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Simpson Library Technical Services

Serves as a reference for all Staff.

Resource Management - Item Records

Item Records

Add an Item Record
Copy Information
Delete Item Records in Batch
Delete "Lost" Items
Enumeration & Chronology
Restore Deleted Items

 

 

Adding an Item Record

  1. Search Alma for the title of the record that was exported from OCLC
  2. Click on the Holdings box
  3. Click on the More Actions menu
  4. Click on View Items
  5. Select Add Item
  6. Enter the Material Type & Provenance, then click in the Barcode field and scan a new barcode (this will save and close the item screen).

Adding Copy Information to an item record

If copies exist in different locations or in the same location, copy information should be added to the item screen:

Delete Item Records in Batch

 

  1. Scan the barcodes into a text file (with a .txt or .csv extension) or an Excel file (with the extension of .xls or .xlsx) with a header of BARCODE, PID, Item_PID, or Item_ID.
  2. Upload the file to create an itemized set by performing the following steps:
    1. From the Alma menu > Administration column > Manage Jobs and Sets click on "Manage Sets".
    2. Click on "Add Set" and choose "Itemized" from the dropdown menu.
    3. Fill in the set details by performing these steps: 
      • Add a "Set name" and "Description" (optional).
      • Click on "Set content type" and choose "Physical Items" from the dropdown menu. 
      • Define who can see the set by selecting either "Yes" or "No" for the "Private" option.
      • Make sure the "Status" is set to "Active".
    4. In the "Add Contents from File to Set" section, click on the yellow file folder.  From your computer's file tree locate and select the desired file to upload. Then click on "Save".
    5. Optional: check the contents of your set by locating the set and clicking on Actions > Members.  When done inspecting the records in the set click on the "Done" button.
  3. Run the "Withdraw items" job against the set by performing these steps:
    1. From the Alma Menu > Administration column > Manage Jobs and Sets click on "Run a Job".
    2. From the jobs list, click on the "All" button next to "Type" and select "Withdraw" from the dropdown.
    3. In the smaller jobs list, select the "Withdraw Items" job and click on the "Next" button.
    4. In the select jobs list, select the set of items you want to withdraw and click on the "Next" button.
    5. In the task parameters screen you have the following options:
      • The "How to handle holdings without items and bibliographic records?" options describe what you can do with the bibliographic and holdings record.  Click on the button for your choice.
      • Check the "Do not withdraw items with active requests" option to retain items with active requests.
      • Check the "Do not withdraw items with non-active requests in the queue" option to retain items with non-active requests.
      • Check the "Do not withdraw items with work orders" option to retain items with work orders.
      • Click on the "Next" button.
    6. In the schedule job screen, click on the "Next" button to start the job.
    7. In the review and confirm screen, review your job setup and when satisfied click on the "Submit" button.  If you need to make changes click on either the "Back" link to return to the screen where you need to make changes or the "Cancel" link to abandon the job.
    8. In the confirmation dialog box click "Confirm" to launch the job.
    9. The Monitor Jobs screen will display.  Click on the "Refresh" button to monitor the progress of the job.  When the job completes it will appear in the "History" tab.
    10. Use the "History" tab to find the job and click on "Actions" > "Report" to verify that the job ran correctly or to see the errors.  Click "Actions" > "Events" to see a detailed error report.

 

Delete Items with Process Type "Lost"

Steps to delete/withdraw lost items:

  1. Create a set
  2. Run the "Change Physical Items" job
  3. Run the "Close Lost Loans" job
  4. Run the "Withdraw Items" job

 

Step 1: Create a set:

  1. Create a set from one of the below possibilities
    • A repository search
    • An excel file using barcodes 
    • An analytics report
       

Step 2: Run the "Change Physical Items" job

  1. Go to Admin>Manage Jobs and Set>Run a Job
  2. Select the "Change Physical Items" job
  3. Click Next
  4. Select the set
  5. Click Next
  6. Scroll to Statistics Note 1
    1. Check the box next to Statistics Note 1
    2. Type "lost item never returned" in the field
  7. Click Next
  8. Click Submit
  9. Click Confirm
     

Step 3: Run the "Close Lost Loans" job

  1. Go to Admin>Manage Jobs and Sets>Run a Job
  2. Select the "Close Lost Loans" job
  3. Click Next
  4. Select the set
  5. Click Next
  6. Click Submit
  7. Click Confirm
     

Step 4: Run the "Withdraw Items" job

  1. Got to Admin>Manage Jobs and Sets>Run a Job
  2. Select the "Withdraw Items" job
  3. Click Next
  4. Select the set
  5. Click Next
  6. Select "Delete holdings, delete bibliographic records with no other holdings"
  7. Keep the boxes unchecked for:
    1. Do not withdraw items with active requests
    2. Do not withdraw items with non-active requests in the queue
    3. Do not withdraw items with work orders 
  8. Click Next
  9. Click Submit
  10. Click Confirm

 

 

