Embedded Files
Alma sets books to "Lost"
Alma changes the Process Type on a physical item to Lost when the physical item is 28 days overdue (and can no longer be renewed because the borrower has reached the Maximum Renewal Period as defined under Fulfillment => Fulfillment Configuration => Physical Fulfillment => Terms of Use and Policies).
Lost loan rules are configured here: Fulfillment => Fulfillment Configuration => Physical Fulfillment => Overdue and Lost Loan Profile
The patron will be fined as per system rules (Fulfillment => Fulfillment Configuration => Physical Fulfillment => Terms of Use and Policies).
The patron will be e-mailed a bill for the book by Alma.
Circulation staff are notified
Alma Analytics generates a report on the 2nd day of each month (one report for each branch), and emails the report as an Excel file to the Circulation Manager.
The report contains Lost items that were due between 3-4 months ago (90-120 days), with due date, book barcode and title, patron name and user group, and owning library.
Circulation staff sanction patrons per procedure
Print bill
Circulation staff enters the user record and goes to the Attachment tab.
They look for the File name called FulLostLoanLetter_... with the Notes field Form ChangeLoanToLostTask.
Actions => View will reveal the Lost Item Bill, which is printed and filed.
Note: The most recent attachment on the list will have a complete summary of all fines currently levied on the user.
Enter Block in Alma user record
Circulation staff enters the user record and goes to the Blocks tab.
Add Block
Add as an external: leave unchecked [otherwise block will be overwritten by SIS synchronization]
Block Description: All patron's privileges are blocked.(LOCAL)
Enter text in the Note field as per sample below:
Students — URI REGISTRAR SANCTION*Bill in file*See Staff Member* 6-9-16 ss
Faculty, Staff, and other non-student users — URI LIBRARY SANCTION*Bill in file*See Staff Member* 6-9-16 ss
Add and Close
Save
Note: This block is currently configured to be overridable only by a Circulation Desk Manager. To change this, see an Alma Administrator.
Note: The word (LOCAL) in the name of the block has no functionality in Alma, per ALMA-L 6/2016 ajr.
Place sanction (Students only!)
Log in to eCampus.
Go to Campus Community
Go to Service Indicators.
Choose Person
Choose Manage Service Indicators.
Enter University ID number or student name
Add Service Indicator
Service Indicator Code
Service Indicator Reason Code
Start Term : Choose when you want the sanction to start.
Apply
OK
To remove sanction
Log in to eCampus.
Go to Campus Community
Go to Service Indicators.
Choose Person
Choose Manage Service Indicators.
Enter University ID number or student name
LIB for Library Sanction
Release
OK
To remove Block in Alma user record
Enter the user record in Alma and go to the Blocks tab.
Open for Update
Would you like to prevent these fields from being overridden? Yes
To the right of the block:
Actions => Delete
Save
Note: To configure block descriptions see Alma Online Help for Fulfillment and go to Fulfillment => Fulfillment Configuration => Configuration Menu => Patron Configurations => User Block Description.
To configure block definitions, go to Fulfillment => Fulfillment Configuration => Configuration Menu => Patron Configurations => User Block Definitions.
For more info on placing blocks see Alma Online Help for Blocking Users.
Cataloging staff deletes records of items still lost after 1 year
Create set to identify items still Lost after one year
On a regular basis (e.g. monthly), create a logical set of physical items with:
Modification Date before [one year ago]
Process type = Lost
This is SET 1.
Run job to close loans and set item status to Missing
Run the Close lost loans job on SET 1 which you created above.
This job will:
Delete the loan from the patron record (removes the active loan on the item)
Changes the Process Type on the book in Alma to Missing
Note that unpaid fines remain on the patron account, in the the user record, with information about the loan.
Create set to identify items you just set to Missing
Create a logical set of physical items with:
Modification Date equals [the date you ran the Close lost loans job]
Process type = Missing
This is SET 2.
