General Circulation Documentation: Billed, Missing and Lost in Alma

Billed items are automatically* assigned to the Lost process in Alma.  The item will stay on the billed user's account as a Lost item until the item is returned, or a staff member uses Delete Loan (see the Delete Loan content box below) to disassociate the item with that user's account. 

*In rare cases in which manual billing is necessary, the item should be manually assigned to the Lost process.

Items in the Missing process should be located, replaced or withdrawn.  Items are placed in the Missing process by using Toggle Missing Status.

When an item in the Missing process is scanned, it is routed back to item's Permanent Location.

Missing locations, if available, are legacy locations for items that were missing in Sirsi Workflows.  Staff should never move an item to a Missing location.  

In Alma, billed items are considered "lost" and assigned to the Lost process. 

The term "lost" refers to the state of a loan, not the location of the item. Lost locations, if available, are legacy locations for items that were considered lost in Sirsi Workflows.  Staff should never move an item to a legacy Lost location.  

Lost loans are still active, so that replacement fees can be automatically refunded if an item is returned.  Keeping a loan active also allows for the specifics of a return to be associated with the account of the user who was billed.

Students may ask that Lost loans be removed from their account after they've paid replacement costs through Student Accounts. To remove Lost loans, use Delete Loan.

Items in the Lost process should eventually be released from user accounts by using Delete Loan or "closing" the Loan via a bulk job.  Using Delete Loan, or closing Lost loans, will assign items to the Missing process, where staff can make sure the item's return wasn't missed before referring the item to collection development staff for possible replacement or withdrawal.

Using Delete Loan (only available to those with the Circulation Desk Manager or Operator roles) for a Lost item will:

• Remove a Lost item from a user's account
• Assign the item to the Missing process. 
• Allow for the withdrawal of the item.