Home → Libraries Migrating into NC Cardinal → After the Migration → Merging Records
6.1. Merging Records
Last Updated 11/13/2023
Why you might need to merge records
Most of your catalog records will be merged with existing records for the same items that exist in the NC Cardinal catalog at the time of your migration. However, this automated process relies on a few specific indicators within the MARC records, and if the database is not able to confirm a record is a duplicate of an existing record, it will not merge it. A handful of records always require human review after the migration is complete.
Identifying duplicates from the Hold Pull list
After migration, your hold pull list is a good place to start looking for potential bibliographic record merges. Sometimes, even though you are not yet resource sharing, a request from a patron at another NC Cardinal library will show up on your list because you have the only copy in the system. Often, this is the result of duplicate bibliographic records. Other libraries own the same material, but your record for the item was not merged during migration. Somehow, the patron found your record when searching the catalog and placed a hold. Evergreen does not recognize that the hold could be filled by copies attached to the other record, so it sends the request to you because it calculates it as the best option. The solution, in this case, is to merge your record with the existing NC Cardinal record, which should migrate the hold request to a different copy with a higher likelihood of fulfillment.
When looking at your pull list, if you see items with "Potential Items" of 1 or 2 and a Pickup Library elsewhere, this is often an indication that your copy is a duplicate record of another copy in the catalog.
In the example above, The Princess Bride has 1 potential item. The pickup library is in a different system than the owning library.
Merge the Records
The first step of merging this record with one used for holdings of the same title at other libraries it to verify that it’s a duplicate record.
- Open the bibliographic record for the item by clicking on the barcode in the pull list.
- View the MARC record and locate the ISBN in the 020 field.
- Navigate to the catalog search and select the tab for Numeric Search.
- Search for the item by ISBN. Make sure you have scoped your search to the Cardinal level.
- If there is a duplicate record you can merge with, the search results should contain your local holding of the item and an entry for the more widely held record.
Note: For non-book records, utilize a different unique identifier, such as a UPC for DVDs and Blu-Rays.
After verifying that the records are duplicates, the next step is to merge them. To start the merging process from the catalog search results page:
- Check the boxes for each entry on the search results page. Doing this will add them to your basket at the top of the results page.
- From the Basket Actions menu, select Add Basket to Bucket.
- From the Cataloging menu, choose Record Buckets. Select your bucket from the drop-down list of buckets in the Bucket View.
- Check the boxes for both items you plan to merge from the bucket list.
- Select Merge Selected Records from the Actions menu.
- Compare the records and choose the more complete record of the two as your lead record by clicking the Use as Lead Record button above the MARC display. Click the Merge button.
Note: Keeping a bucket such as “Bibs to Merge” is recommended. Anytime you happen to find a duplicate, you can add it to the bucket, then regularly go into the bucket to complete the merging process for any materials you’ve found.
After merging, Evergreen will re-select the best copy to fulfill the requested hold because there are now other copies to choose from. The request should disappear from your pull list because copies from other libraries will register with a higher likelihood of fulfilling the hold.