Stocktaking Procedures

The Library technician usually does a stocktake on the Fiction and DVD’s collection, using a Portable Barcode Reader. Stocktake normally takes place twice a year – End/Start of year holidays, and mid semester holidays. Sometimes if there is a large number of missing fiction or DVD’s

Setting up the Portable Barcode Reader – Z4 Data Traq


The device will need to be fully charged and then connected to the computer in order to work:

  1. Plug in Power adaptor to into a powerpoint
  2. Connect power adaptor into USB Homebase device
  3. Connect USB Homebase into the top of the Portable barcode reader “Homebase”
  4. It is in charging mode when the green light appears – Note: Make sure the Portable barcode reader is switched to “Off” position when charging
  5. Plug the USB cable into the homebase, and into the USB socket in computer
  6. The red light on the USB homebase will indicate when the Portable barcode reader is connected correctly to the computer.
  7. Connect the Scanner Wand into the Portable barcode reader ‘Scanner’ socket.
    Note: When the Portable Barcode Reader is fully charged the green light will switch off.
  8. Turn the switch On the Portable Barcode Reader. It should now be connected to the computer – a USB connect sound should appear, (as it would when you plug in a memory stick) and is ready to scan barcodes and download data.

Stocktaking in E-Library


Clearing Previous Stocktakes

  1. From the Main menu in Elibrary go to “Stocktake” button
  2. To clear any old stocktake information from system, click on “Empty Previous Stocktakes” button.
  3. A “Delete Previous stocktakes” message will appear. Click on “Delete All” or “Delete selected” button to clear. Follow th e prompts and then Click “Yes” to delete from database.


Starting a Stocktake

E-Library stocktake is based on data being generated at a point in time – you can continue adding items to the catalogue while continuing the stocktake, or go back and finish the stocktake at a later date (it will save in the Stoctake section).

To generate data for the stocktake to use:

  1. In Main menu go to Stocktake section
  2. Go to Stocktake
  3. Go to “add new” button >* to create new stocktake (if previous stocktakes are not cleared)
  4. Enter a description for the new stocktake in the description field. Eg. Fiction or DVD’s
  5. Set Stocktake Criteria: Check the “Location” box and select from the From and To fields. Eg. Fiction to Fiction. (At least one of the criteria range needs to be selected from available options – Sublocation or Call numbers)
  6. Click on “Generate Stocktake Data”
  7. ELibrary will then check the catalogue for all the items that match the selected criteria, and build the data for the stocktake.
  8. Confirmation box will appear – click OK. A list of all the items for the current stocktake should now appear.

Adding items to the Stocktake –
1. Scanning barcodes (data) with Portable Barcode Reader

Based on the Generated Stocktake Criteria, you can scan barcodes of items into a text file and Bulk import the data into the Stocktake:

  1. Remove the Homebase device connection from the Portable Barcode Reader.
  2. Keep the Scanner connected into the Portable Barcode Reader.
    Note: This will stay permanently connected so you can carry the portable barcode reader to scan barcodes – You will only need to remove and re-connect the Homebase connection to the Portable barcode reader when you are downloading scanned barcodes (data) to the stocktake on the computer.
  3. Turn the Portable barcode reader On (switch on the side). Reader is now ready to begin scanning barcodes.
  4. Start scanning items using the scanner on the Portable Barcode Reader. You can take a section of books / dvd’s in a trolley, or easier, leave them on the shelf. As you scan, press the side button on the handle. The number should read on the screen and make a “beep” sound each time an item has been scanned.
    Note: Items scanned will store in the barcode reader memory.
    *It is best to scan about 50 items at a time so data can be downloaded smoothly.
  5. After scanning about 50, leave a piece of paper between the items to mark where you are up to.

