Items
Related Blog Posts
Blog Posts
-
Items: a few things you may not know...
created by
Apr 12, 2023
-
Searching by Subject
created by
Nov 16, 2022
-
Assigning policies–the complete guide
created by
Mar 23, 2022
-
Title Assistant to the rescue!
created by
Jan 27, 2022
-
Overdue Items Notices? We've got you cover-ed
created by
Nov 24, 2021
-
Search smarter!—Combine search results
created by
Oct 13, 2021
-
Using Contents Notes
created by
Sep 23, 2021
-
Introducing... FAQs!
created by
Jul 07, 2021
-
Changing call numbers—helpful utilities
created by
Mar 03, 2021
-
From our librarians—Reusable book menu cards
created by
Nov 18, 2020
Set Up
explanation of title vs copy
- Records contain general information about the item that is the same for every copy. This includes author, publisher, subjects, Lexile, and more. Each title can have one or more copies.
Copy Records represent each individual copy of the title in your collection; each copy is assigned an individual barcode number.
Items may refer to either or both.
- Records contain general information about the item that is the same for every copy. This includes author, publisher, subjects, Lexile, and more. Each title can have one or more copies.
Linking to our info on call numbers and barcodes
our cataloging prefs
your item limits
- how patrons will search and find these items
Catalog
the diff between running barcode labels and unused barcode labels
- Copies Labels Reports. labels for items already entered in Alexandria
- Unused Barcodes report. finds unused barcodes you can send to vendors or use for new materials
things are different for e-resources
- eBooks
- cataloging other things (resources like Chromebooks)
cataloging in MARC or not
using In Processing patron
using the union site
Using Title Assistant to get existing records, or using the update feature to add data you are missing;
Title matching (e.g. isbn will find better matches)
Adding items manually vs via import, and if you add via import how to find all those items to tweak them
- don’t show in researcher
Enhance
- Keep your data clean using authority control and (link to clean up your data article).
- similarly, get the Bestmarc add-on to enhance your records...
- title assistant
Set Up
Before adding items to Alexandria, there are some things to do that will make later steps easier.
Familiarize yourself with Items Management and Researcher
Items Management is where you manage title records and copy records. Title records contain general information about the item that is the same for every copy. This includes author, publisher, subjects, Lexile, and more. Each title can have one or more copies. Copy records represent each individual copy of the title in your collection; each copy is assigned an individual barcode number. "Items" may refer to either or both.
Your license determines how many title and copy records you can have; go to the Special tab in Circulation to see your current record totals.
Once you've added titles and copies to Items Management, patrons will be able to search for them in Researcher. Learning how Alexandria's various search interfaces work will help you make your catalog more searchable for patrons. Here are a few pages you should briefly check out:
Decide on call number and barcode formats
Call Numbers
There are different ways to structure your physical library and, consequently, set up your call numbers, as call numbers indicate where patrons can find items in your library. Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress are common classifications.
Genrefied libraries should have call numbers that match how your library is organized. One common method is using a combination of genre and author last name as call numbers. For example, with a call number of FIC SHU, FIC would be short for the genre—fiction—and SHU would be short for the author's last name—Shusterman).
Call number sections in Alexandria can be separated by spaces and/or periods. Here are some examples of call numbers that work in Alexandria:
- FIC CHR
- 327.67 DEE
- 355 SIE
When printing spine labels, you can choose whether to split sections where there are spaces or spaces & periods.
Alexandria formats call numbers to remove control characters and double spaces, thus correcting incorrectly formatted numbers. If you'd like to keep double spaces in your call numbers, use the "fixed space" character.
Barcodes
You'll also want to decide on a standard format for your barcodes. Here are some resources to help you:
Set your cataloging preferences
Adjust your Items Preferences—specifically the Cataloging tab—so that defaults are set.
Catalog
It's time to add those items! Here are some general instructions and tips.
Catalog books
There are two places you can add items in Alexandria:
Items Management
Add titles and copies individually through Items Management.
Title Assistant is a cataloging tool that helps you see whether a title already exists in your collection so you can avoid duplicates. It can also find the title's complete MARC record if it can be located in one of your Z39.50 servers. Then you can add that MARC record to your collection without having to enter all that information manually.
Searching by ISBN will give you the most accurate matches.
- The MARC View Editor allows you to view and modify the entire MARC record for a title. You can also use Item Editors, which allow you to customize the MARC record for an item without having to toggle to the MARC View Editor.
Import
Using an import is the easier option if you need to add a lot of records at once. With a tab-delimited file, you can import a bunch of items all at once into Alexandria.
If item records are imported with a non-existent or invalid site code, they will be assigned to the Union Site. Copies assigned to the Union Site have a status of In Processing and can't be circulated to regular patrons.
You can move those records to their correct site with the Reassign Union Site Copies utility.
Catalog other resources (ebooks, Chromebooks, etc)
Cataloging non-book items is a very similar process.
- In Items Management, add a new item by clicking the plus icon at the bottom left corner of the window.
- Click Search or hit <enter> on your keyboard to skip Title Assistant. This will bring up a blank title record.
- Next, fill out the record. Use the Title, Author, and Publisher fields for what would be the best equivalent. For example, in the Title field, you might type "Chromebook" or whatever term that represents your specific equipment. Similarly, you can use other fields to add other important information; this information will help you reference the item throughout Alexandria, select it in Reports, or find it in Researcher.
The Copy tab is where you add information unique to individual items, such as the serial number. Keep in mind that you'll want to barcode non-book items the same as you would a book, so be sure to not use the item's serial number as its barcode.
- We suggest initially only adding one title and one copy. With this first item, you can do some tests in Alexandria to see how the item looks in places where you know you'll be looking for and using those items. For example, you may want to run some reports to make sure you can select the item and that the information is where you'd like it to be. When adding a lot of data, it's always helpful to start small and test things out.
When adding non-book items, you'll also want to create new policies and mediums to accommodate these new and different items. With new policies, you will be able to better manage longer or unusual check out times, larger replacement costs, and more. And with new mediums, you will be able to more easily get information through reports, find the items in Items Management and Researcher, and manipulate the data for these items with utilities.
See our Cataloging eBooks and eReaders pages for information specific to those items.
Modify records
You may need to make some adjustments to your records after adding them.
- MARC & RDA
- Mediums in Alexandria
- Cataloging Series and Serials
- don't show in researcher
Print labels
You can print labels for both cataloged and uncataloged items.
- Copies Labels Reports. Print labels for items already cataloged in Alexandria.
- Unused Barcodes report. finds unused barcodes you can send to vendors or use for new materials.
- Find out which barcode ranges are available to use (Range Information format).
- If you receive new items that don't have assigned barcodes yet, run this report with the Barcode Labels (3x10) format to generate and print some unused barcodes. Then, simply scan the unused barcodes as you enter new copy records.
Enhance
Keep your catalog clean and updated.
Keep your data clean and consistent
- Use Authority Control to maintain consistency in your catalog.
- Routinely weed out items in your library to make room for new items.
- Standardize your series information to make items searchable.
See our Clean Up Your Data article for more recommendations.
Update and enhance information
- In addition to finding new titles, Title Assistant can also enhance titles already in your collection.
- Look into getting the BestMARC add-on to enhance your records. Make your catalog more helpful and discoverable by adding reading program information, converting to RDA format, fixing tags, genrefying, and more!