Inventorying and Shelf Reading the Collection with Voyager Presenters: Doug Frazier, University Librarian & Ann Fuller, Head of Circulation & ILL Armstrong Atlantic State University May 17, 2007 Where we were Where we wanted to go Others who led the way Paul Johnson, Bryan College Shelley Schultz, Kirkwood Community College Richard Palladino, Iona College Two parts of the project 1.Performing inventory on the collection, presented by Ann Fuller 2.Using inventory scans to find errors in shelving, i.e. shelf reading, presented by Doug Frazier Inventory method in a nutshell Record what is on the shelf (scan barcodes) List what is supposed to be on the shelf (Microsoft Access query) Flag the discrepancies Use a handheld scanner Symbol Technologies P460 scanner Use item statistical categories as flags Create a file of scanned barcodes Open a blank Excel worksheet, format the first column as text Load the barcodes from the scanner Save the worksheet as a text file Also save the barcodes as an Excel file for later use Use Access Reports to create a list of items that should be on the shelf Items Not Out List created by the Access Query Save the not out barcodes Open Voyager Pick and Scan in the Circulation client Set statistical category to inventory missing Switch to the items tab and select the file of not out barcodes The statistical category will be set for each barcode in the file Next, change the statistical category to inventory present Switch to the items tab again and process the scanned barcodes file The inventory missing code is cleared and replaced with inventory present Access query for items flagged inventory missing List of inventory missing items Shelf reading in a nutshell Link shelf-order list of scanned barcodes to Voyager database information Use an Excel function to flag incorrectly shelved items. Create a local table of item records with call numbers and titles Make-table Query Barcodes, Items, Call Numbers, & Titles Open the Excel file of scanned barcodes, insert a column and number the rows Insert a row and add column headings Import the spreadsheet into Access Choose Excel file type Use Excel column headings for the Access table field names Index the number field with no duplicates Index the item_barcode field The number will be the key field Save the table with a descriptive and distinctive name Create a query with the table you just imported and the main data table Query the two tables with a left join Query builder view Barcodes and related information in scan order Send the query to Excel Insert a column labeled status Function to check for errors in shelf order Example shelving errors Use conditional formatting to highlight problem rows Problem rows highlighted Final product Problems 1.Wouldnt scale well without some modifications in procedures 2.A lot of manual work is involved that could perhaps be automated 3.Runs of miss-shelved books wont be labeled as problems except for the first or last book in the run. Problems (cont.) 4.Time lag between scanning and flagging records may introduce errors. Miss-shelved item not marked Bonuses Requires very little training for people doing the scanning More accurate than manual shelf reading Uncovers special kinds of problems Record and spine label dont match Zero used in call number for O Barcode not linked to an item The End