Delete or Purge Records (Weeding)
*** In this document, you will find a procedure on how to delete/purge a record as well as how to delete/purge a large number of records (weeding process) ***
HOW TO DELETE / PURGE A UNIQUE RECORD
Search for either a bibliographic, holding, or patron record then "Edit" the record. You can search in "Catalog" or "Circulation" for the record. There are two modes:
DELETE: Once the "record editor" is opened, place a checkmark on "delete" and then "save". This will place the record in delete mode. Library users will not be able to find them in the catalog only librarians, and the record will display in red fonts.
PURGE: Once the "record editor" is opened place a checkmark on "delete", "purge" gets activated and a checkmark can be placed on it. After clicking save, the record will be completely gone from the catalog. If you purge a bibliographic record, all holding records associated with that title will be gone as well. If a holding record is purged, then only that specific record will be removed.
HOW TO FIND ALL RECORDS MARKED FOR DELETION
Click the dropdown in "catalog" and select "cataloging tools"
Select "find and replace" from the menu to the left
Select the table for the type of record you wish to search: bibliographic or bib-holding
Change the first search attribute ("Subject" for bibliographic, "Anywhere" for holdings) to "Record Status"
Place the letter "d" (no quotes) under "record status" and search
From the results, you can purge these by clicking "select all", then "purge selected"
WEEDING PROCESS
DELETE / PURGE SELECTED RECORDS
Click the "drop-down" in the "catalog" tab and select "Cataloging Tools"
2. From the column to the left, select "find and replace"
3. You can either search for the records manually (bibliographic or holding) or chose the option "upload barcodes" where you can scan the barcodes easily or upload a barcode file (How to Create a Barcode File)
4. Once the search is done, (if you want, you can either print or download a CSV for you to keep track of those records) click "select all", then click either "delete selected" OR "purge selected"(the purge option will completely remove the record(s) from your library catalog).
