Checking a shelf

A shelf check answers "is everything that is supposed to be here actually here?" copy by copy. When you start one, AllMyBooks writes down every copy your library records at that location and every location inside it — that list stays fixed for the whole check — and you then mark each copy you find. Progress is saved as you go, on the server, so you can stop, reload, pick it up on another computer, or let another Admin or Member carry on where you left off. Checking changes nothing in your library: no copy is moved, removed, returned or marked as anything.

1. Filter My Library to the shelf (or bookcase, or room) and press "Check this shelf" in Shelf actions — or open My Library → Library tools → Shelves → Shelf checks, choose the location and press "Start check".
2. Scan each book’s label, or type its copy id (#XXXXXX) or ISBN, and press Enter. The box stays ready for the next one, so a USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner that types and presses Enter works straight away. Each result is said under the box.
3. No label handy? Press "Seen" beside the copy in the "Not observed yet" list. Marked the wrong one? Press "Undo" beside it under "Seen in this check".
4. When you have been along the whole shelf, press "Finish check" and confirm. The review opens.

A book label printed since labels began naming their copy ticks off exactly that copy, with no question; if that copy is not in your library (another library’s label, or a copy since removed), the check says "That label’s copy isn’t in this library" and ticks nothing. An older book label names only the book, and so does an ISBN: when your library holds more than one copy of that book, the check always asks "Which copy?" and lists the copies not yet seen, with where each is recorded — pick the one in your hand by the copy id on its label. Scanning the same ISBN or older label again asks again; it never ticks off a second copy on its own. A copy that has already been seen is just reported as seen, and scanning it twice changes nothing.

A copy of your library that is not on the check’s list — recorded on another shelf, or added after the check started — is noted as "not on this check’s list" with where it is recorded, and nothing is moved. A code that matches no copy in your library adds nothing: the check says so and offers "Add a book" and "Search your library" as links, so you decide. A patron card is not a copy, and the check says so.

If a scan cannot reach AllMyBooks — a dropped connection — it stays on screen as "Not saved" with a Retry button, and "Finish check" is greyed out until every scan has been saved or forgotten; retrying never records a copy twice. Only one check at a time can cover any shelf: starting a check of a location that an unfinished check already covers (the same place, somewhere inside it, or something it sits in) opens that check instead. "Discard check" closes a check without a review and without changing anything, so the shelf can be checked afresh.

The review sorts every copy on the list into one group. "Seen here". "Not observed in this check" — nobody marked it during the check; that is not the same as missing, and nothing about the copy has been changed. "On loan" — the copy had an open loan when you finished, so it is accounted for as out; the loan is left exactly as it was, even if the copy turned up on the shelf. "Changed since the check started" — someone moved, removed or transferred the copy while the check was going on, so it is shown with where it was and where it is now rather than silently judged against a list that no longer fits it. Copies found that were not on the list are listed too.

Finishing changes nothing; acting on the review is always your own, explicit step, one copy (or one confirmed batch) at a time. Each action is checked against the copy as the review last saw it: if someone moved or edited the copy in the meantime, nothing is changed and the row says so — reload the review and decide again.

1. A copy you are sure is gone: under "Not observed in this check", press "Mark missing…" beside it and confirm. To mark every not-observed copy shown at once, press "Mark N not-observed copies missing…" and confirm the count — it is all or nothing, so if any copy changed since the review was loaded (or is out on loan), none is marked and each problem copy is named.
2. A copy found on this shelf but recorded somewhere else: under "Not on this check’s list", press "Move here…", pick the checked location or one inside it (the checked location is chosen to start with), and confirm "Move". It is an ordinary move: it appears in Library activity and can be undone there for 30 days.
3. A copy that was marked missing and turned up in this check: under "Seen here" it says "Marked missing since …" — press "Mark found". Seeing it never clears the mark on its own.
4. A copy "Changed since the check started": the review only links to it ("Open this copy"). Nothing is done for you — look at it and decide.

Marking a copy missing is your library’s own note that it cannot be found — not a removal. The copy stays in your catalogue, keeps its shelf, and still counts towards your library and its value; but it is no longer available: it cannot be lent or checked out, the "Available" filter leaves it out, the list shows it as missing instead of available, and your public catalogue shows it as not available. A copy out on loan cannot be marked missing — it is accounted for. Only Admins and Members ever see the word "missing": a Guest, the public catalogue and other book-club members see at most "not available". You can also mark a copy missing, or found, from its card on the book page: "Mark missing…" (a copy on the shelf) or "Mark found" beside "Missing since …", which also shows in "Edit this copy". Each mark is listed in Library activity ("Marked … missing", "Marked … found") but has no Undo — marking it found is how you take "missing" back, and the other way round.

Library tools → Shelves → Shelf checks lists the checks in progress, with how far each has got, and the recent finished and discarded ones; a finished check’s review stays readable there. While a check is in progress, the home page of every Admin and Member lists it as a task — "1 unfinished shelf check", with Resume opening this list — until it is finished or discarded (see Your home, tasks and tools — Your home’s tasks). A check never changes a shelf’s catalogued, seen or expected numbers (see How full a shelf is, in Rooms and shelves).

Shelf checks, and marking copies missing or found, are for Admins and Members, on the website; Guests do not see them, and someone who stops being a member can no longer open a check. The phone app does not have them: it does not show the missing mark, and if you try to lend a copy marked missing from the phone, the loan is refused (the app says the copy is already out) — mark it found on the website first.