Standard Cataloging Procedures - Transferring, Discarding & Deleting Records

Standard Cataloging Procedures - Transferring, Discarding & Deleting Records

Standard Cataloging Procedures

The Standard Cataloging Procedures (SCP) articles and video tutorials (below) are meant to be a guide for cataloging practices in the Montana Shared Catalog library consortium. For more explanation of the topics covered herein, please refer to the Help menu in WorkFlows (F1), or contact the MSC staff or your cataloging mentor.
For more information on how to transfer, discard, or delete records, see Cataloging - Transferring Records and Cataloging - Discarding vs Deleting Records.


8. Transferring, Discarding & Deleting Records

When an item record is discovered to be incorrect or when an item is being removed from your library, the item should be transferred to a better record, discarded, or deleted. Please read the following sections to determine which action is appropriate for your record.

8.1 Transferring records

When multiple bib records exist in the catalog for items that are deemed to be the same according to MSC policies (see section 3.1) the better record should be selected (see section 2 for record standards) and all holdings should be transferred from the duplicate record(s) to the better record.  When selecting the better record be sure to check for enhancements such as reading levels.  Make notes of enhancements and add them to the better record as described in section 6.

For additional assistance with transferring, please view the Transferring Items video tutorial below.
Most libraries only have the ability to transfer their own items but some members of sharing groups do have the ability to transfer other libraries’ items. If this is the case for your library, please use caution when transferring records. If you notice a problem with another library’s items alert them to the issue, but do not transfer their items. If you have concerns you can also contact your mentor or MSC staff.

8.1.1 Setup in Workflows

Right click on Transfer Titles, Call Numbers or Items, found in the Special toolbar in Cataloging. On the Behavior tab, check the boxes next to “Allow Transfer of all existing call numbers and items in a title.” Also check the box for “Prompt for confirmation before transferring all call numbers and items.”  Otherwise you will not be able to transfer any of your items if they are the last item you have on a bib record.  As noted above, this will prevent you from editing other libraries’ items unless you already had that ability.

8.1.2 How to transfer

  1. From the Cataloging toolbar select Transfer Titles, Call Numbers, or Items listed under the Special toolbar.
  2. Search for the duplicate records you wish to work with.
  3. Review all appropriate records to determine which is the most complete and accurate.
  4. If possible, retain the Library of Congress record (DLC in 040 tag), transferring less desirable records to that record.
  5. You can use the Display Bibliographic Description wizard to review the bib records.
  6. If you wish to retain any enhancement information from the “old” record, it’s helpful to write that down before you complete the transfer. You can also copy and paste the enhancements into a document to be added to the “new” record later.
  7. Select the “bad” record that will be transferred and click Add to Tree. Repeat this step for the “good” record you would like to transfer your item to. Both records will now be listed in the center section.
  8. Click the plus sign next to the title you want to transfer information from. Choose the call number and item of the record and click Retain for Transfer. The record will become bold and italicized once you’ve selected it for transfer.
  9. Select the title of the destination record and click Transfer.
These steps describe transferring call numbers with items to a different title. The level at which you select items will affect the transfer.  See chart below for information on transferring other levels of records.


"To be Transferred" Level
"Destination" Level
Results
Item ID
- Call Number
- Item ID
Item ID transfers and becomes next copy number (ex. copy 2) under the Destination Call Number.
The item loses the call number it had before the transfer.
Call Number
- Title
- Call Number
- Item ID
All of these transfers retain the original call number with the item ID. If the transfer removes the last item attached to a call number or title, you may get a message alerting you about the removal of the old record.
Title
- Title
- Call Number
- Item ID
All of these transfers retain the original call number with the item ID. If the transfer removes the last item attached to a call number or title, you may get a message alerting you about the removal of the old record.
  1. When you transfer the last item attached to a title, you will prompted to approve the removal of that title if you set your properties as recommended above.  Accepting the prompt will cause the empty bib record to be removed from the system.
  2. Items transferred within the MSC in this manner are not uploaded to OCLC as deletions or additions. You’ll need to do this work separately in Connexion after you complete the transfer in Workflows.

