Conducting an Inventory

TIP: While carrying out the inventory process, we recommend no circulate items on the collection being worked on. Having items out on loan might alter the results.

What is the purpose of running inventory?

• • Find out if and how many books are missing

  • Reorganize books in shelf order

  • Correct call number information for items in the catalog

  • Assess the physical condition of the items

There are two ways to perform the inventory, and one unconventional way

1.- Manual (old fashion). It is by going to the library shelf with the report in hand of all your library records and make sure the item is there on the right place. If you are doing inventory for the first time, it is recommended that you perform a manual inventory first.

2.- Inventory Module from Mandarin: You will have to scan either all or by area the item barcodes in the library and then upload those barcodes into the Mandarin inventory module.

3.- Unconventional way: See video(link) for details.

We have compiled a set of videos going over inventory: M5 Inventory. It is recommended that you also go over the instructions on this page for a more in-depth explanation.

To perform a manual inventory

You will need to run a report to display all item records. Save it as a PDF (printing it will be many pages) and go to the shelf with the report to make sure:

• The items are present and in the right place.

• The spine label of the book matches the call number information in the catalog.

You can run a report to retrieve all your records in shelf list order from the "Report Wizard":

• • • Select "Reports"

    • Choose: (3)Bibliographic or Item List - (2)Shelf List - (2)Call number with prefix

    • Leave blank all boxes asking to enter any optional information

    • Type your email and click "Submit Report". It will take more or less 3 minutes to generate. You can keep working in Mandarin and check several minutes later in "Report Results"

If you need guidance on how to run the report, here is a quick tutorial (link), or we can generate it for you upon request by contacting Mandarin Technical Services.

To perform an inventory using the Mandarin module

1. BEFORE PERFORMING AN INVENTORY, it is recommended to create barcode files based on your library area or collections. Let's say your library has 5 areas: reference, circulation, DVD, fiction, and biographies. You will need to create 5 barcode files, one for each area. Here are the instructions on how to create Barcode files (link) As an alternative as well you can use a portable scanner (like the Worth Data Tricoder) to create barcode files.

Once you have your barcode files, you can send these to Mandarin Technical Services (Email), we will run inventory for you, and get back to you with the results.  If you wish to do it yourself, here are the steps for running inventory:

• 1. Select Do Inventory.

• • Fill in the following fields:

• 1. 1. Name

     2. Institution Name

        1. Select your Call Number Type

        2. Uncheck Check call number sequence

        3. Click on Next>

3. On the Barcode Sets screen.

• • Select Upload Barcodes From File.

  • Click Choose File and select the barcode file in the open dialog box.  Click Open.

  • Select OK.

  • The barcodes will be uploaded. Click on Next>.

4. click Run Inventory ("call number range" does not need to be created for a full inventory).

• • • When the process is completed, a summary will be presented.

    • If you click the Home button, the name for the report will be "Report Created...". for later viewing

Here are some definitions from the results of an inventory

• Summary - Number of holdings in selected range(s) : Mandarin does not either count as part of the inventory items that are marked as deleted nor items that don't have barcodes 

• Each tab (ex. Newly Found, Missing, Invalid Barcodes, etc) will have an icon with "?" describing the meaning of the results 

How to do a Partial Inventory

Follow the steps above for a full inventory except once you reach the Call Number Ranges section:

1. Select Create New Call Number Range.

2. Click Run Inventory

3. Results will be displayed in the same manner as the full inventory.

Technical TIP 

If there is a space (character) in the barcode information for the holding record for a particular barcode in the file used for inventory, this will probably happen:

• The title will be on the "missing list" since it was not on the barcode file due to the space in the barcode

• Also, the barcode will show on the Invalid Barcodes list, (a space is treated as a character)