Taking an Item Inventory

When you want to take an inventory of items on the shelf, use the Check In workform - Update InventoryDate view. You can inventory items by scanning item barcodes, reading RFID tags, or loading a file of item barcodes generated by another device. After you take the inventory, you can print a shelf list of the inventoried items.

Items are not checked in through the Update InventoryDate view. If an item has any status other than In, the workform indicates the problem. You must check in the item through the Check In Normal or Bulk view.

When you scan items during an inventory, the Last inventory date field in the item record (Statistics view) is updated.

To take an inventory:

Note:
You can also take an inventory while working offline. The offline Update InventoryDate view differs slightly from the online workform view.

  1. Select Circulation > Check In from the Polaris Shortcut Bar to display the Check In workform.
  2. Click InventBtn.gif, or select View > Update Inventory Date to display the Update Inventory Date view.

    3. Tip:
    To open the Check In workform to this view by default. Select View > Save Current View as User Default.

    Tip:
    If you are working with a number of items, some with barcodes and some with RFID tags, group the items so that you process all of one type, then all of the other. This method is faster than repeatedly switching between the barcode scanner and the RFID reader.

  3. Enter item information using one of the following methods:
    • Scanning barcodes - Scan the item barcode in the Item barcode box, or type the barcode and press ENTER.
    • Reading RFID tags - Select Tools > RFID Check In (or press F9), and place up to 10 items on the antenna tray. In check-in Inventory mode, security bits are not affected. You must select Tools > RFID Check In or press F9 for each batch of items you place on the RFID antenna tray.
    • Loading a file of barcodes - Select Tools > Load barcode file, or press CTRL+ALT+I. An explorer window opens, where you can browse to and select the file of barcodes.

    4. Tip:
    If your library has Polaris SimplyReports, you can use the following method to create the text file containing the barcodes:
    1. Use the Find Tool to find the item records and apply the appropriate circulation status and branch limits.
    2. Right-click on the search results and select Add to record set.
    3. In Polaris SimplyReports, create an item list report with:
    --- Barcodes selected as the single report output column
    --- Text and Tab-delimited selected as the report output format
    ----The record set you created selected in the Item Record Set filter
    4. Download the text file from SimplyReports.

    If the item has a status of In, the item barcode, status, title and comments appear in the Update Inventory Date list. If the item has a status other than In, a message appears. When you click OK, the Comment column displays the status. You can check in the item through the Normal or Bulk view, or right-click the item in the list and open the item record.

  4. Repeat step 3 until you have completed your inventory of items.
  5. Run the following reports immediately after the inventory:
    • Inventory Exception Incorrect Status - Lists items that had a status other than In during inventory. You specify a call number range and a cut-off date. Set the cut-off date to the day before the inventory date. You can filter the report by organization.
    • Inventory Exception Misshelved - Lists items with a status of In that should have been in the inventory sequence but were not. You specify a call number range and a cut-off date. Set the cut-off date to the date you started the inventory. You can filter the report by organization.

Note:
To access these reports, select Utilities > Reports and Notices on the Polaris Shortcut Bar. In the Report Manager, select Cataloging > Item, and double-click the appropriate report. Using Polaris Standard Reports.

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