Skip to main content
OCLC Support

Check in order items

Discover how to check in order items in OLIB Acquisitions.

►Acquisitions > Order Items

Overview

Order items can be checked in and/or invoiced at any time after sending the order to the supplier. They also can be checked in independently of entering the invoice. For example, you do not have to check in an item before you record invoice details. This allows you to do pre-payment of items. You can check in items regardless of which order they may be linked to and you do not have to check in all the items on a single order together. Similarly, you may invoice any order items from the same supplier on one invoice record - they do not have to correspond exactly to a single order reference.

 Note: The order item status is updated to Complete when all ordered copies are checked in. The order status is updated to Complete when all associated order items become complete.

Check in is normally carried out from the Order Items domain but can also be done in the Orders domain.

There are a variety of search options available to identify items to be checked in. The default is Outstanding Order Items. Order Items by ISBN/ISSN also can be useful.

Standard check in

  1. In Order Items use the Outstanding Order Items search to find the item to be checked in.
  2. Select the box to select it and choose Check in from the available Actions.
  3. In the Check in page the No. Received field defaults to zero. Simply enter the number of items received.
  4. The No. Outstanding field shows how many copies of an item are still outstanding in multiple copy orders, if for example some copies have already been received.
  5. Save the record.

Any Check in pop up messages are displayed. The action of Checking In automatically creates the copy records with the default values you had set at the point of order. The new copy is displayed in the Copies field. If for some reason you do not want copies created you can set Create Copies to No.

Automatic check in

The Automatic Check In option checks in all outstanding copies of the order and creates copies using the default values. This is a fast process and is appropriate in libraries where the automatically generated copy records are catalogued at a later stage, e.g. to add the copy barcodes. There is no option to view the check in page and any details such as order item Notes or Ordered For will not be seen. It is also not possible to barcode copies at Check In using this option.

  1. In Order Items use the Outstanding Order Items search to find the item to be checked in.
  2. Select it and choose Automatic Check in from the available Actions.

Any Check in pop up messages are displayed at this point. OLIB creates Copy records as needed.

Barcode copies

It is possible to barcode copies as part of the standard check in process. (Alternatively, you may wish to barcode the items as part of the cataloguing process).

  1. In Order Items use the Outstanding Order Items search to find the item to be checked in.
  2. Select the box to select it and choose Check in from the available Actions.
  3. In the Check in page, review / edit default values as required.
  4. Enter the barcode into New Copy Barcode and press TAB. OLIB creates the copy with this barcode and displays it with the barcode in the Copies field. The No. Received is incremented. Repeat if there are more copies to check in.
  5. Save and Close the record when all copies are checked in.

Invoicing

Items can also be invoiced during check in.

Reservations and check in

Copies are created automatically during the check-in process. These new copies may be integrated into existing or new reservations in one or more of the following ways:

During the check-in process, a check is made to ascertain whether there are any active reservations for the Title. They are added to the reservation queue if the new copy being added is considered to be reservable in line with the reservation parameters.

  1. When the Check In record is saved a prompt will remind the staff that the item has a reservation pending - (although it appears as an error message) the copy is reserved.
  2. Click OK and save the record. Before the item can be loaned it must be barcoded.
  3. In Reservations perform a search to locate the reservation: e.g. Active Reservations by Title.
  4. The copy is not held by default – in the Reserved Copies section, select the check box of the copy to be held (the copy checked in) and select the Hold This Copy action.

The copy is now Held - as will be seen in the Reservations hit list and the Current Status section, and the Availability section of the Titles layout.

If you have set up the alerting system an email will be sent to the user telling them that the item is ready for collection.

The next time the user passes through the Issue Desk the library staff will be alerted that the user has one or more items waiting for collection.

Ordered For: An order item can be noted as Ordered for at the point of order. If it contains users with the Reserve On Receipt flag set to Yes, a check is made to ascertain whether the new Copy is reservable by the user. If so, either a new reservation is created for that Copy for that user or, if the user already has an active reservation on the Title, the Copy will be added to the reservation’s Reserved Copies list. A message is displayed to confirm this.

A slightly different message is displayed depending on whether you checked the item in using the Automatic Check-In option or the Check-In option. (In the latter case, the message displays as an error message rather than just an information message).

  1. To identify reserved titles in Order Items domain select the Order Items by Ordered for user search.
  2. Check the item in as normal. The Ordered For field contains the name of the reserving user.
  3. When the check in record is saved a prompt will remind the staff that the item has a reservation pending.

Run a reservations search to view the reservation. Before the item can be loaned it must be barcoded, the user notified and the item issued in the normal way.

Undo check in

If for example the wrong item has been checked in, OLIB can 'undo' the check in.

  • Deletes any copy records
  • Decrements No. Received field
  • If the order was previously set to Complete, OLIB will set it to Outstanding

This function can only apply to copies that are not on loan and not reserved; OLIB displays a warning in these circumstances.

  1. Go to Order Items.
  2. Search for the order item that was checked in by mistake.
  3. Select the Check-In History tab.
  4. Select the box to select the correct check in record and choose Undo Check-In from the drop down.

Undo Check-In actions are recorded in the Order Items Audit Trail tab. This includes the date, the user and the No. Received field will be decremented.