Item Statuses, Process Types, and Required Fields
- Jennifer Koerber (Unlicensed)
- William Walsh
- Corinna Baksik
Item Status
Item status is determined automatically by the system and has one of two values:
- Item in place - item is in its home location, not checked out, in transit, or in a library process
- Item not in place - item is in a library process, transit, or checked out; any time something is not in place, the "availability" status will be "unavailable," and the appropriate request links will still be present in the public catalog.
Item Process Types
Process type is used when an item is undergoing some kind of library processing or circulation activity.
Process types are defined centrally for Harvard Library:
Acquisitions & Technical Services Process Types
Acquisition - applies to an item created from a Purchase order, or from a prediction pattern, that has not yet been received
Acquisition Technical Services / Tech Services Work Order - applies to an item in any post-receipt stage of the Technical Services workflow. (Note: Prior to 2020, this was solely Tech Services Work Order. Ex Libris changed the display without notice. In an item, under General Information, the Process Type still displays as Tech Services Work Order. Elsewhere, it is listed as Acquisition technical services. This is a difference in display only–the process type is the same, regardless of which name is used.)
Technical - Migration - appears for items that had certain Aleph Item Process Status values and have not yet been updated by LTS via batch job, or manually updated by staff. Read more at Item Mapping Guide, section entitled "More information on Item Process Types (IPS)."
Circulation Process Types
- Claimed Returned
- Hold Shelf
- Loan
- Lost - patron has lost the item or item is assumed lost due to extensive overdue
- Missing - item was missing from shelf/home location when staff or patron went to find it
- Resource Sharing Request
- Transit
Other Process Types
Any locally defined Work Orders will also display in Process Type, e.g. Preservation. See Work Orders for more on this library process.
Item Record fields - only required fields, or fields with best practices, are listed below
| Tab: General Information | ||
| Field | Required? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Barcode | Y | Enter the Harvard barcode for the item, or leave the barcode field blank to use a temporary system-generated barcode (will be created when the Item is saved) |
| Copy ID | If appl. | |
| Material Type | Y | see list at Item Material Types |
| Item policy | Y | see list at Item Policies |
| Is Magnetic | see Best Practice: https://harvardwiki.atlassian.net/wiki/x/uRV_Aw | |
| Enumeration A/B | If appl. | e.g. multi-volume works or serials |
| Chronology I/J | If appl. | e.g. multi-volume works or serials |
| Description | If appl. | Generally this is left blank, unless the description is needed to distinguish items such as:
Do not use this field for:
For serials, once the Enum/Chron data has been filled in, use the Generate button to create the description. Important information on the effect of the Description field in HOLLIS and Alma Fulfillment:
|
| Retention information | If appl. | see Best Practice: |
| Tab: ENUM / CHRON | ||
| Field | Required? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Enumeration A/B | If appl. | This is carried over from the General tab. If entered here first it will carry over into the General tab. |
| Permanent library/location | Y | Inherited from Holdings |
| Tab: Notes | ||
| Field | Required? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Note 3 | N, but best practice is to add before withdrawal | Used to record reason for withdraw. See Items - Deleting (Withdrawing) |
| Statistics Note 2 | N | Restricted to shared retention commitment notes. For example: 'committed to retain - ReCAP'. This note is required for all items where a commitment to retain has been made. Also required, field 538 with commitment statement in holdings. |
For additional information, there is a full list of all item fields, with descriptions, at the Ex Libris documentation site.