Week of March 25-29

This week Ms. Hinton instructed me on how to process books.  She writes the barcode number on inside of all books, in case the cover is ever missing on a book.  The checkout log shows the barcode number on books missing it.  That way if you know who had the book, you can check to see which book was checked out.  It is important to check to make sure the correct cover is on books.  If not, it is necessary to take action. Either return to company or delete from collection.  Some of the books were bought even though there was not an AR test for them at them time.  Now that they have a test, AR stickers needed to be added to the books.  Specifically, the Obama books.

We learned about pre-processing and such in LIS 408 recently.  Even if someone does the processing for you, you must pre-process by providing the vendor specs for your library such as Sears or LCSH, automation system, barcode number range, position of barcode, and how you want the call numbers to be labeled.  There is usually a cost per item for processing to make items shelf-ready.  But the advantage is that all you have to do is put marks of ownership on them. (Pace, personal communication, April 8).

Ms. Hinton says she likes Follet better than Mackin for ordering books. I didn't get a chance to work with Follet, however, I did work with Mackin one week.  She had me to order books based on the list of books the faculty requested.  It was a slightly confusing site.  It provided, however, a key for determining what the abbreviations mean. 

Ms. Hinton informed me that she would be preparing a folder with information about reboxing and replacing damaged books.  I have yet to receive that information, but I plan to ask her soon.  She also told me that she will be printing out directions for how to print AR labels and barcodes.  She explained the new AR test components to her classes and to me.  She says that from now on there will be more than one question on the page as students take the test and that there will be added vocabulary tests.

To add a copy of a book to the system, first put the barcode on the book close to the spine, vertically to allow for ease during inventory, then click on Barcode under Catalog on Destiny and click edit to change barcode.  Look for the book with no copies, and click add copy, then enter new barcode number and the price of the book.  She let me do this to several books until I was a pro.  I enjoyed this week.