Collection

The App Administrator maintains collection items for the organizations that own them. An item has a name, a code and an eligibility note. Staff use those details to identify the item behind a loan request and decide whether it can enter circulation. The organization reference places the item in the right library scope. A collection record should be recognizable to the person at the desk, not merely a short code in a report.

Suppose a patron asks for a title held by a neighboring branch. The Collection Coordinator checks the item record, its eligibility note and the organization before preparing a loan. If the record is inactive or its note requires a local check, the team resolves that issue before relying on the item in a new request. The loan then links to the actual item record so later custody events can be read in context.

• Identity. Name and Code let staff distinguish similar records when choosing a collection item.
• Eligibility. The eligibility note and active state support a deliberate decision about use in circulation.
• Ownership. Organization connects each item to a library, while linked loans show its use.

Choose the item code convention and the library organization responsible for maintaining it. Decide what the eligibility note should tell a coordinator at the moment of reservation. Keep operational conditions in language the team can apply consistently; a vague note forces each desk to invent its own answer. The App Administrator should also decide when an item is marked inactive and how existing linked loans are reviewed when that happens.

Agree how copy identifiers are recorded when the item moves. The collection item identifies the cataloged item, while a custody event can carry the particular copy code. That distinction matters when several copies of the same title are in circulation. Decide who may correct a code, and review linked loans before changing a record used by active work.

Choose an item with an eligibility note and create a representative loan. Confirm that the coordinator sees the item name, code and owning organization before reservation. Record a copy code on the custody event and trace it back through the loan. When the item belongs to another library organization, confirm that the interlibrary request names the owning library and stays linked to the same loan.

A useful review follows the record after the item returns. The App Administrator can inspect linked loan use without rewriting earlier custody history. An Auditor can read the permitted item and loan evidence to explain which item was involved in a past handoff. If the item record needs correction, retain the operational history tied to the original loan.

• Collection Items — Active items with their code, eligibility note, library and linked use.
• Requested Loans — Requests that point to a collection item awaiting the next circulation decision.

Follow circulation to see how an item becomes part of a loan. Use interlibrary handoff when another library owns the requested item.