Add Enumeration and Chronology information to an item record

  1. Search the Repository by item barcode or title.

  2. Navigate to the items menu and locate the item to edit.
  3. Click on the Actions button and select edit.
  4. Enter the Enumeration and Chronology information as follows:
    • Enumeration A: Volume number.  Enter only the number. ex. 311 (for singe volume) / ex. 311-312 (for multiple volumes)
    • Enumeration B: Issue number.  Enter only the number. ex. 9 (for singe issues) / ex. 1-9 (for multiple issues).
    • Enumeration C: Part number.  Enter only the number. ex. 1 (for single parts) / ex. 1-3 (for multiple parts) see note: Eunumeration C is available in the ENUM/CHRON information tab.
    • Chronology I: Year.  Enter the year in four digits. ex. 1997
    • Chronology J: Month.  Enter the month in a numeric code.
      01 = Jan; 02 = Feb; 03 = Mar, etc.
      20 = Spring; 21 = Summer; 22 = Fall; 23 = Winter
      01-02 = Jan/Feb; 03-04 = Mar/Apr, 05-06 = May-Jun, etc.
    • Chronology K: Day. Enter the day in number format.
    • Chronology L: Free Text. This category is for free text that will go at the end.  We use this field for denoting an Index, Summary, or other pertinent descriptive information.
    • Note: Enumeration C, Chronology K & L are only available by clicking on the ENUM/CHRON Information tab.
  5. Click on the Generate button to automatically generate the description based on your entries.   

Restore Deleted Items

  • You can restore records that were deleted within a certain range OR that were deleted by a certain user or job. Both these options have a 1 year limitation, meaning that they allow to restore records deleted within the last year. 
  • You can also restore records by ID. The restoration via ID does not have a time limit.
  • Digital files are retained for 90 days from deletion, and cannot be restored afterwards.
  • When restoring records deleted by a user, only records deleted by the last action performed by that user are restored.
  • Restoring a bibliographic record restores all records that were deleted together with it, for example holdings and item records.
  • Restoring an item record restores its higher level records, for example holdings and bibliographic records, but not other records that were under its associated bibliographic record.
  • For records deleted by the Synchronize Changes from CZ job, the “Deleted By” is indicated as 'System' or as 'Electronic Inventory Creator'. (the difference is due to internal processes and does not have any influence on the functionality)

Resources > Advanced Tools > Manage deleted repository

  1. In Find, select the type of records to restore.
  2. In Search criteria, enter information about the record(s):
    • To restore multiple records:
      • By date range: select Deleted range. Select a date range within which the records were deleted.
      • By a user or by a job: select Deleted by. For a user, select User, select the user in the User, and select a date range. For a job, select Job id and enter the ID.
    • To restore a single record, select MMS ID/PID and enter one of the identifiers that you can search for. The identifier you can enter depends on the search type you selected in Find above:
      • All Titles: MMS ID of the bib record. The MMS ID is the record ID number.
      • Collections: Collection PID. The PID is a system number for an inventory entity. See Configuring Search Indexes.
      • Digital Files: File PID
      • Digital Remote Representations: Remote Representation PID
      • Digital Representations: Representation PID
        Note: When restoring digital files and representations together, select the "Digital Files" option to restore, not the "Digital representations" option.
      • Electronic Portfolios: Portfolio ID
      • Holding: MMS ID of the holding record
      • Physical Items: Item ID
  3. Select Search. The list of matching records appears on the page.
  4. Select a record title to view brief information about a record; see Viewing Metadata Read-Only in the Simple Record View Page.
  5. Select Restore and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box to restore a record.

 

Resource Management - Bibliographic Records

Bibliographic Records

Create a File of Bib Records
Delete Bib Records in batch
Delete Bib Records imported from an Import Profile
Updating a Bib Record
Relinking
Related Records
Replacing a damaged or lost item

 

Create a File of Bib Records

Open Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets > Add Set
Create a set of records in Alma.  This can be done by searching criteria, uploading a file or using Alma Analytics.

Open Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Run a Job
Run the job Export Bibliographic Records.

Open Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Monitor Jobs
Find the job you ran and download the .mrc file.

Delete Bib Records in a batch

Open Admin > Manage Sets > Add Set > create an itemized set
2. Attach an Excel file with MMS IDs in the first column and save
3. Open Admin > Run a Job > Delete Bibliographic Records and select "next"
4. Select the new set created in steps 1 and 2 select "next"
5. Select relevant parameters ("do not delete if related to other records" or "delete all associated inventory resources")
6. Click "Submit" to run job
7. Open Admin > Monitor Jobs > History to verify that "Delete Bibliographic Records" ran correctly

Delete Records Imported from an Import Profile

  1. Open Admin > Monitor Jobs
  2. Search for the Job ID under the History tab.
  3. Click the More menu (3 dots)
  4. Report
  5. Select Bibliographic Records Imported
  6. Click the more menu next to Total Records Imported
  7. Select Create itemized title set

