Eliminate duplicate records

Your database may contain several duplicates for the same resource. Duplicate resources can cause confusing search results, skew circulation statistics, and bloat your database.

With the Merge feature, you can add all the duplicate resources to a Resource List, select the best one, move all the items onto it, and delete the others.

The merge process affects your database in the following ways:

• It changes the association of items from one resource record to another. It does not merge or alter any information in the resource records.
• After merging the items onto one resource record, the process permanently deletes the other resource records.

To merge the items

To move the items onto the selected best resource record, follow these steps:

1. Add all of the duplicate records for a resource to your Resource List.
2. Select the Duplicated resource check box for those resources whose items you want to merge.
   To select them all, click Select Page at the bottom of the list.
3. After selecting all of the possible duplicates, select View these Duplicates from the I want to list and click Go!.
4. On the Possible Duplicates page that opens, evaluate the resource records to determine which one you want to retain. To help you in selecting the best record, click Details to view the record for each.
   
   If you determine that a particular resource is not a duplicate, click Remove to remove it from the Possible Duplicates list, but not from your Resource List.
5. Once you determine the best record, select its Best resource option to preserve it.
6. At the bottom of the list, click Merge.
   The process transfers all of the item records from all of the other resource records in the Possible Duplicates list onto the Best resource record. The process then automatically deletes the remaining (now item-less) resource records from your database.

This process leaves you with the one best resource record with all of the items attached to it.