📋 Stock Take
Audit your physical collection by scanning each item's barcode or accession number. Every scan stamps the item with the current Stock Take Date, building a record of what was physically present on the shelf on that date.
📋 Overview
A stock take is the process of physically verifying every item in the collection. In Papyrus Cloud, this works by scanning each stock item one at a time — either with a barcode scanner or by typing the accession number. Each successful scan updates that item's Stock Take Date to the date configured in System Dates, providing a timestamped record of when the item was last confirmed as present.
After a stock take, the Stock Take Enquiry screen can be used to identify items that were not scanned — meaning they were absent from the shelves during the audit and may be missing, misfiled, or out on loan.
ℹ️
Stock take covers physical presence only. Items currently on loan to members are not on the shelf and cannot be scanned in the normal workflow. The separate "Mark issued items" function accounts for these — see the
Marking issued items section below.
📅 Stock Take Date
The Stock Take Date is the date that will be stamped on each item as it is scanned. It is displayed at the top of the screen as a read-only field and is set in Parameters → General Parameters → System Dates.
Click the Change Date button next to the date field to navigate directly to the System Dates screen and update it. After changing the date there, return to the Stock Take screen — the updated date will be shown.
⚠️
Set the Stock Take Date before you start scanning. Every scan in a session stamps the item with whichever date is currently shown. If the wrong date is set, all scans in that session will be recorded against the incorrect date, making the Stock Take Enquiry results unreliable.
💡
For a multi-day stock take, you can leave the Stock Take Date set to the start date of the audit so that all items scanned across all sessions share the same reference date — making it straightforward to identify what was not found during the full audit period.
🔍 Scanning Items
The AccNo or Barcode field is the main input for the stock take. Place your cursor in this field — the screen automatically focuses it on load — and scan each item's barcode with a scanner, or type the accession number and press Enter.
Each successful scan triggers an automatic page update (no need to click a button) and displays the item's details in the Scan Result panel below the input fields. The Stock Take Date on that item is updated immediately in the database.
| Field | Description |
|---|
| Stock Take Date |
Read-only. The date that will be stamped on each item scanned in this session. Set in System Dates — click Change Date to update it. |
| Shelf Range — From |
Optional. The starting shelf or call number value for the section you are currently auditing. Leave blank to scan items from any shelf without a range check. |
| Shelf Range — To |
Optional. The ending shelf or call number value. Defaults to zzzz (matches everything) if left unchanged. Combined with the From value, this defines the expected shelf range for the current scanning session. |
| AccNo or Barcode |
The primary scanning input. Scan a barcode or type an accession number and press Enter (or Tab). The field auto-focuses on page load and clears automatically after each successful scan, ready for the next item. |
📚 Shelf Range
The Shelf Range fields let you define the section of the collection you are currently auditing. When a Shelf Range is set, each scanned item is checked against it — if the item's recorded shelf location falls outside the range, a warning message is displayed to indicate that the item appears to be misplaced.
This is particularly useful for large libraries working section by section. For example, if you are auditing the Non Fiction shelves in the range 500 to 599, scanning a Fiction title would immediately flag it as out of place, prompting you to check whether it has been shelved incorrectly.
ℹ️
The range check is based on the Shelf field of the stock item as stored in the catalogue — not the physical position of the book you are holding. A mismatch warning means the catalogue says the item belongs somewhere else, which may indicate misfiling or an incorrect shelf code.
💡
Leave the Shelf Range blank (or leave the To field as zzzz) if you want to scan items from across the entire collection in a single pass without range checking.
✅ Scan Result Panel
After each scan, the panel below the input area updates automatically to confirm which item was identified and display its key details. The Accession No field is highlighted in green when a stock item is successfully found and stamped.
