Are the library staff struggling to find picklist items? Patrons disappointed when they can’t find an item on your shelves that the catalogue says should be available? Do you have a ton of Fast-Add/On the Fly items in your collection that patrons won’t learn about unless they come into the physical library space? These are all great reasons to conduct an inventory of your collections!
Doing an inventory of what is actually on your shelves allows for Polaris to be updated and will better reflect your collections and what is available. Inventory is easy to do collection by collection if you’d like to conduct your inventory using in-house staff or if staff capacity is an issue Parkland’s Library Services Team can come out and inventory your whole collection in a day or two!
Please find the Inventory in LEAP tipsheet here.
Any items not scanned during inventory will appear in the ‘All Items Not Inventoried’ Polaris Report and should have their item statuses updated to MISSING. A list of the missing items should be distributed for searching amongst the library staff, and any items found should be checked in to bring their item status back to AVAILABLE. Items not found within 6 months of being marked MISSING will automatically be WITHDRAWN.
Parkland recommends conducting a full inventory at least once every 3 years to ensure that collection records and item statuses are up-to-date in Polaris LEAP.
Please contact your PRLS Consultant if you have any questions, if this is your first time conducting an inventory, or to request inventory support from Parkland. If you are a seasoned Inventory veteran, please let your Consultant know once your inventory has been completed, so we can keep our records updated.