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Item Maintenance: Item Barcode Has Trailing Space Character

Alma requires an exact match on the item barcode value in order to process an item for charging, discharging, and processing requests and/or work orders. However, it is possible that a barcode may contain a trailing blank space character (e.g., if the barcode value were copied from a document or webpage). If library staff scan or type the barcode digits only, but the item record barcode includes a blank space, Alma will report that the item is not found. Library staff should locate and correct records where these extra characters prevent matching.

When viewing a record in Alma, extra blank spaces are typically not visible until the user selects all of the text in the field. CARLI staff have prepared a report to locate these items. Open Alma Analytics, then locate the Item Maintenance Barcode Has Trailing Blank Space report.

  1. Go to the Analytics menu, select Design Analytics.
  2. Click Catalog.
  3. Expand and navigate the shared folders into the CARLI reports group. The report is in the following folder:
    /Shared Folders/Carli NETWORK 01CARLI_NETWORK/Item Maintenance Reports
  4. Locate the Item Maintenance Barcode Has Trailing Space Character report, click Open.
  5. If your library has items with this condition, you will see the results. Columns include Library Name, Location Name, Permanent Call Number, Description, Barcode, Barcode showing blanks*, Item ID, MMS ID, Title.
    Partial view of the Item Maintenance Barcode Has Trailing Space Character report. Column headers show Library Name, Location Name, Permanent Call Number, Description, Barcode, and Barcode showing blanks. Under the barcode showing blanks column, strings of numbers are shown with one or more high dot characters following the numbers.
    * In the Barcode showing blanks column, the blank space has been replaced by the high dot character, "⸱" for better visibility.
  6. You may export the report to Excel: Scroll to the end of the page, click Export > Data > Excel.

To correct this error, you may do a keyword search for the barcode, or search by the Title or MMS ID. 

  1. Search Physical Items for your item
  2. Click Edit Item
  3. Place your cursor at the end of the barcode, then use delete or backspace to remove any blanks after the numbers.
  4. Highlight the contents of the barcode field to check whether any blanks remain. If blanks are removed, click Save.