Stocktaking with Text Tracker Suite...

The dreaded stocktake... there aren’t that many steps involved in the Stocktaking process but when you are dealing with 20,000 + items it’s a big job.  The stocktaking process in Text Tracker Suite has been designed with portable barcode scanners in mind since this is the fastest way to do a stocktake.  We have added several features to make Stocktaking a little easier but have not yet added anything to make it more fun (mostly because there are probably laws against broadcasting frequencies that stimulate the pleasure centres of the human brain!… any other suggestions however are most welcome!)

The Stocktaking process…

1. Clean out old stocktaking information (Utilities / Stocktake / New Stocktake...)

• You have to clean out the last stocktake details before starting a new one...
• Don’t forget you don’t need to change “Missing” records to “Written off” in Text Tracker Suite.  The Status Date field means it is perfectly ok to leave Missing items in the system until you are tired of them being there… after all, they might just turn up!  You can print lists of items found missing within certain date ranges at any time by using selection criteria…

2. Zap in the barcodes of a section of the library

(Circulation / Stocktake / Add...)

• You can stocktake small sections of your library if necessary (just set the criteria)
• Feel free to make the computer pause for problems if you are not using a portable barcode scanner.
• You can use several computers and scanners… you just need to understand the issues.  Export and File Append are your friends…

3. Compare the zapped items to the current catalogue and fix problem        records (Circulation / Stocktake / View / Set parameters…)

(If you do need to adjust details of a record you can jump into the Data Entry module while viewing this report...) 

• This is where you get to see how your data entry consistency is going...

4. Check for Unreturned Loans in a section of the library

(Utilities / Stocktake / Report / Loans Found... keep same parameters      from step 3.)

• This report shows you any items that were found on the shelves that have not actually been returned through Circulation… ie.  You have probably been hassling the borrowers about them but they are on the shelves...
• We have not added a bulk return function because you may need to credit accounts or cross off lists (apologise or re-graft arms!)

5. Check what’s missing in a section of the library (Utilities / Stocktake / Report / Missing... keep same parameters from step 3.)

• This stage is basically a preview of missing items to see if you missed any items...

6. Zap in any overlooked items (repeat 3, 4 & 5 until satisfied section is complete) (Back into Circulation  / Stocktake / Add... if you find some overlooked resources after looking at the Missing Items report from Step 5.  Repeat Step 4 when complete)

• This is where you go back and zap in the little items stuck between big ones (or the whole shelf of Fiction books you didn’t notice around the corner!)

7. Tag all stocktaken records with a stocktake date (Utilities / Stocktake    / Reconcile... keep same parameters as step 3)

• This stage puts an entry in the Last Stocktake Date field to indicate when the items were last stocktaken.  (This “Last Stocktake Date” makes it possible to find out which sections of your collection have not been checked for a long time...)

8. Tag all missing items with an “M” Status and a Status Date

(Utilities / Stocktake / Mark missing... keep same criteria as Step 5)

• This is where the Missing items (which are the barcodes you have not zapped) get marked with an “M” in the Status field and a date is entered to say when it was noticed missing from the shelves...

9. Clean out the stocktake file and start at step 2. If you would like to keep the items until the entire collection is finished then go straight to step 2 now without purging.  (Utilities / Stocktake / New Stocktake...)

• This is an optional stage at this point.  Many people like to clean out stocktake info between sections, others like to leave it until entire collection is done...  Your Call!

In step three above, you need to set Stocktake Parameters.  This can be a little daunting the first few times so here is an explanation of the Stocktake Parameters screen...

A Special Note:

The Stocktake Parameters set in Stage 3 are only for visual comparison of the data you have zapped to the existing catalogue of resources.  This screen has been included so you can check your data entry consistency so it does not matter if you don’t get it right the first time.

Each field on this screen allows you to set a Range of possible values... Low Value to High Value.  Lets look at the  Department displayed on the screen shot above as an example...

Department   “   ” to  ZZZZ means Site should be anything between Blank and ZZZZ (which is the highest possible value for a Site field entry) so this describes ALL resources.  If you put Department:  SCI   to   SCI  then the Department must be equal to SCI for the record to appear as being shelved correctly... make any sense?

Just go ahead and set some crazy parameters and see what happens... the best way to understand these settings is to experiment!