Learning and Teaching: Evening and Weekend Guide: Essential Reading Management

Introduction

Essential Items Processing

All essential items from reading lists will be made available primarily as Short Loans. This means we need to change historic essential items which are currently only available as Long Loans. We are also adding notes on all essential items, so that reports can be made on the use of essential items.

To do this we have created spreadsheets for each block, containing all of the essential reading for that block. These can be found here

There are two main tasks (1) the changing of loan types and (2) the adding of essential tags.

The Block start dates for 22/23 are:

Block 1: 26th September

Block 2: 31st October

Block 3: 5th December

Block 4: 30th January

Block 5: 6th March

Block 6: 24th April

Adding 'Essential' to item records

1. Open the spreadsheet for the relevant block, located in the folder linked above or on the Dashboard (Items with loan type to be changed). This should look like the image below.

2. The column titled 'tag added' is the column we're currently using to indicate when you have added the Essential tags. Cells with the letter Y (coloured green) have already been done. Sometimes it's easier to use the 'Course' column to filter so you just look at one course worth of books at a time. Do all of the copies (LL, SL, ON & Ref), even for the titles which have '0' copies to be changed. The only items we can't add tags to are eBooks, which will have N/A in the 'tag added' column

3. Use the OCLC number to find the correct book. Then go into each individual copy of that book and 'Edit'.

NB: We need to add these notes to EVERY COPY - not just the Short Loan copies. This means you'll need to add it to more copies than the number in the 'LL copies to change' column.

4. Go into the 'Notes' field, and make sure you select Staff not Public. Then add the following Notes (as two separate notes)

Essential

Essential - Course (this is whatever is in the Course column in the spreadsheet) Please add Capital letters as in the spreadsheet. Take out any BSC/BA/MSC/LLB etc. Do not use '&' symbols, instead write and

If a book is in multiple courses reading lists, add a separate note for each course.

5. Once you've added all the notes save the item. Make sure you add notes to each individual copy of the book. Once you've done them all add the letter Y to the Tag Added column. The box should automatically turn green.

Physical Processing - Essential Items

The essential items need to be changed from Long Loan to Short Loan.

1. Open the spreadsheet for the right block from the folder linked above. This is sorted by call number to make physical processing easier.

2. The first step is to check the shelves quickly to confirm there are as many books as the spreadsheet claims there are on the shelf. This is so we do not print too many labels. Simply record how many Long Loan copies of the book you find on the shelf in the column 'no. on shelf'. You can do this at the same time as placing books on trolleys if you want.

4. Now print the labels. Make sure to check in the notes column for any call number changes that were indicated. Print the number of labels you identified in step 2. Make sure you print them all as short loan (Yellow).

5. Now you can change the loan types of the books. You'll need a glue stick, some paper labels for the inside of the books, some label protectors, and the spine labels you've just printed, as well as your laptop and a barcode scanner.

6. Start by scanning the barcode of the book into 'Discover items' on WMS. This will bring up the page for this item.

Change the loan type by clicking 'Edit' and then selecting from the drop down box next to 'Location'. Change to 1 Week Loan and save.

7. Now stick the new yellow paper on the inside (either over the top of the old Green one, or the remove the green one and add a yellow in its place). Close the book and add the new shelf sticker you've printed to the spine, cover with a label protector.

8. Repeat this for each copy of a book.

9. If you are able to change all the Long Loan copies to Short Loan (i.e. there aren't any missing or on loan) write 'Complete' in the 'spine change' column. The cell will turn green

If you are unable to complete this for all copies, write Partial in the 'spine change' column. The cell will turn yellow. If you can write in the notes column the reason why (possible missing book, number of copies on loan, copies overdue etc.) this will be helpful for the LSA's overseeing the process.