing this)

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• The MDE will keep 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 24 hours 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.
• You can open fixed fields like the 008, LDR and 852 using Ctrl + F. Click the Escape key on your keyboard to close a form that you have opened. Although you click the Escape key, your changes to the MARC field will be saved.
  
  • Using a form (Ctrl + F) to edit the 852 is new. We did not have that option in Aleph. The only requirements for the 852 are the $$b (sublocation or collection) and $$c (shelving location). The drop down options in $$c are context sensitive and therefore will change depending on what you chose for $$b.
• Please note that if you have a Library of Congress call number on your bibliographic record, and your sublocation and shelving location use the Library of Congress classification, the call number from the bib. record will come automatically into the holdings when you save your item. Please note that this works only for 050; it does not work for 090. It doesn't always work for 050 4 either-- MH
  
  
  • Trainer demonstrate this by adding 050 00 $$a F1234 $$b .Q67 2018 to your bib. record (if you don't already have an 050 on the record). Then create a holdings. In the 852 choose $$b WID and $$c WIDLC. Save the holdings, and the call number will automatically go into the holdings.
    • The sublocation/shelving location combinations that use LC classification have been programmed to ingest the LC call number from the bib. record by LTS. However this has to be programmed individually for each combination, so LTS only did those which had over 2000 holdings. If your library would like to request this feature for a particular combination, you can contact LTS after July 3rd. 
    • In the sandbox, this feature is only working for WID, LAM, SCH, but in production it will work for any combination that uses LC classification and had over 2000 holdings.
      
    • This feature will be helpful for staff, but it will mean that having a call number will no longer be a sign of something being cataloged. Many items will have a call number at point of order, or whenever the holdings is first created. Please remember that we will need to look at the item process type to tell where items are in our workflows.
      
• To save your changes you will need to choose a save option under the File drop down menu or click the blue Save icon at the top of the record.
  
  • Trainer demonstrate adding and editing fields as appropriate
• Got to Tools: Save and Release (rather than the Save icon) when your edits are done, or click Ctl+Alt+R. 

Practice time (show instructions on screen): Now let's try searching for a holdings, viewing a holdings, making edits to a holdings, and saving your edits.

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Additional topics

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

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