How do we measure the initial period?

The Initial period lets you specify a number of days that an item is to be held at its home location before it's rotated, e.g. you want the item to be held for a few months at the home location and only then start rotating around the other libraries.

The Initial period is relative to the first available date, i.e. the date the item was first issued or first returned whichever comes first (remember that you might return the item before it's ever issued to remove the copy status processing parameter for example).

Here are three examples. In all these examples the item is acquired on 26/9/15, and attached to a stock rotation plan with the initial period set to 2 days.

Example1.

1. Issue the item on 27/9/15. This sets the first available date to 27/9/15.
2. Return the item on 28/9/15. 27/9 to 28/9 is only 1 day, so the item isn't rotated yet.
3. Issue the item on 28/9/15. 
4. Return the item on 1/10/15. The number of days between 26/9/15 and 1/10/15 is 5 days, i.e. greater than initial period of 2 days, and so the item is stock rotated.

Example 2.

1. Issue the item on 27/9/15. This sets the first available date to 27/9/15. 
2. Return the item on 1/10/15. The number of days between 27/9/07 and 1/10/07 is 5 days, i.e. greater than initial period of 2 days, and so the item is stock rotated.

Example 3.

1. Return the item on 27/9/15. This sets the first available date to 27/9/15.
2. Issue the item on 28/9/15. 
3. Return the item on 29/9/15. The number of days between 27/9/15 and 29/9/15 is 2 days, i.e. the same as the initial period, and so the item is stock rotated.

Does the item's home location need to be in the stock rotation plan?

No. The stock rotation will start after the issue and return at the home location. Of course it might start rotating after the first issue and return at the home location, or there might be an Initial period.

Here are another three examples to show what happens. It depends on the Rotation type.

Home location: A

Rotation locations: B, C and D.

Example 1: Continuous. The item starts rotating around B, C and D. It'll never go back to A.

Example 2: Cycle once then return to original home location. The item rotates around B, C and D, and then goes back to A.

Example 3: Cycle once then remain at last location. The item rotates around B, C and D, and remains at whichever one it gets to last. It'll never go back to A.

If an item skips a location within the stock rotation plan on a single pass rotation type, will it rotate back to that location before completing the rotation cycle?

Yes. If an item is unable to rotate into a location within the plan for any reason (e.g. Max items criteria met etc.), it will rotate to the next available location and stay there until it is able to rotate into the location that was skipped.

For example, say location A, B, C and D are in a rotation plan. An item rotates from location A to B, skips C, and then rotates to D. It will stay in D until it can rotate to C. Depending on the Rotation type, it will either return to its home location, or remain at the last rotated location.

What happens when I issue and return an item at a different location that’s not linked to the stock rotation plan selected?

When the item is returned, staff will be notified through an alert to return the item to its appropriate location.

For example, sat the item’s home location is location B (which is in the stock rotation plan). The item was issued and returned at location A. When returning the issue, an alert message will prompt staff to return the item to location B.

How does the title check count feature affect serials titles?

The issues of a continuous subscription is considered one title. Therefore, if you have a subscription to Time Magazine, for example, and have set the Title checkout count to 2, then you cannot have more than 2 copies of the January issue of Time Magazine at a location.