8.2 Choosing discard or delete

There are two ways to remove records from the MSC: Discard and Delete. OCLC holdings are NOT updated when an item or title is deleted. In general, if your library has more than one barcode/item ID left on the bib record, you should use the delete option. Once there is only one barcode belonging to your library on the bib record, you should use the discard option. Before you begin, take the time to view the Discard Versus Delete tutorial video below.

Use DISCARD when:
  1. It is your library’s last copy on that bib record and the holding also needs to be removed from OCLC.
Use DELETE when you want to:
  1. Remove a second or higher copy of an item on a title where you have multiple items on the same bib record.  This also applies to books on a serial bib record. 
  2. Remove brief records (including ILLs) that were never submitted to OCLC. 
Notes about the discard process
  1. All items with a home location of DISCARD will be removed from both the MSC and OCLC once a month by MSC Admins. A count of the number of items each library discarded is emailed to the MSC Discussion list. 
  2. Any item that is checked-out (charged), has a hold, is under serial control, or is linked to an order record will not be removed.  A list of all such items will be emailed to the MSC Discussion list for investigation. This report is called the “Problem Discard List” and each library is responsible for reconciling these items. After holds, check-outs, or serial controls have been addressed, the item can be left in DISCARD until the next month. DISCARD is a shadowed home location, so items will not appear to the public in the online catalog.

8.2.1 Discard using Call Number and Item Maintenance 

  1. Make sure the item is checked-in and there are no holds attached to the item record.
  2. Set the Call Number and Item Maintenance wizard properties to search by Item ID (right-click Wizard, select Properties from menu, & select Item ID for “Preferred search index”).
  3. Search for the item by scanning the barcode. Change the “Home Location” to Discard. 
  4. This will not immediately remove the record.  The record will remain in the system until the first of the month when the OCLC Upload and OCLC Discard reports are run.  At that time the record will disappear. However, since DISCARD is a shadowed location the record will not appear to the public on the online card catalog.
If you do not have the item in hand, this same process can be followed using a title search. Just be certain that you are discarding the correct item.

8.2.2 Discard using Global Item Modification

  1. Select Global Item Modification from the Item Maintenance toolbar.
  2. Choose DISCARD from the drop down list for Home Location. Do not change any other values.
  3. Scan barcodes of items to be discarded. You will see each item being modified as you go. 
You should still verify that the items to be discarded are checked-in and that there are no holds on the items.

8.2.3 Replacing a copy – discard or delete old copy

If an item is the LAST copy held by your library and a new copy has been ordered:
  1. If the new on-order copy matches the existing bib, you may remove the old copy using a Delete procedure after adding the new item. 
  2. If the new on-order copy does not match the existing bib, i.e., a new edition or different translator has been ordered, use Discard to remove the item and subsequently update OCLC holdings.

8.2.4 Delete using Delete Title, Call Numbers or Items 

  1. Make sure item is checked-in and there are no holds attached to the item record.  Also confirm that OCLC holdings do not need to be updated.
  2. Click on the Delete Title, Call Numbers or Items wizard found in the Title Maintenance group of wizards.  
  3. Check your Properties settings (right click on wizard and select Properties.
Delete Title, Call Numbers or Items properties window with Behavior tab selected
Check the “Delete only items for search library” box as a safety measure.

Wizard Default tab highlighted
Make sure you are set to search by Item ID and your library only.
4.  Click OK when Properties are set.
5. Search for item by scanning barcode.  You need to click the box next to the item you want to delete.  The title will be bolded and in italics. Then click the Delete button. 

8.2.5 Delete using Call Number and Item Maintenance

This is used for deleting call numbers and items. For deleting titles/bib records, please see section 8.2.3
  1. Click on the Call Number and Item Maintenance wizard. Search for the title that you want to work with.  Highlight it.
  2. Click on Modify. Make sure you are in the Call Number/Item tab.  
  3. Click on the item or call number you want to delete, and click on the Delete button. (If you delete a call number, all the items below it will be deleted. If you only want to delete a single copy, highlight the item level (where the barcode is).

Video Tutorials

SCP Section 8


Transferring Items


Discard Versus Delete


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