FAQs: Checking In Materials

Can I discharge a sequence of consecutive item IDs by entering wildcards or a truncated item ID?

No. Using wildcards or truncated item IDs to discharge a sequence of consecutive item IDs is not supported.

How do I check in overdue materials and pay fines in one operation?

A user can return an overdue item and pay the fine at the same time.

To pay fines without leaving the Discharge/Checkin wizard

You can also use the Pay Bills helper to pay bills at discharge.

If the patron has a credit account, and policies are configured to automatically pay fines with funds from the credit account, fines created during check in/discharge may be paid automatically at check in. Go to FAQs: Credit User Accounts for information.

How do I check in an item that does not have a barcode?

You can discharge an item that has a damaged or missing barcode without leaving the Discharge/Checkin Wizard using the Change Item ID Helper.

How do I look up an item’s catalog information during check in?

You can look up an item’s catalog information without leaving the Discharge/Checkin Wizard using the Item Search Helper.

How do I check in multiple items using an RFID pad?

Place items on the RFID pad for check-in. WorkFlows sends each item ID to the server, which checks in the item.

Checking in items with multiple pieces

Place all pieces on the RFID pad.

If any items are missing, WorkFlows displays the following message:

RFID pad could not scan all pieces. Place any other associated materials on RFID pad, and type the total number of pieces present.

WorkFlows then opens a prompt where you can type the number of pieces the user wants to check in. Click OK, and WorkFlows attempts the check-in again.

Important: SirsiDynix Symphony modifies the total number of pieces in the item record to be the number of pieces you type in the Number of Pieces field.

If the RFID pad software reports that some RFID tags associated with an item are missing, WorkFlows displays the following message:

Some tags for this item are not present on the RFID pad.

If this occurs, ensure that the proper number of pieces are present; if they are not, place all the pieces on the RFID pad and click Scan again. If you confirm that the proper number of pieces are in fact present, type the code provided by a supervisor in the override dialog box, and click Override.

The following wizards support RFID pad scanning:

Bill a User
Cash Management
Check Item Status
Checkout
Checkin/Discharge
Checkin Bookdrop Items
Display Item Holds
Display Title Holds
Fine Free Discharge
Inventory Item
Item Search and Display
Item Search Helper
Mark Item Used
Modify Item Holds
Place Blanket Hold
Place Hold
Receive Transit
Remove Item Holds
Renew Item
Reorder Hold Queue
Trap Holds

For information on using an RFID pad for checkouts, see the FAQs: Checking Out Materials help topic.

You need to configure WorkFlows to use your RFID pad device before you can use it for circulation operations. For information on configuring WorkFlows to use an RFID pad device, see the RFID Pad Configuration section of Peripherals: Defining Workstation Peripherals.

What do I do if I see the “Route/Transit To [Library]” message?

The Route To/Transit message displays when you check in an item that SirsiDynix Symphony suggests putting in transit for some reason such as sending the item back to the owning library or satisfying a hold in another library. You can select one of the following options.

Put Item In Transit – Checks in the item and puts it in transit to the specified library. In the List of Discharges, the title and routing/transit information appear. If you select the glossary link in the Route To/Transit column, the routing/transit information for the item appears. One or more additional glossaries may display. Click the glossary links for more information.
Do Not Put Item in Transit – Checks in the item and keeps it at your library. The item does not go into transit, but you can always put the item in transit later.

What do I do if I see the “Transferred From [Library]” message?

The Transferred From message displays when you check in an item that is part of a floating collection. When you check in a floating item, the following message appears.

Transferred From: [Library]

Item discharged; needs to be transferred to current library

This message means that the user checked out the item from the specified library, and returned it to your library. Shelve the item in your library according to your library’s rules for shelving floating collection items.

Checking in multi-piece items

When you check in a multi-piece item, an “Item has multiple circulating pieces” prompt displays for you to type the number of pieces being returned. If the number of pieces checked in differs from the number of pieces stored in the item record, a message will display indicating the number of pieces outstanding, and the item is not discharged.

If the Configure Logging of Multi-Circ Items at Checkin global configuration policy is configured to Log the Number of Pieces Entered At Checkin for Statistics, each piece checked in will be counted as one circulation transaction, which can be included in the library's circulation statistics reports.

What happens when I check in circulation sets?

If your system is configured with the Circulation Sets feature, you can check in circulation sets using the Check In /Discharge, Checkin Bookdrop Items, and Fine Free Checkin wizards. These wizards contain a new Behavior property, Discharge All Items Associated With Set, which allows you to discharge the circulation set by scanning the set ID.

You can select one of the following settings depending on whether or not you want to discharge all items in a circulation set with one discharge action or discharge each item separately. Items checked in as a set or part of a set will transit to the circulation set’s owning library defined in the circulation set control record, and each item associated with the set and checked in will display in the checkin list.

Yes — The wizard will discharge all items in the circulation set with one discharge action.
No — The wizard will individually discharge each item.
Prompt — The wizard will display the list of items checked out as part of the set, and you can select which items should be checked in.

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