Appendix C
Visual material - Items missing or not in place at point of inventory.
During inventory of visual material, if you come across a catalogued item that is missing (and there is nothing to indicate the item is out to a reader, digitisation, or to exhibitions) then we must update Sierra.
Macros on Sierra
If an item is 'Not in Place' (NIP) we need to update Sierra using a preset macro. In your Sierra admin settings you can see that 'F2' is preset to record Inventory, missing: Q4 14/09/2020: Emily Lansell' and can be adjusted so that the date and the quarter reflect the date an item has not been found. The preset macro will ensure these are identical in format and can be grouped on a sierra search.
Sierra - 'Missing' status
In addition to adding your macro to the item record when something is NIP, we must also change the status of the item to 'missing'. You can do this by double clicking the status field and selecting 'm - missing'
Sierra - 'Data issues' status
Following discussions with the missing items working group, we wanted to acknowledge and distinguish between physically missing items and data issues. I.e. intellectual records that exist but don't represent an item, copy catalogue (or ghost) records never purposed and in need of deletion, or records representing a collection on a single number, but were later catalogued and assigned unique numbers in a different system at item level.
A new status of 'Data issues' was created in Sierra, so that on the item record we could reflect these items for collections management purposes and so that colleagues were not looking for items that did not exist/were problematic in location audits/rechecks.
Other examples of items NIP that correspond to a data issue include:
Items recorded without a location
Items that have a current location that is obsolete/does not denote a recognised location in Wellcome’s concordance.
Records which do not relate to a physical/born digital item or items
A missing macro should be added to the item record in addition to a note. The note will give an explanation/reason for the data issue status.
The note should start with 'Data issue: ....' i.e.
'Data issue: This location is not recognised in the existing concordance.'
Technically an item without a location is missing, but there is no location to check as it either does not exist or is not recognised.
Like with other items that are later found, a location and found macro can be added when the item is located. The status can then be changed back to available.
Suppressing Item and or Bibliographic records (Procedure followed up to October 2024)
Prior to November 2024, items found to be NIP during inventory were suppressed on the Sierra item or Bib record as per the workflow below. Following internal audit discussions around missing items we will no longer suppress item/bib records to allow for greater transparency to users via wellcome.org.
If there is only one item record attached to the Bib record – we would change the status on the item to missing. We would suppress the item (ICODE2) – change to suppress item(n). You would the open the bib record. Check to see if there is a ‘962’ field populated with a link to the digitised image. If there is a populated 962 field, then do not suppress the bib record. If there is no associated digital image of the work, then you would suppress the bib record (BCODE3) – Suppress bib (n)
If multiple items are attached to the bib, but only one item is missing – you would only suppress the item record and change the status.
Recent example: 38720i
This item was recorded as missing on 1/3/2022, it is the only item attached to the bib but has a digitised image. Status was changed to missing and only the item was suppressed.
Visual items do not have separate e-bib records whereas, I understand, books and manuscripts do, which is why if there is a linked digitised image, we are not suppressing the bibliographic record.
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Finding an item, previously recorded as missing
If you find an item, previously recorded as missing we need to update Sierra and Quickbase. Ensure the location is accurate and insert an additional macro to acknowledge the date and quarter the item was found in the same way, we would then make the item available again. (change status on records from missing to available). We would un-suppress the item by changing the ICODE field.
For now, please do not delete the inventory missing macro - this helps us group the data for quarterly reporting.
Example note: Inventory, found: Q2 15/03/2022: Emily Lansell
Each quarter we will run a search on Sierra to tell us how many items are missing/suppressed/found so that we can report this as a KPI in our quarterly reports.
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