Taking Inventory with Polaris - TownLife
Taking Inventory with Polaris Provided to member libraries courtesy of:
Copyright
Northern Lights Library System 2013
Provided by Northern Lights Library System
1
Introduction to Taking an Item Inventory using Polaris (The information in this section is taken directly from Polaris Help, with some modifications for how this process is used by libraries within Northern Lights Library System.)
Polaris 4.1 in 2013 eliminates the need to use the Polaris Inventory Manager (PIM). Inventory can now be taken directly through Polaris, either using your staff workstation, or by borrowing a laptop with wireless connection and scanner from NLLS to inventory directly in the shelving areas.
Before You Begin…
Are your shelves in good order? Weeding prior to inventory makes the process quicker and smoother. Having items shelved correctly by shelf location and order will also help in scanning items for inventory. Are items consistently catalogued? You should ensure that collection codes and shelf locations are consistent… for example; J and Juv may have been used interchangeably over the years… you may want to create Polaris record sets and do some bulk changes to make one collection. A good place to start would be to run a report of current collection codes and compare with the sections in your library. Check with NLLS Bibliographic Services for a list of shelf locations and collection codes used in your library.
General Information When you want to take an inventory of items on the shelf, use the Check In workform - Update Inventory Date view . You can inventory items by scanning item barcodes, reading RFID tags, or loading a file of item barcodes generated by another device. After you take the inventory, you can print a shelf list of the inventoried items. Items are not checked in through the Update InventoryDate view. If an item has any status other than In, the workform indicates the problem. You must check in the item through the Check In Normal or Bulk view.
Take an inventory When you scan items during an inventory, the Last inventory date field in the item record (Statistics view) is updated. Follow these steps to do an inventory of your items. 1. Select Circulation, Check In from the Polaris Shortcut Bar to display the Check In workform. 2. Click , or select View, Update Inventory Date to display the Update Inventory Date view. Tip: You can make the Check In workform open to this view by default. Select View, Save Current View as User Default.
Provided by Northern Lights Library System
2
3. Enter item information using one of the following methods: • Scanning barcodes - Scan the item barcode in the Item barcode box, or type the barcode and press ENTER. • Reading RFID tags - Select Tools, RFID Check In (or press F9), and place up to 10 items on the antenna tray. In check-in Inventory mode, security bits are not affected. You must select Tools, RFID Check In or press F9 for each batch of items you place on the RFID antenna tray. (Note: at this time there are no libraries in Northern Lights Library System which use RFID tags) • Loading a file of barcodes - Select Tools, Load barcode file, or press CTRL+ALT+I. An explorer window opens, where you can browse to and select the file of barcodes. Note: Use this method to load a barcode file generated by another device. If the item has a status of In, the item barcode, status, title and comments appear in the Update Inventory Date list. If the item has a status other than In, a message appears. When you click OK, the Comment column displays the status. You can check in the item through the Normal or Bulk view, or right-click the item in the list and open the item record. 4. Repeat step 3 until you have completed your inventory of items. 5. Run the following reports immediately after the inventory: • Inventory Exception Incorrect Status - Lists items that had a status other than In during inventory. You specify a call number range and a cut-off date. Set the cut-off date to the day before the inventory date. You can filter the report by organization. • Inventory Exception Misshelved - Lists items with a status of In that should have been in the inventory sequence but were not. You specify a call number range and a cut-off date. Set the cut-off date to the date you started the inventory. You can filter the report by organization. Note: To access these reports, select Utilities, Reports and Notices on the Polaris Shortcut Bar. In the Report Manager, select Cataloging, Item, and double-click the appropriate report.
Related Information • •
•
Inventory Shelf List report - After you take inventory, you can run this report to list items inventoried. You specify a call number range and an inventory date range. You can filter the report by organization. Last inventory date - To view the last inventory date for an item, open the Item Record workform – Source and Acquisition view. The information is in the lower right of the workform. See Display item record information for more details. You can also see when the item was scanned for inventory on the Item Record workform - History view. Polaris Inventory Manager - You can also still take an inventory quickly and conveniently with Polaris Inventory Manager, using a wireless tablet PC and working at the shelves.