| Field | Description |
|---|
| Title (ISBD) |
The full bibliographic citation of the identified item — title, author, date, and ISBN — assembled automatically from the catalogue record. |
| Accession No |
The accession number of the stock item. Shown with a green background on a successful match — a quick visual confirmation that the item was found in the catalogue and its stock take date has been updated. |
| Barcode |
The barcode on the physical label. Shown for verification — confirms that the barcode scanned matches the expected barcode for this accession number. |
| BRN |
The Bibliographic Record Number linking this physical copy to its parent catalogue record (title, author, ISBN). |
| Type |
The Publication Type assigned to this item (e.g. Textbooks, Fiction, Non Fiction). Useful for quickly confirming the item is in the right section. |
| ISBN |
The ISBN of the title, taken from the BRN record. |
| Location |
The shelf, collection code, and author code for this physical copy — for example TB : [] NAG. If the item's shelf falls outside the Shelf Range set above, a warning is displayed here. |
| Previous |
The Stock Take Date from the previous audit — showing when this item was last confirmed as present before this session. Useful for spotting items that have not been seen in a very long time. |
| Book cover |
A thumbnail of the book cover, retrieved from the catalogue or an online ISBN source. Click the thumbnail to open an enlarged view in a lightbox. |
📤 Marking Issued Items
Stock items currently on loan to members cannot be scanned because they are not physically in the library. The Taking Stock Take of all items currently issued section provides a way to account for these items without requiring each one to be returned and scanned individually.
Clicking Confirm marks every stock item that is currently out on loan as accounted for in the stock take — effectively treating an active loan record as proof that the item is known about, even though it cannot be physically verified.
| Control | Description |
|---|
| Confirm |
Stamps the current Stock Take Date onto all stock items that are currently issued to members. A confirmation dialog asks you to verify the action before it runs, as it affects all outstanding loans at once. A status message confirms how many items were marked on completion. |
⚠️
This action cannot be undone item by item. It marks all currently issued items in a single operation. Only use it when you are confident that your loan records are accurate — if members have returned items without proper check-in, those items may be incorrectly included.
💡
Run this action at the end of a stock take session, after all physically present items have been scanned. This ensures that only the genuinely on-loan items are marked via this bulk method — not items that were simply not found on the shelf.
📱 Mobile Version
A mobile-optimised version of the Stock Take screen is available for use on a phone or tablet. This allows staff to walk the shelves and scan items using the device's camera or a paired Bluetooth barcode scanner, without needing a desktop workstation.
To access it, log in to Papyrus Cloud from a mobile browser and select Stock Take from the Cataloguing menu. The mobile version uses the same Stock Take Date and shelf range logic as the desktop screen — items scanned on mobile are stamped with exactly the same date and recorded in the same database.
💡
For large collections, a team approach works well: one person on the desktop processing returned and queued items, and one or more staff members on the floor with mobile devices scanning the shelves simultaneously. All scans update the same record in real time.
🔁 Typical Stock Take Workflow
Before you start
- Go to Parameters → General Parameters → System Dates and confirm the Stock Take Date is set to the correct date for this audit. Update it if needed.
- Decide whether you will audit the entire collection in one pass or work section by section using Shelf Range.
- Ensure all returned items have been checked in at the Front Desk so that their loan records are cleared before you start. This reduces the number of items you will need to account for via the "Mark issued items" function.
Scanning the shelves
- Open Cataloguing → Stock Take. The AccNo or Barcode field is automatically focused.
- If auditing a specific section, enter the Shelf Range From and To values.
- Scan each item's barcode, working systematically along the shelves. The Scan Result panel updates after each scan — a green Accession No confirms the item has been stamped.
- If a misplacement warning appears, note the item and set it aside to be reshelved correctly after the audit.
- Continue until the section or full collection has been scanned. Use the mobile version for staff working away from a fixed workstation.
Completing the audit
- Once all physically present items have been scanned, click Confirm in the "Mark issued items" section to account for everything currently out on loan.
- Open Cataloguing → Stock Take Enquiry to review items whose Stock Take Date was not updated during this audit — these are the items that were not found.
- Investigate missing items: check if they have been misfiled, lost, or simply not scanned due to being in transit or repair.
💡
Running a partial stock take? You can audit one section at a time over several days. Use the Shelf Range to define each day's section, and keep the Stock Take Date constant across all sessions so that Stock Take Enquiry gives you a coherent picture of what was and wasn't found during the full audit period.
➡️ Next Steps
| Task | Where to go |
|---|
| Review items not found during the stock take |
Cataloguing → Stock Take Enquiry |
| Set or change the Stock Take Date |
Parameters → General Parameters → System Dates |
| Check the current status or location of a specific item |
Routines → BRN Routines → Browse Stock Status |
| Update the shelf location of a stock item |
EasyCAT → Stock Details tab |
| Process outstanding overdues or returns before the audit |
Circulation → Front Desk |