Taking Stock
Athenaeum makes the process of taking stock very easy. You may start and stop a stock-take at any time and you can perform a partial or a full stock take.
There are a number of ways of performing the stock-take and these might depend upon the equipment you might have at hand:
- use a wireless scanner (e.g. with Bluetooth) which talks either directly to Athenaeum as you scan items. You have to consider the physical distance between the scanner and the computer.
- use a cordless bar code scanner in data collection mode, which you periodically connect back to Athenaeum and “dump” the bar codes.
- A combination of the first two methods (some scanners will automatically switch to data collection mode if they go out of range of the base station).
- use a standard scanner connected to a laptop with Athenaeum loaded and connected wirelessly to the server, and wheel it around on a trolley
- Bring all your items to be stock taken to the computer and scan them in piles.
We recommend that you return all issued items and close the library for issues and returns, but this is not necessary.
Next, back up!
Closing the library is not a necessity, it just makes it easier to stock take and not miss items.
Before you start
When you start a new stock take, Athenaeum increments the number stored in the customisation tab of admin.
The number in that box is not really important, though it is helpful if it reflects something identifiable, such as the year of the stock take.
If you are about to start your 2014 stock take, then you might ensure the number in the admin preferences is 2013, so when you start the new stock take, it is changed to 2013.
Return first, during or later?
It is up to you whether you recall issued items before the stock take or not. The missing report has the option of excluding issued items.
Note that if - during the stock take - you scan an item that is issued, then Athenaeum will return it, assuming that because you have the item in your hand, it is no longer in the hands of the issued person or entity. If that return triggers late return fees, then those fees will be added.
Also note that if you return an item in the normal way - that is, using the return function - then the item is NOT included in the stock take. This is because there is no global "stock take" mode in Athenaeum as stock take can be isolated to individual computers.
Method 1—Direct Stock take
Methods 1 and 4 (and possibly 5) above take stock as you scan the items directly.
To start a direct stock take, from the Main Menu, click Catalogue->Utility->Stock take & Reserve tab. Click on the Stock Take button.
Specify whether you are starting a stock take from scratch or whether you are continuing a stock take you started earlier.
If you choose New, you will be asked to confirm.
Choosing New simply increments the current stock take run number and records that new run number against scanned items and in the stock take log.
Next, get scanning.
As you scan items, the stock-take dialog is updated, reminding you of where you were up to:
Once you are ready for a break, simply leave the the field empty and click on OK. Athenaeum will stop the stock take progress.
The next time, simply continue the stock take as described above.
Method 2—Indirect Stock take
Methods 2, 3 and optionally method 4 might use the ‘dump data’ feature. This allows you to collect a number of bar codes first and then stock take them in bulk within Athenaeum.
A laptop, bar code scanner and wireless network is brilliant in this scenario.
Set the scanner to data collection mode and start scanning. Scan all of the items in a manageable section of the library (say 40 to 100 items at a time) and then dump the codes into Athenaeum, or even a text editing program. We suggest you scan manageable chunks, because as you “dump” the codes, then if problems arise such as items reported as in the archive, you can more quickly retrace your steps to find the offending item.  Return to the Stock take, reserves, Misc tab and click the “dump” bar codes button.

Scan, or paste (dump) your bar codes into the field where the cursor is flashing:

Then click the Process button.  Each bar code is processed in turn, and marked as part of the current stock take run.

- Bar codes for items which which were still on issue are listed in the first result column. Athenaeum automatically returns into the catalogue as part of the process.
- Any bar codes which Athenaeum does not recognise are listed.
- Bar codes that were not found in the catalogue, but were found in the archive are listed in the last column, along with the title and last location. You can click on any of those items to list them in the archive and make a decision about returning them to the catalogue.
Method 3—Mark Found Set as Taken Stock
In some cases you may have a set of books which are all accounted for (for example a class set or an encyclopaedia) and you do not have to individually scan these during a stock take:
Perform a Search so that the Found Set encompasses all items to be marked as taken stock.
On the List View, click on the Command->bulk stock-take button.
You are asked to confirm this action.
Click on the OK button to proceed. This action can take a little while if you are marking a large found set.
Continuing a Stock Take
Resuming a stock take just involves clicking on the Continue stock take button on the Catalogue Utilities screen.
The Stock Take screen reappears and you simply pick up where you left off.
List Missing items from Stock take
After completing the stock take, you will be interested to find which books are missing from the catalogue. In the Catalogue screen click on the Utility button and click on the Stock take/Reserve tab. Next, click on the Missing Report button
You are presented with a number of options as to what is to be in- or excluded from the report.
The current stock take run is specified. Note that you can list missing from prior stock take runs, as well.
“Library” specifies to only search items with the “library” flag checked. Specifying “Resource” means items that are NOT checked with the library flag. Entire catalogue will include both.
You can choose to omit items which are currently out of the library and therefore were not scanned during your stock take.
As ‘not for issue’ items such as the Reference section are often not included in a stock take anyway, you can choose to omit those items from your list.
A list of items not taken stock appears, taking into account the selections from the above dialog boxes.
You can further refine this list by using the Constrain filter options and subsequent searches.
You can now Print this list by location and check each item individually, or summarise with one of the financial options.
Any item in the list can be archived if required (see Archiving for more information on disposing and archiving items).
List Missing Items 1 Location Only
One way to find items taken stock in a particular location is to perform a custom find, enter the location into the location field and the stock take run number into the stock take field.
To find items not taken stoke in a particular location, enter a custom find, enter the location into the location field and then add a new request omitting the stock take run number.
“Handled” report
The manual stock take procedure requires the user to scan or enter the code for every item in the catalogue.
However, you may wish to chose to perform a very quick stock take on items not recently handled.
This procedure makes it easy to find all items in the library that have not been ‘handled’ for a specified time. Items that have not been ‘handled’ are potentially missing from the library.
To use this feature, simply click on the ‘Handled’ Report button in the Catalog Utilities Screen.
Specify the period (in days) during which items were not handled. A list of all items not handled over the period specified appears. You can now print this list and check these books individually and make decisions based on your findings.
You can further refine this list by using the Constrain filter options.
Handled
The following actions mark an item as handled:-
- issuing it successfully
- attempting to issue it unsuccessfully
- returning an item
- extending a loan
- manual stock take
Manually checking handled date
You can manually find the on the date an item was handled by clicking the find button and entering a date expression in the last handled date at the bottom of of the issue history->this copy tab.
Closing your stock-take
You don’t.
Simply generate the reports you want. When you start the next stock take, Athenaeum will increment the stock take number and you are away.