Updating a Bib Record

Search for the title that you need to edit.
  1. Click on the more actions menu and select Edit. The record will open in the Metadata Editor.
  2. Click on Search & Browse.  A search form will pop up.  Verify that the system number in the pop up window matches the OCLC# in the MARC field 035 of the original record.  Click Search.
  3. If the system number does not match, type the system number into the field.  Click Search.
  4. The search should only find one record.  Verify the title is correct and select Edit.
  5. Check the original record:
    1. Compare the call number in the 050 or 090 matches the new record.  If not, you will either have to relabel the item or copy the local call number into the imported record.  Use the 090 field.  Never delete a 050 field.
    2. Select Copy and Overlay.
    3. Delete any 856 links that do not link out to a free resource of the entire item.  
    4. Check to see if holdings are set in the 948 field.  If not, you will need to set holdings and overlay again.
  6. Save the record.
Update the holdings record as well:
  1. View Related Data > View Inventory
  2. Edit
  3. Record Actions > Update from Bibliographic
  4. Save.  This should automatically correct any warnings.
Save & Release both the holdings record and the bib record.

Relinking to the correct Bib Record

Search for the title that you need to relink.  You can relink items or entire holdings.

To relink an entire holdings:

  1. Click on the Holdings link for the record that you want to relink. 
  2. Identify which Holdings record you would like to select for re-linking. 
  3. Click on the More Actions button and select Relink. 
  4. The MD Editor opens with a split window.  Make sure the radio button is selected for Institution on the right split window. 
  5. Enter your search terms for the Bib Record that you want to relink to.  Entering an OCLC number in the System Number field is the easiest way to narrow your search. 
  6. Select the relink button for the correct record.  Make sure to Update from Bibliographic Record (Alt + U).
  7. Save and Release.
  8. Go back and delete the Bib Record for the wrong record if there are no more holdings attached to it.

Adding Related Record Information

For the host record (this is the bibliographic record that has the holdings information):

Add a Main entry-Uniform title field to the bib record using the MARC 130 tag.

1st indicator: 0-9 - Number of nonfiling characters
2nd indicator: #

130 0_ $$a Developmental psycholinguistics: theory and applications

For the constituent record (this is the record that carries the related information, usually an analytic bib record)

Add a Linking field to the bib record using MARC 773, 774, 777, 786, 800, 810, 811 or 830.
773 - Host item entry
1st indicator (note controller)
0 - Display note
1 - Do not display note

2nd indicator (display constant controller)
# - In
8 - No display constant generated

$$t title
$$w record control number
$$g related parts

773 0_ $$t Developmental psycholinguistics: theory and applications $$w 991004893618103326 $$g 1975

Replacing an item when one has been damaged or lost

Sometimes items go missing or are withdrawn because of damage.
In order to preserve the statistics Alma has recorded, process replacements according to the steps below.

Use the old bibliographic record if possible.

If we are using the same call number:
  1. Check to be sure you copy MARC field 050 or 090 from the old record if we are going to use the same LC call number that was on the withdrawn item.
  2. Overlay the old bibliographic record with the correct bibliographic record if necessary OR update the record from OCLC if the record came over in Virtua or has not been updated in the last year.
  3. Paste in the old call number into MARC field 090 of the new record and save.
  4. Open the holdings record and update from bibliographic.
  5. Save and release both records.
If we are using the call number from the new record:
  1. Overlay the old bibliographic record with the correct bibliographic record.
  2. Open the holdings record and update from bibliographic.
  3. Save and release both records.
If using the old bibliographic record is not possible:

Use the new bibliographic record but transfer the old holdings record to the new bibliographic record and follow the steps below:

  1. Preserve the old item record until you are ready to make changes.
  2. Receive the new item as you normally would.
  3. Go to the new item record, write down the attached PO Line number and delete it from the new holding.
  4. Delete the new holdings record.
  5. Go to the old item record.
  6. Attach the PO Line number there and save.
  7. Open the item record again and replace the old barcode with the new barcode.
  8. Save and close.

This process preserves all of the circulation statistics that Alma has recorded.

Resource Management - Holding Records

Holding Records

Add a Holding Record to a Bib Record

 

Adding a Holding Record to a Bib Record

  1. Search Alma for the title of the record that was exported from OCLC
  2. Click on the More Actions menu
  3. Select Add Holdings
  4. Go to the Record Actions menu and pull down to Update from Bibliographic
  5. In the 852 field subfield b enter in all caps SIMPSON
  6. In the 852 field subfield c enter in all lower caps the code for the shelving location.  These are the commonly used codes:

    7. simstacks - items are going to the permanent location general Stacks

    simjya - items are going to the permanent location Juvenile/Young Adult

    simref - items are going to the permanent location Reference

    simserials - items are going to the permanent location Periodicals

    popreading - items are going to the permanent location Popular Reading

    simarch - items are going to the permanent location Archives

    A full list of shelving location codes is also available.

  7. Click Save
  8. If there are no errors, click save and release record.