Specialty Loans - Fulfillment Overview Module

This is the second section of the Fulfillment module to the Alma Overviews course. The video is at the top of the page, followed by the script.

In this video, you'll review:

In this video, we’ll review two more specialty types of loans: loaning an item to a proxy and loaning an item not currently in the catalog.

Loan an Item to a Sponsor via a Proxy Account

Important: the patron needs to identify that they are acting as a proxy for faculty or a researcher before items are loaned.

If a proxy or research assistant is already affiliated with Harvard, they will use their own Harvard ID to check out books for their sponsors.

• Checking “proxy” allows you to select the sponsor for that loan.
• Special proxy cards will still exist, but the only people who will have them will be non-Harvard affiliates working as proxies.

To loan an item to someone who has identified themselves as a proxy for a faculty member or researcher:

1. From the main menu, under Fulfillment, select Manage Patron Services
2. Before you scan in the ID, click on the box next to Use proxy
3. Search for the proxy's barcode - not the faculty/researcher
4. Select the faculty member or researcher they are acting as a proxy for and click Go. You see that it opens up the faculty member’s account and says the proxy is by the student in front of you. Now you can loan as normal.
5. Scan the item's barcode.

And now we’ve checked out the item to the sponsor via the proxy.

Loan an Item That Has No Barcode (aka Create Item)

If a patron presents an item to borrow that is not in the system, you can create an 'on-the-fly' item to loan the material now. Item records created on the fly will be reviewed when they are returned in the following way:

• A request is automatically placed on these so when discharged, they’re en route to cataloging.
• Any changes that need to be made to the catalog record will be made at that time.

To loan an item that's not in the system or has no barcode from the patron record:

1. Click on Create item to the right of the Scan Barcode field
2. Select the Holdings Type.
1. Best Practice: Use “New” even when circulating an accessioned item because it’s faster and easier. The item is going to be flagged so that the record will be updated once the item is returned.
3. Choose Citation Type: Book even if it’s not a book. We’ll have the chance to be more specific later.
4. Then click on Choose.
5. On the Quick Cataloging Screen, enter as much information about the item as possible.
1. You must add a Title. If the book is in another language and the patron is present, consider asking them for assistance with the title, author etc.
2. It’s good to add an Author, maybe even the Author Initials.
3. You don’t need to add anything else unless it would help identify the item later when it’s returned.
4. Leave the box next to Suppress from Discovery checked. This will keep this temporary item from being searchable or findable in the public catalog.
6. In the Item Information section, you must fill out everything in here except the Public Note.
1. First, choose your Location, whenever you’re circulating this from, and you can choose the Collection if needed.
2. Click off of that to let it update and you can now enter the barcode. Attach a barcode to the item using whatever is your local practice and scan it in. I will type one in for now.
3. Choose the Material Type, and here’s where you can be specific to what the actual item type is.
4. Choose your Item Policy (or your loan policy). We’ll go with a standard Regular Loan.
5. You could add a Public Note if you needed to.
7. Click Save

The item has been loaned according to the Item policy entered and the patron’s status, with the title and barcode that we entered.