Circulation collects damaged books and brings them to Processing one cart at a time (checked out to AU Processing - New).
Items are triaged. If a book is five years old or newer, or has 10 or more circulations, it automatically gets replaced, rebound or repaired based on departmental standards. If the item does not meet either of those criteria, a Preservation Slip must be completed, and the book (with the completed slip) is placed on the appropriate CMT shelf for CMT review. If CMT fails to review the book by the end of the following month (i.e., April 30 for a slip dated March 10), then the book is withdrawn from the collection.
Documentation may be found here: I:\AU Technical Services Department\Acquisitions Unit\Processing\Preservation Project
Once a damaged title has been identified to be replaced, it is put on the Replacement Shelf. The books are then worked on by Acquisitions staff. The record in the catalog is printed for the title. A search is done for a new or used copy on Amazon, ABEBooks or other used book vendor sites. Once a suitable copy is found, a Purchase Order is created and given to either the Acquisitions Librarian or the Acquisitions Coordinator to make a credit card order. The damaged book is then placed on the Damaged Book Shelf, to wait for the new copy to arrive.
Once the new copy has arrived, it is paired with the old copy and sent to circulation to check for fines. Once circulation is done, the books are routed to cataloging for deleting and replacing the barcode. The old copy is discarded and the new copy is put on the shelf.
Lost books are those titles that have been marked lost in the catalog. Most of these books have been lost by patrons but many have been marked lost due to a long-term inventory project. Books can also be searched and not found and subsequently marked lost.
The workflow for lost books can be found here:
I:\AU Technical Services Department\Acquisitions Unit\Lost Item Replacements\Notes on Ordering Lost.doc
Replacement books are those that a patron has lost.
The patron can give the library a new copy and we will process it for the library shelves.
For books that a patron has lost but not replaced, Acquistions will order a new copy.
The workflow for replacement books can be found here:
I:\AU Technical Services Department\Acquisitions Unit\Lost Item Replacements\REPLACEMENTS BOOKS (given by patrons) AND LOST BOOK REPORTS.docx