How do I withdraw a physical item?

Answer

There are two ways to withdraw physical items in Alma, individually or in bulk.

Individual process:

  1. Open the Item record for the item being withdrawn.
  2. Click on the Notes tab.
  3. In the Statistics note 3 field, add the appropriate withdrawn code (note each college can decide locally which of the codes they use):
    • wdn/d - Damaged
    • wdn/l - Lost (Long overdue, item connected to a loan.)
    • wdn/m - Missing (Not found on shelf.)
    • wdn/s - Superseded (New edition has replaced the current title.)
    • wdn/w - Weeded (Title no longer appropriate/relevant for the collection.)
  4. Save the Item record.
  5. Under the list of items, find the item being withdrawn. Click on the ellipses, click on Withdraw.
  6. If the item is the last one in a Holdings record, a pop-up will appear. Select "Delete bibliographic record (unless other holdings are present)." This just deletes the bib record from the IZ not the NZ, which is what we want.  
  7. When the item is the last item at an institution, withdraw the item from OCLC as well.
    1. Log into OCLC Connexion.
    2. Find the OCLC number on the item's bib in Alma.
    3. Search in OCLC with the OCLC number.
    4. Find the item that shows your institution's holdings (i.e. ARC’s symbol is ASR) . Open the record up.
    5. Under the Action drop down select Delete Holdings.

Batch process:

This involves the BBG (Book-Be-Gone) Tool and needs to be set-up by your library's Cataloging Librarian.

Removing OCLC Holdings:

This process will be done monthly by each library's Cataloging Librarian. OCLC holdings are automatically published via a DataSync with OCLC. However, removing holdings for Alma institutions that include multiple libraries cannot currently be accomplished in an automated way. Using Analytics, we can identify titles that have been withdrawn by each library and manually remove OCLC holdings in batch at a regular interval.

  1. Go to Shared Analytics folder > Cataloging > College level folder
  2. Open [College] Holdings Deleted report
  3. Go to Criteria tab to ensure date range is set appropriately to capture all deletions since the last time holdings were removed in OCLC

 

 

  1. Go to the Results tab and Export results in Excel or CSV.  Consider including date in file name for your reference [10142021-FLC Holdings Deleted.xlsx]

  1. Copy all OCLC numbers from the OCLC Control Number (035a) column into a text file.
  2. Go to Worldshare Record Manager > Metadata > Record Manager > Record Work Lists
  3. Paste OCLC numbers into text field

  1. Select Record Actions
  2. Choose Delete WorldCat Holding(s) > Delete Holding(s), LBD(s), and LHR(s)

  1. Review Delete process confirmation message to verify that the number of records deleted matches what you expected. 
  2. Return to shared [College] Holdings Deleted report
  3. Edit the Holdings Record Modification Date filter so that your next batch will only include titles withdrawn since the last time you batch deleted holdings in WorldShare Collection Manager.

 

Topics

  • Last Updated Oct 19, 2021
  • Views 173
  • Answered By Hilary Mroczka

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