I can't find this book!
Librarians are only human. Items are sometimes misplaced or shelved incorrectly. Patrons are human too, and they occasionally try to return items to the shelves, which may also lead to misplaced items.
To help combat this issue, Circulation is in charge of shelf-reading the circulating collection. Each student is assigned a section upstairs and, over the course of the year, is responsible for reading every call number to make sure all books are in the proper order. If a book is out of place, it should be pulled from the shelf and discharged before being shelved correctly. We keep a record of misplaced books on a clipboard behind Circulation.
Even with our constant diligence, some books just cannot be found. If a patron approaches you unable to find an item, the first step is to search the item in BANC. Sometimes they are looking in the wrong place or the item is checked out. If the item is in fact available, you or another worker should go look for the item as well.
If after searching for the book it is still MIA, a Missing Item sheet should be completed.
After completing the Missing Item sheet, a staff member or building manager will change the item's status to missing in Voyager. To do this, pull up the item's record and click on the graph symbol that says Status.
Scroll down and highlight the word "Missing." Click the small blue up arrow and then click OK. This will add the status of "Missing" to the item.
After the item has been declared missing in the system, building managers and Circulation workers will take turns looking for the item, both in the place it is supposed to be and in places it is likely to be. For example, this item's call number is 635.21 R286p 2009. It may have been shelved with 635.2 or with 632 because it is easy to mix the numbers up.
Found it!
When a missing or lost item is discharged, a notice will pop up that says "Item marked as ______." It may say lost, missing, or withdrawn. Click OK on this notice.
Another notice will pop up asking if you want to remove the status. You should always click No. The item must be sent downstairs to Patty Tarter and she or her workers will remove the status there.
After closing the status box, put a colored flag in the item. These can be found at the Circulation desk.
Yellow flags are for lost items, green for withdrawn, and orange for missing.
Take the item with its flag to the "Tagged as 'Marked'" shelf behind Circulation. It will then be taken downstairs for inspection.
