To add, or create, items user must search and pull the BID for the bibliographic record that the items will be added to. This can be done using the BID search or the bib search features outlined in the Searching section of these Help pages. Using bib search allows the user to search for a bibliographic record by ISBN, etc. Once the correct BID is displayed, the user can begin adding items. The ability to add items is based on user permissions. Additionally, staff will only be able to add items for their own branch.

• Select add an item next to items at the top of the screen.

• Scan or type an item number into the first field within Location Information.

• Required Item Information will pre-populate. Required fields are identified by a red (*).

• Add or edit information based on your branch needs, using the same information/rules shared in the Editing Items section of these Help pages.

• Once the user begins adding or editing this information, they will be presented with a red cancel button and a green save item button.

• Complete this process for all items associated with the particular BID.

• If a BID that is currently suppressed due to not having items attached, the suppression status will update upon the addition of items.

• Once completed and saved, and additions and edits to items can take up to 15 minutes to appear in CARL•Connect Discovery.

Fields within Item Information can be edited by staff. The ability to edit Item Information is permission driven on a field by field basis. Additionally, staff will only be allowed to edit items for their own branch. Once editing begins, a red Cancel button and a green Save button will appear at the bottom of the Item Information details. Once completed and saved any edits to items can take up to 15 minutes to appear in CARL•Connect Discovery.

Fields within Item Information are either free text fields or a drop-down list of options. if a field is greyed out, that indicates that a user does not have permission to edit that field, or that it is a field that cannot be changed due to an item's current status. The fields in this section are:

item number: Free text field

item call number: Free text field

location: Drop-down list of locations within your system

branch: Drop-down list of libraries within your system

status: Drop-down list of item statuses. Certain statuses cannot be edited, for example - Charged

alternate on shelf display status: Free text field used to edit the display a patron sees in CARL•Connect Discovery. This is used to indicate that an item available to be charged to a patron may not in the usual on-shelf status. For example, if it is in a lobby display case, etc.

owning location: This will always be the same as Location

owning branch: This is the branch that owns the item

Fields within Description are either free text fields or a drop-down list of options. if a field is greyed out, that indicates that a user does not have permission to edit that field. The fields in this section are:

media: This a drop-down list of media types available within your system

price: Free text field

suppression: This check box allows a user to manually suppress an item from the CARL•Connect Discovery patron interface

Additionally, there are options for adding notes to items that will provide an alert and information to staff. These messages only appear in the staff interface, and are not visible to patrons.

note type: The user has the option of adding a Standard note, a Charge/Discharge note, or a Damaged note to an item. The Standard note will always appear within the item information in a clear, green message box. The Charge/Discharge note will display when an item is checked in or out, to alert the staff member that they may need to look closer at the particular item. The Damaged Item note will display to let the staff member know that the item is damaged and why.

predefined note options and free text note: Each note can either be selected by choosing a predefined note from the drop-down list of options, or it can be created individually using the free text note field. A note must be one or the other of these two options, and cannot be both.

Adding consistent chronology and enumeration to items allows holds to be placed against specific issues of a periodical, or any type of content associated with a bibliographic record that might have differing content, for example, a DVD set. Chronology and Enumeration needs data to be included in each item associated with a BID. Please note, you can have chronology associated with an item, but you cannot have enumeration associated with an item without chronology.

To add or edit chronology and enumeration for an item, select the red expand arrow on the right. To close this set of information, you can select the red collapse arrow.

Chronology and Enumeration are part of the call number that is displayed within the Location Information section of these Help pages. As you begin entering Chronology and Enumeration into the fields described below, the full call number will begin populating automatically in the blue field above that information. Once the user begins adding or editing this information, they will be presented with a red cancel button and a green save item button.

issue date format: You can select; year, month year, month day year, and seasonal. Once you select the format of your choice, you will need to populate that information in the field provided.

enumeration: These fields are where the user can add; volume, number, etc. for an item. Please note, consistent labeling and terminology must be used throughout the library system in order to take full advantage of this functionality. Once changes have been made, and the information has been saved, the user will be given a green confirmation message alerting them that their updates have been saved.

To view specific item activity select the red expand arrow on the right. To close this set of information, select the red collapse arrow. Activity shown is informational and cannot be edited.

last modified date: The date that any changes or edits were made to the Item Information

created on: The date that the item was entered into the system

created by: The alias of the user who entered the item into the system

circulation count: The number of times that the item has circulated since the last circulation count reset has taken place

cumulative circulation count: The number of times that the item has circulated in its life

holds count: The number of current holds against the item

in house circulation count: The number of times that the item was scanned through check in without being charged.

Once a search is completed, and a list of results is displayed, the user can view and interact with an individual item's information. A display of the item's bibliographic record (BID) information appears at the top of the results and shares the following information; Cover Art (obtained from Syndetics), Format (appears at the bottom of the Cover Art), Title, Author, Call Number and Publication Date. Additionally, the downloadable field denotes whether or not this record is an eResource. This BID information cannot be edited.

sort items: As shared above, the default sorting of Items is by the branch that you are logged into, and then items are displayed alphabetically by branch name. To change the sort order, you can use the Sort Items drop-down menu. Additional sorting options are: location, media, status, item number and date.

item details: The results display will default to a brief field of information that contains; Branch, Item Call Number, Location, Media, Item Status, Date and Suppression information. This information cannot be edited. The Item Number shown is a hyperlink, and selecting it will take the user to Transaction Detail. This will be described in greater detail in the Transaction Detail section of the Help pages.

