Updated May 2019 by Eric Gumbayan and Doug Smith
Lost Replacement Procedure for the Cataloging and Discovery Services Department
The lost replacement procedure originated from the library’s decision to charge patrons who have lost material the value of the items lost. The charges are used in part to purchase replacements for the lost items. Acquisitions purchases the replacement material and then passes it on to Cataloging. Sometimes the replacement is literally the same bibliographically and it can be added to the existing record; other times the item will require a new record, for example if we get the second edition of a work, rather than the lost first edition. The only difference between handling a lost replacement and any other item you are cataloging is just procedural.
Each lost replacement should be accompanied by a slip providing the system number of the record with the order record for the replacement copy attached, an indication whether the replacement is a different edition, the location, the initials of the Acquisitions staff person who received the item and instructions for finding the barcode of the lost item (if needed).
Please note that the order record is always placed on the record of the replacement copy which may or may not be the record of the lost item. Be sure to move the item and order to the correct record when necessary. See below.
- Acquisitions changes the lost item’s IPS to RP.
- Leave it as RP; don’t change it.
- Sometimes, however, an owning location will allow the patron to return a book that has been declared lost. When this happens, it can be a bit confusing because the IPS is then changed from RP to blank by the owning location. It is usually clear which one is the replacement copy, so that shouldn’t be a problem in most cases.
- Typically, you will encounter one of two situations.
- The item and order records are on a bib record that does not match the replacement copy.
- If so, locate a matching record in Aleph. If none, search in OCLC and export to Aleph.
- Move the item and order record to the matching bib record.
- If the “lost” item is the only item remaining on the record:
- If no other UF library has holdings attached to the bib record, suppress the holding record and delete our holdings in OCLC since we no longer own that particular title.
- Put a staff note ($x) in the 852 of the holding record of the lost item saying “lost”.
- If there are multiple UF copies on the record of the lost item, only suppress the holding of the lost copy (in other words, as you would any other lost item). Do not delete OCLC holdings.
- The item and order records are on a bib record that matches the replacement.
- Simply add the replacement as you would any added copy to an existing record.
- Suppress the holding record of the lost item and put a staff note ($x) in the 852 of the holding record of the lost item saying “lost”.
