An Inventory Form for a Small Laboratory VELMA WILSON Brolonsville Junior College and High School, Brownsoille, Teras
HE setting up of a useful inventory for supplies Tand equipment in a small laboratory is one of the problems too often overlooked in the training of the chemistry teacher. An adequate inventory should give the person in charge of the storeroom, usually the teacher, a detailed picture of what is available, what has been requisitioned, and what has been purchased during an inventory period. Lack of -funds and time make a simple, convenient method desirable. The inventory form illustrated in the accompanying photograph has proved helpful. The original skeletal form was mimeographed in order that uniform inventories would be available for chemistry, physics, and biology. Standard legal size stencils and paper were used. The items and descriptions were then typed in the first column; equipment and supplies were listed separately. Three copies of each sheet were made in order that the teacher, the department head, and the administration office might have the inventory on file. The compiled sheets were held together by clips or rings. An inventory form which may be mimeographed on legal size paper is recommended. The form is for a six-year period, shows requisitions, purchases, and stock on hand for each year. The stock inventory requires relatively little time if the stock storage plan and the list of items correspond. The copying of the data is an unpleasant task but has proved more satisfactory than using carbon paper in keeping the three sets of records. No space is provided on the form for information concerning the qual-
ity or condition of supplies from various sources, but experience has shown that the teacher's pencil notations on the sheet and the memoranda attached to invoices or catalogues compensate for this omission. The catalogue lists from the reliable supply houses
are valuable guides in making the original inventory lists. It is advisable to leave spaces a t strategic points so that items not originally on hand may be written in with the proper group. This inventory form has served as a useful device to the teacher who is making routine plans, to the person who is compiling orders, and especially to the new teacher who is attempting to use storeroom materials not familiar to him.