Individual Item Information can be expanded and displayed by selecting the red arrow within the Item Information field. Or, Item Information for all items can be expanded by selecting the red expand all arrow at the top right of the results list. Once expanded, the red arrows can be used to collapse back to the brief Item Information view. The expanded Item Information shares; Location Information, Descriptions, Chronology and Enumeration, and Activity. These will be described in greater detail in the Editing Items section of the Help pages.

How to: To log in to your staff account and enter the Items functionality you must have appropriate permissions. If you do not have the appropriate permissions, then Items will not be available to select from the Dashboard. To log in, go to your library’s CARL•Connect Staff homepage and provide the following information:

Username: Enter your user name in the username field of the login screen. Your user name matches your existing CARL•X client user name. If you do not know your user name, please contact your supervisor.

Password: Enter your password in the password field of the login screen. Your password matches your existing CARL•X client password. If you do not know your password, please contact your supervisor.

Once the Username and Password fields have been populated, select login. If the user enters and incorrect username or password, an error message will display.

Please note: If the user logging in has a Default Branch set, they will automatically be logged into that branch. Once logged in, that branch information will appear at the top right of the page. If the user does not have a Default Branch set, the user is presented with a lightbox, allowing them to select their Branch from a branch name dropdown. Once logged in, that branch information will appear at the top right of the page.

The Dashboard allows quick access to all parts of CARL•Connect Staff. It is permissions-based, so if a section appears to be grayed out and can’t be selected, the user does not have permission to access it. A user can return to the dashboard from anywhere in CARL•Connect Staff by clicking on the logo at the top left of the screen.

There are three ways to search Items; using a direct Item lookup, a search for a particular BID (bibliographic record), or by completing a Bib Search in the staff CARL•Connect Discovery interface. Selecting the logo at the top left of the screen will take you back to the intitial search screen. If there are more than 20 items in your results, you can select the Load More button to load additional items.

You can search for a specific item by scanning or typing the item number into the Item ID field. This will return the item searched as well as all the items on that same bibliographic record. Underneath the bibliographic information, the item searched will display at the top of the results, followed by items that belong to the branch that you are currently logged into, with the remaining items being listed alphabetically by branch.

You can search for a specific bibliographic record by entering the unique bibliographic identifier, knows as the BID, into the BID field. Underneath the bibliographic information, the items that belong to the branch that you are logged into will appear at the top of the results, with the remaining items being listed alphabetically by branch name.

Selecting the bib search button next to the item lookup fields will seamlessly move you to the staff CARL•Connect Smart PAC functionality. This search interface is the same look and feel of the CARL•Connect Discovery interface that your library patrons use. However, when you interact with the interface by selecting the bib search button as a logged in staff member, you are accessing a staff view that provides additional information that will not be visible in the patron CARL•Connect Discovery interface.

When bib search is selected, the user will be taken into the Smart PAC view of an advanced search page. Users can utilize the single search box and advance searching options in the same way that they would in the patron CARL•Connect Discovery interface.

When the search is completed, a Title Results List view will display that can be further refined using the facets provided. As this is the Smart PAC, staff view, of CARL•Connect Discovery, users will be able to see bibliographic records that are suppressed, or hidden, from the patrons' view. These suppressed records are outlined in a pink box with a red suppression message.

Using the green Select Back button will take the user back to the Items results within CARL•Connect Staff where they can now view and interact with items in the same way they could after completing an Item ID or BID search. As with the other search options, underneath the bibliographic record information, the items that belong to the branch that you are logged into will appear at the top of the results, with the remaining items being listed alphabetically by branch name.

In order to link to Transaction Detail, select the Item Number hyperlink that is found with the brief Item Details of any item searched.

The Who Notes for an item provide transaction information for a particular item. The ability to view this information is only available within the CARL•Connect Staff interface and does appear to patrons. It is also permissions driven. The Who Notes information defaults with the Who Has It transaction information open. To open or close the Who Notes, select the red arrow. To expand the additional Who Notes information fields, select the red expand arrow on the right. To close this set of information, you can select the red collapse arrow. The number of patrons displayed is determined by the library system.

who has it: This shares the Item Status, Date Checked Out, Due Date, Patron ID, Name, Patron Type, Phone Number(s), and Email Address (if provided) of the patron who currently has the item. Selecting the Patron ID hyperlink will take the user into the staff view of the patron's account.

who had it: This shares the Item Status, Date Checked Out, Due Date, Patron ID, Name, Patron Type, Phone Number(s), and Email Address (if provided) of the patron who last had the item. Selecting the Patron ID hyperlink will take the user into the staff view of the patron's account.

who owes: This shares the Item Status, Date Checked Out, Due Date, Patron ID, Name, Patron Type, Phone Number(s), and Email Address (if provided) of the patrons who owe fines and fees for this item. Selecting the Patron ID hyperlink will take the user into a staff view of the patron's account.

who wants it: This shares the Item Status, Date Checked Out, Due Date, Patron ID, Name, Patron Type, Phone Number(s), and Email Address (if provided) of the patrons who have holds placed on this item. Selecting the Patron ID hyperlink will take the user into a staff view of the patron's account.

version: 1.6.8
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