Managing drop-in titles
- Carol Gordon
- Vivian Luu
- Elizabeth Barker (Unlicensed)
Defining 'Drop-ins'
When we are looking at drop-in title handling in CataList, what exactly do we mean when we talk about drop-ins?
We define a drop-in as a title that is a late addition to a publisher's list — announced after the season's catalogues have been released, but which need to be sold and/or shipped before the next season's catalogues will be published and the next set of selling appointments start. Some publishers may refer to these title as "add-on" titles, but in CataList we use the term drop-in to apply to both add-on and drop-in titles.
It is a challenge for reps and buyers to ensure that they are buying or selling all of the titles that get added to publisher lists after the main catalogues are releases and sales appointments have started. Drop-in flags alert all involved to these late additions.
Finding drop-in titles
Keep up with late additions added to publisher lists in CataList with our drop-in reporting tools!
Drop-ins are flagged in CataList at title level, and are reported on in several ways to make locating them easy. You'll find the most recently added drop-in titles displayed in the top carousel of the Home page, along with one-click reports on drop-in titles publishing in the next few months.
Publishers can limit the titles displayed in this section and in the monthly reports by clicking on their Publisher tab on the Home page.
All signed in users can limit the content of the recent drop-ins section and monthly reports by setting their Favourites list, and using the Favourites tab view.
When viewing drop-in titles within catalogue, title or search result views, a drop-in flag will display next to the publication date to visually identify the drop-in titles.
Hover over the flag to see the date the title was added to CataList.
We've also updated the drop-in reports in CataList, to eliminate duplicate listings and titles past publication date. Drop-in titles will displayed in this report until one month past their publication date, after that point they will automatically be removed.
You can access the drop-in report from the Alerts sections of My Page.
The alert will show you a count of how many drop-in titles have been added in the current week — counted as Sunday through Saturday at midnight. Even if no titles have been dropped in the current week, you can access the full list of current drop-ins using the View History button.
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The drop-in report lists all titles currently flagged as drop-ins in CataList. If you are logged into CataList as a library, wholesaler, or retailer account, you will have access to all publishers drop-in titles. If you are logged into a publisher account, you will see only your own company's titles in this list. Trade-only titles display in the drop-in report for accounts that have the relevant permissions.
The report is sorted in descending order by the date each item was flagged as a drop-in. You can re-sort the table contents by clicking on any column header.
You can also export this report to an Excel file if you want to take further action on the list outside the system! Simply click the Export button to download the full report.
Flagging your drop-in titles
If you are a publisher and you have drop-in titles to add to CataList, it's easy to add the drop-in flag to your late additions.
When you are creating new seasonal catalogues, the first steps in the process remain the same - provide your catalogue name and set the properties, and then add your list of ISBNs as you usually would. Click Next to run the validations on the catalogue.
Once the validation is complete, you'll see a new option to 'Mark drop-ins now" in the confirmation step when you are adding late additions.
If none of the titles in your catalogue are drop-ins, simply click Next to complete your catalogue creation as usual. No drop-ins will be flagged.
If you are adding late additions in this set of ISBNs, click the link to Mark drop-ins now. This will open the drop-in manager tool.
If you are creating a drop-in catalogue and ALL items being added are drop-ins, simply select the checkbox in the header to mark all the ISBNs being added to the catalogue as drop-ins. Alternatively, you can select the individual items from the list to be marked with the drop-in flag.
At this point in the process, CataList hasn't yet imported bibliographic data. If it is easier to mark your drop-ins with the title data displaying, you can skip the flag assignment in this step and indicate your drop-in titles later using the Organize catalogue feature.
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Add a drop-in title to an existing catalogue
When you are adding more titles to existing seasonal catalogues, the system offers you the same options for flagging the new additions as drop-ins if desired.
If your catalogue additions are not drop-ins, simply add the titles and proceed through the steps without opening the drop-in manager. If your titles are drop-ins, then open the drop-in manager, select your drop-ins and proceed through the catalogue creation steps as usual.
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If you have titles you've already added to catalogues, where the drop-in flag was not marked in the catalogue creation stage, or you were waiting to have more bibliographic data available before adding the drop-in flags, you can also toggle the drop-in flag On or Off in the Organize Catalogue screen.
To launch the Organize catalogue screen, view your seasonal catalogue and select Organize Catalogue from the Edit menu in the toolbar.
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Click the flag icon to toggle the status off or on, then click Save to save your changes.
Drop-in flags can only be added or removed when editing seasonal catalogues. You can view drop-ins in custom catalogues, but there are no editing tools in those views.
Drop-in FAQs
Here are some common questions and troubleshooting tips about the drop-in flag display in CataList.
Q: I marked a title as a drop-in, but I don't see this title in the drop-in report and the flag does not display next to the publication date in catalogue views.
A: The first thing to check in this case is the Publication Date for the item. If the publication date of the item is a month or more in the past, the drop-in flag will no longer display. This may be an issue for reissues in particular, which will not be reported as drop-ins until the publication date has been corrected to a date in the future.
If the publication date is in the future or is in the last 30 days, use the Organize catalogue tool to set the drop-in flag for the title and ensure that you save your changes.
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Q: Do I need to manually remove the drop-in flag after a title releases?
A: There is no need for manual drop-in flag maintenance. CataList makes maintenance easy by automatically updating so that titles more that 30 days past publication date are no longer reported as drop-ins.
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Q: I am organizing a catalogue, and one or more of the titles do not display a drop-in flag that I can edit.
A: If the catalogue you are editing is a custom catalogue, you will not be able to edit the drop-in flag in this view. Drop-in flags can be edited in seasonal catalogues only. If you are working in a seasonal catalogue, the title(s) may be associated to a different publisher account. You may only change the drop-in flag status on one of your own titles.