Spring (Catalog) Cleaning

If you can find time, it feels great to do a little "spring cleaning" in your catalog system. 

Here are some steps for dealing with duplicate records.

First, create a private resource list called "Duplicates". 
This is handy for when you see duplicates as you're working on other things; you can add to the list and deal with them later.

Second, identify the duplicate titles in your collection.
Go to Catalog > Update Titles > Standard Numbers tab.

Catalog > Update Titles > Standard #s to find duplicate records

Select the numbers you want to see matches for and the report will gather a list of the records that have duplicated ISBN and other standard numbers.

View the report when it's complete (example below). You'll see the duplicate titles with links so you can view each of them. View and add each to your "Duplicates" resource list. (You'll see that some may not really be duplicates, such as a multi-volume set needing separate records for each volume).

Sample Report of Duplicates

Go to Resource Lists and view your "Duplicates" list. 
Select two or more titles that are the same and choose "I want to .... view duplicate titles". 

Select duplicate titles, then choose "I want to View these Duplicates"

On the next screen, look at each record and decide which is the best for you. *Consider reviews or digital resources added. Once you merge to the "best" one, all information from the other records will be gone!

Select the record you like the best and click "Merge".

Now you have only one record but the copies are still there (with their various call numbers if they were different). For example, I have some books in our Middle School section and also in our Teen section, so they have different call numbers, but now they have the same record. 

Ta-dah!

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