Run the cage without running after students.
For the technician or cage manager who lends cameras, sound kits and lights to a hundred students a term, and needs every card reader back before the next crew books it.
| Item | Location | Qty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interview kit A (C70, 24-105, 2× Wireless GO) IT-000301 | Media cage / Camera kits | 1 | Group 4 · due Mon 09:00 |
| Sony FX3 IT-000312 | Media cage / Pro shelf | 1 | Reserved · Sat–Sun |
| Aputure 300d II IT-000327 | Media cage / Lighting | 1 | Overdue · 2 days |
| Zoom H6 recorder IT-000340 | Media cage / Sound | 1 | Available |
| SanDisk SD 128 GB IT-000355 | Consumables | 6 cards | Low · min 10 |
Sound familiar?
Booking is a shared calendar, checkout is a paper form at the hatch, and returns are whenever the group remembers. On Friday afternoon three crews queue for kit, someone's booked camera is still out with last week's group, and on Monday the second battery and the SD cards are missing from a kit nobody signed for item by item.
Book, hand out, chase, check.
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Crews book the kit for the shoot
A group asks for the interview kit for Saturday and Sunday. The booking checks every member (camera, lens, two mics, tripod, cards) and names who already has anything that clashes.
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Friday at the hatch
Hand over from the booking in one tap, or scan the kit label into the basket, add an extra light, and take one signature from the group lead. One receipt goes to the borrower with their My things link.
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Sunday night reminders
The borrower gets a reminder before the due date with Return and Extend. Extend is refused if another crew has the kit booked on Monday.
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Monday return check
Scan the kit back. The return walks the members and asks what came back broken, so a cracked LCD gets a problem note on the camera itself, with who had it.
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End of term
Send a possession check to every student who still holds something. They confirm or dispute from their phone, and the custody-by-person report shows what's left to chase before grades are released.
Friday at the hatch, one signature.
Scan the kit label and the spare battery into the basket, pick the student and the due date, and they sign once for the lot. The receipt lists every piece, and each piece keeps its own line in the logbook.
To
Back Fri 30 Oct
How it looks in ItemTally.
Folders are the real places film, media and journalism departments keep things. Every take, return, count and move becomes a dated line with a name on it, and lines are never edited.
Your workspace
- Media cage
- Camera kitsSignature required
- Lenses
- SoundMics, recorders, booms
- Lighting
- GripTripods, sliders, C-stands
- Pro shelfApproval on · cinema cameras, drone
- ConsumablesBatteries, SD cards, gaffer
- Edit suite loanersDrives, card readers
A cage set up in an afternoon
- Import the inventory sheet you have. Columns for name, serial, value and shelf map to the register, and you check the preview before anything is saved.
- Make the kits. Interview kit A, Doc kit B, Lighting kit 1. Kits can hold single items (the camera) and amounts (two batteries).
- Print labels. Avery L7160 sheets for cases and bags, the 50 × 25 mm tag for lenses and mics. Kit labels fill the basket with every member in one scan.
- Set the shelf rules. Signatures on for camera kits, approval on for the pro shelf.
- Add students as you go. Type a new name at the first hand-over, or add the class in People. They need no account, only a name, plus an email if they should get receipts and reminders.
What does the work in the cage.
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Equipment checkout
Scan a kit label into the basket, pick the group lead, one due date, one signature. The whole crew's kit is one receipt.
How it works → -
Reservations
Weekend bookings that check every member of the kit. Two crews can't be promised the same camera, and the refusal names who has it.
How it works → -
Self-service and kiosk
A kiosk tablet at the hatch for cables, card readers and tripods, with approval on the pro shelf so the cinema camera needs your yes.
How it works → -
Consumables
SD cards, batteries and gaffer tape with minimums, so you reorder before the first shoot of term.
How it works →
No fines, deposits or grade holds. ItemTally tells you who has what and who's late. Penalties and holds stay with your student system. There are no training records either: use an approval folder for kit that needs a sign-off. What we will and won't build.
The questions cage managers ask.
Our students won't make another account.
They don't need one. You hand over and they get a receipt with their own My things link, where they can see what they hold, return it or extend it. Accounts are for staff.
Only trained students should take the cinema camera.
ItemTally doesn't store training records. Put the pro kit in a folder with approval on, and every self-service take there becomes a request you approve or decline.
IT will ask where the data lives.
ItemTally is hosted in the EU, with single sign-on (OIDC, e.g. Google, Microsoft Entra or Okta) for staff and a full CSV export on every plan. The security page lists what's stored and who can see it.
Can a whole group borrow one kit?
Check the kit out to one named person, the group lead, and note the group in the hand-over. Custody always sits with a person, so there's one name to chase.
What happens to kit returned late?
It turns amber in the Out view and on Today, the borrower gets reminders, and the logbook keeps when it came back. Penalties stay in your own process.
Can students book kit from home?
Students with self-service can reserve from their phone. Outside requests can also come through a share link with requests turned on, and each one waits for you on Today.
What does it cost for a department?
If staff hand over everything, students never count and the free Shelf plan works for one technician. If students take things themselves, each one is a borrower. Stockroom covers 5 staff and 50 student borrowers for €19/mo, and Warehouse covers a whole cohort for €49/mo.
We already have WebCheckout or Cheqroom quotes.
Those are mature tools with deeper booking rules and long higher-education track records, priced per institution or per admin. ItemTally is flat (€0, €19 or €49 a month), self-serve and set up in an afternoon. Pick on the booking rules you actually need.
Put the first camera kit on it before Friday.
Free forever for one editor and ten borrowers. No card.
Free for one editor and ten borrowers, with unlimited items. No card needed.