Lost Items Procedure                                          

The following breaks down the procedure of dealing with lost materials in TRAC into three steps: Run, Invoice, Delete.

RUN

PowerBI

1. Navigate to the Lost Items report in the Collection Maintenance Report > Lost Items. It is recommended that you run this report at least once each week.

Canned Reports

2. Run the Lost Items report from Reports and Notices > Custom Reports. Create a record set for lost items in LEAP.

INVOICE

3. Invoice a library for your lost materials.
   1. You must invoice within a year of your item becoming lost, otherwise the library is not obligated to pay.
   2. Keep a record of the libraries that you have invoiced and for which item. Polaris does not retain this information. Keep a spreadsheet tracking the invoice #, transacting library, item title, item barcode, call #, patron name, patron barcode, item cost, and invoice sent.
   3. If the transacting library would like to negotiate, they must contact the invoicing library directly.
   4. If you are having difficulties receiving payment from a library, you may contact your regional headquarters.

4. If an item has been paid for by another library and the charge is still outstanding in the patron record, place a PAID note in the Temporary location field of the item record. If the library eventually does receive payment, they know right away not to bill the item’s owning library.

DELETE

1. Delete the lost item records. From the item record workform, click ACTIONS > Delete to delete it. This is the only time you will ever delete an item in Polaris.
   1. If you receive messages about last copy options, choose the option Suppress from PAC.

1. 2. Lost items that have been paid for or waived from the patron account workform may automatically transition to withdrawn depending on individual HQ settings.
2. Verify that the charge has remained on the patron’s account. If it does not appear in their account, manually add a charge in their patron account and put the barcode of the item in the Associated field. This will remove it off your lost list as well as ensure that the patron is accountable.
   1. Do not put a blocking note on a patron that is not registered to your library.