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Delete issues copies

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Discover how to delete issues copies in OLIB.

Overview

Once the bound volume has been created the individual copies of issues no longer exist separately and so should be deleted. There are a number of possible options for this process:

  • Use the Titles for Auto-Deletion folder to delete discarded issues in large batches. (Note that this folder is restricted to the System Administrator by default and they must use the permissions system to enable this function for other users). This is the recommended procedure for bulk deletion.
  • Use the Number to Retain field where you can specify how many received issues of an individual journal should be in existence at any one time. This field is displayed as standard on the Management sheet of the General - Serials Layout and on the Serial Copy record, so that different copies of the same journal (e.g. held at different locations) can operate their own holding periods.
  • In the Title domain run a Serial Issues by Serial title search. Select the issues titles for deletion and delete the titles and copies together using the action Delete Titles. Please note that many libraries disable this method due to the ease of deleting items by mistake.
  • Run a Serial Issues by Serial title search and delete the copies from each title individually, then delete the titles using the Delete Record option.
  • It is also possible to simply delete the copies. This will have the effect of making the issue titles not display in the OPAC. This can be carried out by running a Copies of a Title search. If the Concat. Title option has been used – this can be a search by Journal Title – if not then search under the Vol number – e.g. Vol 54.
  • An Action available on the Management page of the Journal Title allows you to delete issues from a certain point.

What happens to journal articles?

If a journal title or an issue of a journal is deleted, the details from the articles that have been abstracted from the journal still remain in OLIB. A free-text field - Source exists in the article record. OLIB populates this field automatically with the source journal and issue details if the parent journal and/or the issue are deleted. The contents of this field will be used whenever OLIB displays the article's source, e.g. on the article details screen in the OPAC or when the parent journal/issue details are included in an output format - e.g. for bulletins or SDI alerts and so on. 

Titles for Auto-Deletion folder

  1. In Titles use the Serial Issues by Serial Title option.
  2. Search for the Journal Title and select the issues to be deleted.
  3. Click Add to Folder.
  4. When the list of folders is displayed, choose the folder Titles for auto-deletion and click OK.

The contents of the folder will be deleted automatically by the overnight Daystart process – and so the folder will be empty by the next day.

View the Titles for Auto-Deletion Folder by searching in the Folders section of the Menu if you have been given permission to use it.

Number to Retain field

The Number to Retain field is a numeric field where you can specify how many received issues of that journal should be in existence at any one time.

Delete copies and titles individually

  1. Using the Serial Issues by Serial title search, find the Title and select the first issue to be deleted.
  2. Click the issue to display the details view.
  3. Click on the copy record and use Delete Record. A confirmation message will be displayed.
  4. Return to the hitlist and repeat the process for the other issues. Once all the copies have been deleted, select all the issues and delete using Delete Record.

Delete copies only

  1. In this case go to Serial Copies and search using Serial Copies by Serial Title.
  2. Select the copy to be deleted and use Delete Record.

 Note: This method has the risk of inadvertently deleting the wrong copy if more than one journal has the same issue title.

Delete using actions in the Management tab

  1. Search for the Serial Title and display the Management tab.
  2. In the list of Issues when you select an issue there are options for issue deletion:
    • Delete from here onwards
    • Delete from here backwards
    • Delete selected issue titles

These can be used to delete issues from a certain point.