Provided by Northern Lights Library System
3
Copyright
Northern Lights Library System 2013
Provided by Northern Lights Library System
1
Introduction to Taking an Item Inventory using Polaris (The information in this section is taken directly from Polaris Help, with some modifications for how this process is used by libraries within Northern Lights Library System.)
Polaris 4.1 in 2013 eliminates the need to use the Polaris Inventory Manager (PIM). Inventory can now be taken directly through Polaris, either using your staff workstation, or by borrowing a laptop with wireless connection and scanner from NLLS to inventory directly in the shelving areas.
Before You Begin…
Are your shelves in good order? Weeding prior to inventory makes the process quicker and smoother. Having items shelved correctly by shelf location and order will also help in scanning items for inventory. Are items consistently catalogued? You should ensure that collection codes and shelf locations are consistent… for example; J and Juv may have been used interchangeably over the years… you may want to create Polaris record sets and do some bulk changes to make one collection. A good place to start would be to run a report of current collection codes and compare with the sections in your library. Check with NLLS Bibliographic Services for a list of shelf locations and collection codes used in your library.
General Information When you want to take an inventory of items on the shelf, use the Check In workform - Update Inventory Date view . You can inventory items by scanning item barcodes, reading RFID tags, or loading a file of item barcodes generated by another device. After you take the inventory, you can print a shelf list of the inventoried items. Items are not checked in through the Update InventoryDate view. If an item has any status other than In, the workform indicates the problem. You must check in the item through the Check In Normal or Bulk view.
Take an inventory When you scan items during an inventory, the Last inventory date field in the item record (Statistics view) is updated. Follow these steps to do an inventory of your items. 1. Select Circulation, Check In from the Polaris Shortcut Bar to display the Check In workform. 2. Click , or select View, Update Inventory Date to display the Update Inventory Date view. Tip: You can make the Check In workform open to this view by default. Select View, Save Current View as User Default.
Provided by Northern Lights Library System
2
3. Enter item information using one of the following methods: • Scanning barcodes - Scan the item barcode in the Item barcode box, or type the barcode and press ENTER. • Reading RFID tags - Select Tools, RFID Check In (or press F9), and place up to 10 items on the antenna tray. In check-in Inventory mode, security bits are not affected. You must select Tools, RFID Check In or press F9 for each batch of items you place on the RFID antenna tray. (Note: at this time there are no libraries in Northern Lights Library System which use RFID tags) • Loading a file of barcodes - Select Tools, Load barcode file, or press CTRL+ALT+I. An explorer window opens, where you can browse to and select the file of barcodes. Note: Use this method to load a barcode file generated by another device. If the item has a status of In, the item barcode, status, title and comments appear in the Update Inventory Date list. If the item has a status other than In, a message appears. When you click OK, the Comment column displays the status. You can check in the item through the Normal or Bulk view, or right-click the item in the list and open the item record. 4. Repeat step 3 until you have completed your inventory of items. 5. Run the following reports immediately after the inventory: • Inventory Exception Incorrect Status - Lists items that had a status other than In during inventory. You specify a call number range and a cut-off date. Set the cut-off date to the day before the inventory date. You can filter the report by organization. • Inventory Exception Misshelved - Lists items with a status of In that should have been in the inventory sequence but were not. You specify a call number range and a cut-off date. Set the cut-off date to the date you started the inventory. You can filter the report by organization. Note: To access these reports, select Utilities, Reports and Notices on the Polaris Shortcut Bar. In the Report Manager, select Cataloging, Item, and double-click the appropriate report.
Related Information • •
•
Inventory Shelf List report - After you take inventory, you can run this report to list items inventoried. You specify a call number range and an inventory date range. You can filter the report by organization. Last inventory date - To view the last inventory date for an item, open the Item Record workform – Source and Acquisition view. The information is in the lower right of the workform. See Display item record information for more details. You can also see when the item was scanned for inventory on the Item Record workform - History view. Polaris Inventory Manager - You can also still take an inventory quickly and conveniently with Polaris Inventory Manager, using a wireless tablet PC and working at the shelves.
Provided by Northern Lights Library System
3
