Stock Rotation allows you to set up an automatic rotation for items from various branch libraries according to a set schedule and pattern. Under Stock Rotation, items will spend a specified amount of time at various branches or locations that you also specify. You can define the routes that items will follow (Branch A to Branch B to Branch C, etc.), and how long the items will spend at each location. When it is time for items to move to a new location, the items appear on a “Stock Rotation Pull List.” The Stock Rotation Pull List notifies the library that the items need to be pulled and transited to the next location on the route (for more information, see Using the Stock Rotation Pull List).
The Stock Rotation functionality is helpful for libraries that want an item or group of items to spend time in different locations. For example, say a library has a limited Audio Visual collection and they want to allow time for the collection at different branch locations. If the library has four branches (A, B, C, and D), and they want their Audio Visual collection to spend three months at each location in a given year, they can set up their Audio Visual collection in a stock rotation so that the items spend January, February, and March in Branch A. On April 1st, the items appear on the Stock Rotation Pull List. The library then pulls and transits the items to Branch B, where the items stay through April, May, and June. On July 1st, the library transits the items to Branch C, and so on.
If you enable Stock Rotation, you cannot also have floating collections enabled. You can only have one or the other enabled at a time.
Stock Rotation includes the following functionality:
• | You can rotate individual items or groups of items. |
• | You can specify how long (in days) items should remain at a particular location before they rotate to the next location. |
• | You can specify which day of the week rotations should occur from different locations on the rotation route. |
• | You can create as many rotation patterns as you need. |
• | You can define as many locations on the route as you need. (Duplicate locations are allowed.) |
• | You can begin item rotation at any point on the route (it does not have to start at the beginning). |
• | You can specify if items go home, stay at their current location, or repeat the rotation at the end of a rotation. |
• | You can add items to a stock rotation group at any time. |
If you add an item after the rotation has begun, it will immediately start the rotation (and will rotate immediately if not at the correct location).
However, if you remove an item from a rotation, library staff will have to manually move the item, reassign its location, and check it in (transit the item home). Simply removing an item from the rotation group will cause it to stop rotation and stay at its current location.
When items are pulled via the Stock Rotation Pull List, or if they are checked in using normal circulation check in, the check in process will verify that Stock Rotation is enabled and that the item is set to rotate (or that the time to rotate has elapsed). The item location is then changed to the next route location, and a window will display indicating that the item should be stock rotated to the next location in the route.
Rotation routes are considered to be circular. If a rotation route consists of A, B, C, D, and an item begins rotation at B, then rotation will be considered complete when the item has gone through the rotation (B, C, D, A).
For rotation groups, if an item is checked out at A and returned when the rest of the items in the group have already rotated through B and are currently at C, the item will automatically rotate to C and will skip B altogether. This is not the functionality with items that rotate individually. If an individually rotating item is checked out at A and returned after the time at A and B has elapsed, the item will still rotate from A to B. This is due to the fact that rotation is not considered to have occurred until at least one item has moved to a new location.
Stock Rotation functionality is feature-activated. With Horizon7.5.4.1, you will still be able to set up Stock Rotation routes and rules; however, unless the functionality is activated, no items will actually be rotated by the software. If you want to purchase and activate the Stock Rotation functionality at your library, please contact SirsiDynix support.
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