How do I quickly catalog a book on the fly?
You can quickly add another copy of a book or even create a whole new bibliographic record for an uncataloged book in Alma. This is especially useful if a patron wants to check out a book right now without waiting for Technical Services to process it.
Add Another Copy of an Existing Book
On rare occasions, a patron may find a copy of a book on your shelves that has a bibliographic record but no item with this barcode. In that case, you only need to create an item record and no bib record.
1. Go to Resources > Create Inventory > Add Physical Item.
2. Set "Holdings Type" to Existing.
3. Use the search box to locate the record, then add item information such as barcode and location.
4. Click Save.
Catalog a New Book
1. Go to Resources > Create Inventory > Add Physical Item.
2. Set "Holdings Type" to New and "Citation Type" to Book.
3. Set "Placement of new record" to Institution.
4. Fill out the title (required) and as much or as little other information as you wish in the "Resource Information" section. This will become the bibliographic record.
5. Uncheck "Suppress from Discovery" if you want the record to be visible in OneSearch. Leave the box checked if you want the record hidden from OneSearch.
6. Fill out the location (required), barcode (optional but recommended), and as much or as little other information as you wish in the "Item Information" section. This will become the item record.
7. Click Save.
You may wish to add a Fulfillment Note to the item record to alert staff to send the book to Technical Services, in case they miss the signs on the Scan In screen.
Check out the Book
If you create a new bib record, Alma will attach a request to the book. This request is to remind staff to return the book to Technical Services for cataloging and other processing. You can still check the book out to the patron, but you have to override the request.
Check in the Book
When you check in the book after it is returned by a patron, there will still be a request attached to it. To remove the request:
1. Make sure you're at the Acquisitions Department in Alma.
2. Scan in the items at Acquisitions > Post-Receiving > Scan In Items. Set "Done" to Yes.
3. Scan the barcode again.
4. Switch to the Main Service Desk in Alma. Scan in the book at Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Scan In Items.