Collection Management Services

Damaged Workflow

Starting in September 2023, UVic Libraries will deal with damaged material differently. Instead of charging damaged material out to damaged badges, UVic will start assigning a Work Order Type in Alma of Damaged. A Damaged Work Order Department has been established in Alma to allow for this new approach.

Adding User Roles for the Damaged Work Order Department (for Supervisors/Alma Admins)

Before staff can begin using the Damaged Work Order Department they must have the appropriate User Roles added to their account.

• Add Work Order Operator to the User Role
• In the User Roles detail screen:
  • Indicate a Scope of University of Victoria
  • Status: Active
  • Expiry date (if applicable) : generally do not use
  • Role parameters:
    • Add Service Unit
    • Select Damaged Work Order Department - Add Service Unit
  • Save Role
• The User will now be able to see the Damaged Work Order Department as one of their "I am physically at:" Location options in Alma

 

What do I do with damaged material?

Whenever possible, we will attempt to repair the items ourselves and put back on the shelves. This repair/taping should be done at the loan desk or other areas of the library whenever possible. If the item cannot be repaired, follow these steps:

1. In Alma, change your Location/Physically at to the Damaged Work Order Department [if you don't see that option talk to your supervisor so they can add that role]: 
2. Go to Fulfillment -> Scan in Items
3. Automatically print slip: No
4. Set Status to: Damaged Awaiting Assessment
5. Done: No
6. Scan in the item barcode
7. The item will now be assigned the Request/Process type of Damaged Work Order Type and appear as Not Available in Alma. 
8. Within Primo, the item will indicate "In process of Damaged Work Order Type" - patrons can continue to request this material if needed (although the request may need to be rejected if the material is in too poor shape to circulate)
9. Once the material has been scanned as Damaged Awaiting Assessment place the item on the Damaged Work Order Department bay in 260/McPherson Library in call number order. Damaged law material should be sent to McPherson/260 as part of a routine box run - include a flag to indicate the material is damaged and ensure the material has been scanned in as Damaged Work Order type before sending in the box run.

Dealing with Moldy, Dirty/Stained, or Other Unsafe Material [Stack Maintenance Unit and Access Services]

Materials returned to the library via the return chute (discharge room) that is moldy, stained or dirty, or in otherwise unsafe condition we will plan to discard immediately.

Discharge room:

1. Put the material in a plastic bag using Damaged items kit provided.
2. Take to senior staff in Access Services:
   1. They will assess the material and assess fines if necessary and find the replacement cost (from Acquisitions) to apply to the user's account
   2. They would apply the Unsafe status (if they think it's appropriate)
3. If the material has been given the Damaged - Unsafe work order status, it can be physically discarded. The record in Alma will be deleted as it has been captured via the Damaged Work Order Department. If you notice the material has a COPPUL Span or North Shared Retention note, continue to discard the physical item. This will be dealt with in Collection Management Services.
4. Discharge the material
5. Change your Location in Alma to Damaged Work Order Department
   1. Go to Fulfillment -> Scan In Items and select Damaged - Unsafe as a status

If material is returned and it is wet and/or it appears that it can be salvaged:

1. Attempt to dry the material out or salvage it in other ways. If this is unsuccessful, bag and pass on to Senior Staff in Access Services as described above.

If material is found in the stacks that is moldy:

1. Communicate with SMU Supervisor or SMU Senior Staff who will assess and provide instruction.
2. Removal of materials:

• Wear proper PPE for handling - gloves and N95 masks
• Bag the material and set it in a dedicated space
• Do a preliminary clean of the shelves with a vinegar/water solution
• SMU Supervisor will arrange for garbage bin/s to dispose of material and for janitorial to clean affected shelves with a mild bleach solution via a libadmin request appropriate to the situation (i.e. larger disposal of materials may entail more)

3. Assign Damaged Workflow:

• Change library location in Alma to Damaged Work Order Department
• Go to Fulfillment -> Scan In Items and select Damaged - Unsafe as a status – To discard in Alma
• If you notice the material has a COPPUL Span or North Shared Retention note, continue to discard the physical item. This will be dealt with in Collection Management Services.

