In Alma, item records may carry two types of statuses, base status and process status. During migration from Voyager, multiple Voyager item statuses were mapped to a single option, "Technical - Migration" status, with details on the status added to an item record note. This document provides information on ways to identify these items, along with processes modify these items in bulk to use analogous statuses in Alma.
In Alma, item records may carry two types of statuses. All items have a base status, which represents whether the item is on the shelf or not on the shelf. Some items may also have a process status, which may identify one or more additional conditions behind an item's base status. Possible process statuses include the following:
Some of the above statuses may be set directly on items, while other statuses may only be applied by moving items through a functional workflow, e.g., via a work order, via the resource request monitoring list, or via the manage patron services and return items screens. The Technical - Migration status was applied to items during the migration from Voyager for items that had one or more of the following Voyager item statuses:
Many of the above Voyager statuses do not have direct analogues in Alma, and the different ways that libraries may have applied some of the statuses make them difficult to map into new options. For instance, Alma provides only one status option for "lost." The analogous options for Catalog Review, Circulation Review, and In Process are work order and request statuses.
If an item in Voyager had one or more of these statuses, details on that status was added to the Alma item record in Internal Note 3. Internal Note 3 may be searched in the Alma repository using an advanced search of Physical Items. Using this type of search, or by creating Analytics reports, library staff may locate these items and begin the process of updating the process status to Alma equivalents.
Items with the Process Status of "Technical-Migration" will have a base status of "not on shelf." The basic way to clear these statuses is to scan in the item as if it was being returned from a loan or handled through a request process.
Alternately:
Items that were marked in Voyager as Missing are the easiest to modify in Alma, as both systems have a Missing status, and the status may be applied directly to item records manually or in bulk. The process description below identifies the bulk update method.
Item records have a separate field for the Physical Condition of an item.
Physical condition may be set using the same process as that for Missing items above. Modify the steps above as follows:
Alma only offers a single status of Lost, which may only be applied to an item that is currently on loan. If an item in Alma is still charged to a patron, then you may do the following:
If items are no longer loaned to a patron, the Lost status cannot be applied. Library staff will need to decide whether to mark the item as missing, or to remove the item from the system.
Coming soon.
Alma does not have an equivalent status for Catalog Review. In Voyager, some libraries marked items as "catalog review" at the time an item was circulated so that the circulation client would alert staff when the item was returned, then send the item to cataloging. CARLI staff believe that the similar result might be accomplished using work orders. More information coming soon.
Alma does not have an equivalent status for Catalog Review. In Voyager, some libraries marked items as "circulation review" at the time an item was circulated so that the circulation client would alert staff when the item was returned, then send the item to cataloging. CARLI staff believe that the similar result might be accomplished using work orders. More information coming soon.
Coming soon.
In Alma, the Claims Returned status may only be applied to an active loan charged to a patron. More details on Claims Returned status are available on the Alma Managing Patron Services document.
To claim an item was returned:
If items are no longer loaned to a patron, the Claims Returned status cannot be applied. Library staff will need to decide whether to mark the item as missing, or to remove the item from the system.
How-To: Withdrawing Inventory and Deleting Records
Alma has an In Transit status that identifies when physical items are being moved between circulation desks, either at the same or different institutions. However, items that migrated from Voyager with the "In Transit" or "In Transit Discharged" statuses should not be placed back into those statuses. Instead, library staff should shelf-search these items. Any items found on the shelf should be processed as returns.
To return an item: