Inventory control

And so it is... first day of the inventory control.

The software has been installed and I have tested the scanner yesterday (picked up from the lovely Bodleian Libraries bus).

Out of 5 items scanned yesterday, 2 mistakes.... that is promising! But at least the inventory control will help me sort out my collections. (1)

I have decided not to process the whole library. It is the first time I do this and best to be kind to myself! Plus we are also getting a new website at work and I have to do some changes regarding that (plus the usual summer time of a librarian: ie catch up with everything you did not have to do during the year... obviously the process of donations will not be my priority this summer...)

You could ask why? And especially why now? After ten years in the same library.

Well I had some misconceptions about what an inventory control was... especially its process. I truly thought I would have had to carry all items to my computer for them to be scanned there. But no!

I went to an inventory control workshop from the Bodleian Digital Library Systems and Services (given by Chris Hargreaves, Sara Burnell and Katherine Ferguson) and I had all my queries answered. I was also great to meet other librarians who were going to do an inventory this summer.

It will help me:

• Check all items are properly catalogued
• All items are in the right place and have the right status, ie book for books and CDs for CDs...
• Check all items marked missing or lost are corrected on the system
• All other issues (items belonging to another library, barcode issues etc...)

I will start at lunchtime today... exciting times!

I will start with the DVD collection. 

(1) one DVD was not in the right place, and the other one was not catalogued at all! I created a new cataloguing record for "Contact in the Outback" a documentary in the Martu language (Australian language)