 

Damaged Processing in Collection Management Services

Once the material has been scanned in to Damaged Work Order - Awaiting Assessment and placed on the appropriate bay in 260, Collection Management Services staff will move the material on in the workflow

1. At least once a month, CMS will carry out an assessment of the material that has been placed on the shelf as "Damaged - Awaiting Assessment"
2. They will then make a determination of whether the material can be repaired
3. If the material is COPPUL Span or North Shared Print and we are committeed to retain, attempt to repair and put on the shelff when possible. If this is not possible, speak to the Head of Collection Management Services

If the Item can be repaired ...

1. If the material can be repaired, change the Work Order Status to Waiting for Repair. You can do this in a few different ways but the best way is to ...
   1. Change your location to Damaged Work Order Dept.
   2. From the Fulfillment Menu, click on Scan in Items
   3. Set Status to "Damaged - Waiting for Repair"
   4. Scan Item barcode
   5. The item now has a status of Damaged - Waiting for Repair
2. Once the repair is complete and the item can be returned to the stacks, you can easily remove the Work Order Status
3. Make sure your location is set to Damaged Work Order Department
4. From the Fulfillment Menu, click on Scan in Items and Done (the "Set Status To" can be anything). The status will change to Transit for Reshelving and the material can be sent to the stacks. Work is complete.

If the Item cannot be repaired ...

The library no longer has an active relationship with a binder to rebind or professionally re-house material. As such, whatever can't be repaired will likely be discarded.

However, Collection Management Services staff will go through the material and identify material that may require selector or Special Collections approval before discarding based on an assessment of value/uniqueness/age.

If an item needs to be assessed by a subject selector or Special Collections ...

- Assign it a Work Order Status of "Damaged - Awaiting Selector Review" (via the Scan In process described above). Place this material on a dedicated shelf in 260 for this status.

The vast majority of material, however, will be discarded. 

Collection Management Services staff will go through all of the material not waiting for repair or awaiting selector review and Scan In Items (following process above and ensuring that their location is set to Damaged Work Order Department) and Set Status to "Damaged - Waiting for Discard."

The physical items will then be moved to shelves in 260 marked as "Damaged - Waiting for Discard" and alert the CMS Librarian that material has been assigned this status when a batch of material has accrued.

The CMS Librarian will run a report based on this material (easily within Alma via Fulfillment -> Manage In Process Items -> filter by Damaged Waiting for Discard status). They will also carry out a batch delete of all the items - checking for and noting shared print exceptions for reporting or reconsideration purposes.

The CMS staff member will be notified when the material on the Awaiting Discard shelf have been removed from the system and they will strike through the barcode and spine label with black marker and place on the discard truck in 260 for physical disposal.

 

Should we re-order and replace the physical material we have discarded?

The CMS Librarian will provide the CMS staff member with a report of the items discarded and place it in the Alma Damaged Reports folder of the CMS Team. This will include basic information such as title, author, call number, circulation statistics, etc.

The CMS staff member will go through this list to add additional columns to it to aid in the replacement decision:

• Electronic access (indicating the URL of the e-version)
• Notes (indicating whether the library has access to other copies, whether there are more recent/other editions in the library and any other information that could aid in a re-selection decision)

Criteria for Selection

• Titles with current electronic access will not be re-ordered in print due to the library's e-preferred acquisition policy. 

The titles that do not fall into the above category will be considered for replacement. The CMS staff member will add the following columns to the selection list that is sent to selectors:

• Subject Selector responsible for making the decision
• Replacement decision column : will include the following values to choose from:
  • Replace in print (latest edition) - will be ordered from the Faculty Fund
  • Replace in print (same edition) - will be ordered from the Replacement Fund
  • Replace in electronic (latest edition) - will be ordered from the Faculty Fund
  • Replace in electronic (same edition) - will be ordered from the Faculty Fund
• Subject selector notes

A message will be sent out to selectors with a link to the document. Reminder emails will be sent until decisions have been made for all titles on the replacement list. Once all selectors have noted their ordering preferences, Acquisitions staff will re-order the relevant titles.