Prepare a list of newly Missing items for Collection Management Officer
From the results list of SET 2: Tools => Excel
Download file, then name it lost items for possible repurchase 6-9-2016.xlsx [with today's date].
Send spreadsheet to Collection Management Officer for review (and possible re-purchase of books).
Withdraw Missing items from Alma and remove holdings from OCLC
If your set of titles is small, withdraw each missing item in the set individually, then go to OCLC and remove holdings.
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If your set is large, batch process it by doing the following:
1. Convert SET 2 to an itemized set: Actions => Itemize. This is SET 3. Once you have an itemized set, you can:
2. Create a titles set with SET 3: Actions => Create titles set. This is SET A.
3. From Manage Sets, view the results of SET A and use Tools => Excel to download the title set. Name it title set before withdrawal.xlsx. (This set will contain the OCLC numbers of all the physical items in your SET 3 of missing items.)
A. Open title set before withdrawal.xlsx.
B. Scan the spreadsheet. If there are any numbers without the (OCoLC) prefix, look up the number in Alma to double-check it. Correct spreadsheet as needed.
C. Save and close.
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4. Run job to withdraw physical items
Run the Withdraw items job on the itemized set of missing items you created (SET 3).
For How to handle holdings without items and bibliographic records?
Select: Delete holdings; delete bibliographic records that have no other holdings
After the job runs, check the job report and note down the number of bibliographic records deleted.
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5. Go back to SET A, your titles set. View the results and use Tools => Excel to download the title set. Name it title set after withdrawal.xlsx. This set will NOW only contain any OCLC numbers that still remain after the withdrawal job, i.e. bibs that were not deleted because there is a second copy or additional volumes.
A. Open title set after withdrawal.xlsx.
B. Scan the spreadsheet. If there are any numbers without the (OCoLC) prefix, look up the number in Alma to double-check it. Correct spreadsheet as needed.
C. Save and close.
6. Open a Google Spreadsheet. Open both Excel files: title set before withdrawal.xlsx and title set after withdrawal.xlsx. In the same column of the Google Spreadsheet, paste the contents of the "Record number" (i.e. OCLC number) field from both Excel files.
7. In Google, "Find" (OCoLC) and "Replace" with (nothing) to remove all instances of (OCoLC). "Find" ; ocm* and "Replace" with (nothing) to remove all instances of ocm. "Find" ; ocn* and "Replace" with (nothing) to remove all instances of ocm. Check to make sure you have only only numbers left.
Note: It may also be possible to leave (OCoLC) and other prefixes in the OCLC numbers, without affecting OCLC's ability to delete.
8. In Google, go to Add-Ons => Remove Duplicates => Find duplicates or uniques [You'll need to install the Add-On called "Remove Duplicates" by AbleBits.]
9. On the next screen, choose "Uniques: find uniques only".
10. On the next screen, you may need to unselect "My table has headers".
11. On the next screen, choose "Copy to another location" and "new sheet".
12. Click Finish and it will copy the unique values onto a new sheet labeled "Uniques." These are OCLC numbers that only occurred on the before withdrawal set, but not on the after withdrawal set, therefore, those from which we need to remove our holdings, i.e. no copies left.
13. (Double check that the number of entries on the Uniques spreadsheet matches the number of bibliographic records deleted during the Withdraw items job.)
14. Copy and paste the Uniques list from Google Spreadsheets into notepad as a txt file.
Note: It may also be possible to copy the column of OCLC numbers from Excel or the Google Spreadsheet directly into OCLC, avoiding the step of creating a text file.
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15. Batch un-set OCLC holdings via the Connexion client
Connexion > Batch > Holdings by OCLC number
Browse for .txt file and click Import
Select Delete Holdings
OK
Documentation here: https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/support/connexion/documentation/client/basics/batchprocessing/batchprocessing.pdf
Note: It may also be possible to copy the column of OCLC numbers from Excel or the Google Spreadsheet directly into OCLC, avoiding the step of creating a text file.
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