2. Downloading data to stocktake - Bulk import

  1. Take the Portable Barcode Reader back to the computer. Plug in the Homebase connection – and check the usb cable is connected properly to the computer. The Reader is now set up to download stored data into the Stocktake on E-library.
  2. Open up “Notepad”
  3. Save Notepad document as “Stocktake import” – in a folder or your desktop. (This will be the location where the data is downloaded from the Portable Barcode Reader)
    Important - Ensure that the mouse cursor is clicked in the Notepad box, so it is the active screen for the importing of data
  4. On the portable barcode reader press “Function” and 11. This will download the data into Notepad. Leave the barcodes download until they finish, it will display “EOF” – means end of function at the end of the list.
  5. Erase “EOF” so that only numbers display in the box in a list
  6. Save the Notepad file (Stocktake import)
  7. In Elibrary Stocktake, go to “Import Data” button.
  8. Browse and select the saved notepad file “Stocktake import” from it’s location. Click Open.
  9. Data will import into the stocktake. As barcode data is imported, Elibrary will match/locate the item amongst the generated stocktake data, and will update the “Date counted” field once it locates the item.
  10. If an item is imported that can’t be found in the current stocktake, or can’t be found in the e-library database, then a warning message will appear. Click No. The rest of the downloaded data will be imported into the stocktake.
  11. After the import is finished, the stocktake will show the date counted next to the item. (Items that are not counted will be filtered later on – these are the missing items). The stocktake will save automatically.
  12. Remove the Homebase connection from the Portable Barcode Reader – leaving the connection to the computer plugged in.
  13. You will need to delete all the scanned barcodes used in the recent import, before starting to scan other items again.
    To clear the memory on the Portable Barcode Reader, press Function and 19, and then the YES button to erase the memory.

Continue Scanning and Importing
*Once the memory is clear, repeat steps 1 and 2 again - Begin the Scanning process, 50 items or so at a time, and then 2. Importing the data into the stocktake. (Repeat above procedure).
Do this until all the items have been imported into the Stocktake.

Viewing barcodes entered into the Stocktake

Once all the items have been imported into the stocktake, you can view the list for items that do not belong in the current stocktake or couldn’t be found in the catalogue.

  1. In the Stocktake section of Elibrary, click on “View barcodes”
  2. A Stocktake barcodes window will appear.
  3. Tick the box “Display misfiled barcodes” to view a list of barcodes not belonging in the Stocktake or couldn’t be found.
  4. Double click on barcode to view details.
  5. Click Close to exit the Stocktake barcodes window.

Filtering the current Stocktake data

You can filter the data that is displayed in the Stocktake – in order to break the Stocktake down into lists of items that are on loan, lost, etc.

  1. The Stocktake section of Elibrary click on “Filter” section and a Stocktake filter box will appear.
  2. Use filter: Select “Available” and then “Only display items that haven’t been counted”
  3. Once you have selected a filter you will return to the Stocktake window and only data that is relevant to your filter will be displayed. Choosing “Available” and “Only display items that haven’t been counted” will display all the items that are lost – This is because they read “Available” but were not counted while performing the Stocktake.

Updating Items to Lost

When you have finished the stocktake, you can update the copy status of items that are missing from the stocktake to “Lost”. You can either do a bulk copy status change or you can change the copy status of individual items.

Performing a bulk copy status update
Note: Make sure that the “End date” box is not checked, until everything in the stocktake has been completed – otherwise, Elibrary won’t allow any updates or modifications to be made.

  1. In the Stocktake section, use the filter to breakdown the list to just the possibly lost items.
  2. Place a tick in the update checkbox to the right of each items that you want to change the copy status for – or tick the Update box at the top of the list to tick ALL items in the filtered list.
  3. Click on “Update items”
  4. Updates items window will now appear. Select the new copy status from the “New Status” drop down list.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Elibrary will update the copy status of all selected items. The screen may appear momentarily blank while this runs.

Modifying copy status of individual items

  1. In the Stocktake section, locate the item you wish to change the copy status for.
  2. Select the item’s new copy status from the “Update Copy Status” field that appears in the Stocktake data.
  3. Elibrary will automatically update the appropriate catalogue record.
  4. Repeat step 2 for any other items you wish to change the copy status for.

When the stocktake has finished, place an “end date” in the top field of the screen.

Printing Stocktake reports

This will print the details currently visible on the Stocktake screen:

  1. In the Stocktake section, you may wish to filter the current stocktake’s data to display the relevant data.
  2. Click Print
  3. A report will appear displaying the data that is currently displayed in the Stocktake screen.

H:\Procedures\Stocktaking.doc