🔄 Interlibrary Loans

Move stock items between locations — either permanently as a Transfer, or temporarily as a Loan. The receiving location must confirm receipt before the item appears in their catalogue as belonging to them.

📋 Overview

The Interlibrary Loans screen lets you send a physical stock item from one location in your library system to another. This is used when your Papyrus Cloud database serves multiple branches or departments — for example, moving a textbook from the Main Location to the Science Department, or lending a title from Cape Town to Joburg for a limited period.

The process works in two steps: the sending location submits the item using this screen, and the receiving location logs into the same screen to confirm that the item has arrived. Until the receiving location accepts it, the item remains on the books of the sending location.

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Single database, multiple locations. Interlibrary Loans applies only within a single Papyrus Cloud database that has multiple locations defined. If your system is a single-location library, this screen is not needed.

🔀 Transfer vs Loan

The first thing to decide before submitting is whether this is a Transfer or a Loan. The mode is selected using the radio button at the top of the screen.

Mode What it means When to use it
Transfer The stock item moves permanently to the receiving location. Once accepted, it belongs to that location in the catalogue and will appear in its reports, stock takes, and circulation records going forward. The item is being re-homed — for example, a book that was at the Main Location is being permanently reassigned to the Cape Town branch.
Loan The stock item moves to the receiving location temporarily. It retains its original location in the catalogue and is expected to return. The loan is tracked so the sending location knows it is outstanding. A branch needs a title for a period — a teacher's resource borrowed from the library to a department, or a book sent from one campus to another for a term.
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Choose carefully before submitting. The mode determines how the item is recorded in the catalogue on both sides. A Transfer cannot easily be reversed — if you need to move the item back, you would need to Transfer it again in the other direction.

🔧 Screen Fields

Field / Control Description
Select Transfer or Loan Radio button toggle. Transfer is the default — select it to permanently move the item to the receiving location. Select Loan to move the item temporarily while retaining its original location record. Selecting Loan triggers a page refresh to update the form if any additional fields become available.
To Location The destination location. Select from the dropdown list of all locations defined in your system. The default is {Default Location} — always change this to the intended destination before submitting. Changing the selection triggers a page refresh.
AccNo, Barcode The accession number or barcode of the stock item being moved. Scan the barcode or type the value. When you tab out of the field, the ISBD citation below updates automatically to confirm which item has been identified — check this before submitting.
ISBD (read-only) Shows the full bibliographic citation of the identified stock item — title, author, date, and ISBN. This is populated automatically from the AccNo/Barcode lookup and is read-only. Verify this matches the physical item in your hand before clicking Submit.
Submit Sends the Transfer or Loan request. The item is flagged in the system as in transit to the selected location. It will appear in the receiving location's incoming items list, awaiting their confirmation.
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Always verify the ISBD citation before clicking Submit. If the citation does not match the item in your hand, clear the AccNo field and scan again — you may have miskeyed the number or scanned a different item.

📤 Sending a Stock Item

The upper section of the screen is used by the sending location. To send a stock item to another location:

  1. Select Transfer or Loan using the radio button. If you change the selection, wait for the page to refresh before continuing.
  2. In the To Location dropdown, select the destination branch or department.
  3. In the AccNo, Barcode field, scan the barcode of the physical item or type its accession number. The ISBD citation will populate automatically once the field loses focus.
  4. Verify the ISBD citation matches the item you are sending.
  5. Click Submit. The item is now recorded as in transit. A status message confirms the action.
  6. Place the physical item in transit to the receiving location.
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You can send multiple items in a single session — after each Submit, clear the AccNo field and scan the next item. The To Location and mode selections remain in place between submissions unless you change them.

📥 Receiving Items

The lower section of the screen — "Items transferred or loaned to your location" — is used by the receiving location. When a stock item has been sent to a location, it appears in this list until the receiving location confirms receipt.

To accept an incoming item, the receiving location opens Interlibrary Loans and finds the item in the incoming list. Confirming receipt updates the stock item's location in the catalogue — for a Transfer, this permanently reassigns the item to the receiving location; for a Loan, the item is marked as on loan from the sending location.

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Each location sees only its own incoming items. The list shows items sent to whichever location the logged-in user is operating from. If your system uses location-based login, users at the Cape Town branch will see only items sent to Cape Town.
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Items in transit are in a pending state. Until the receiving location confirms receipt, the item is still recorded under the sending location in all reports and circulation screens. Do not issue or process the item at the receiving end until confirmation is done.

🔁 Typical Workflows

Permanently relocating a stock item (Transfer)

  1. At the sending location, open Cataloguing → Interlibrary Loans.
  2. Select Transfer.
  3. Set To Location to the destination branch.
  4. Scan or type the accession number. Confirm the ISBD citation is correct.
  5. Click Submit. Place the physical item in transit.
  6. At the receiving location, open Interlibrary Loans. The item appears in the "Items transferred or loaned to your location" section.
  7. Confirm receipt. The item's location is updated in the catalogue — it now belongs to the receiving location.

Temporarily lending an item to another location (Loan)

  1. At the sending location, open Cataloguing → Interlibrary Loans.
  2. Select Loan.
  3. Set To Location to the borrowing branch or department.
  4. Scan or type the accession number. Confirm the ISBD citation.
  5. Click Submit. The item is flagged as on loan to the selected location.
  6. At the receiving location, open Interlibrary Loans and confirm receipt of the item.
  7. When the item is returned, the sending location processes the return through this screen or through the Front Desk, depending on your library's procedure.
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Processing a batch of relocations? Work through the stack one item at a time — set the To Location once, then scan each barcode and Submit. The To Location stays selected between submissions, so you only need to scan and confirm each item rather than reconfiguring the form for every one.

➡️ Next Steps

Task Where to go
Define or edit locations Parameters → General Parameters → Locations
Check the current stock status or location of an item Routines → BRN Routines → Browse Stock Status
Update stock details (shelf, location, status) directly EasyCAT → Stock Details tab
Run a stock take at a specific location Cataloguing → Stock Take
Issue or return items at the receiving location Circulation → Front Desk