Jennifer,
I also work in a small academic library, and I was initially surprised
that bib records were just being flagged as deleted. Like you, I
soon understood how important that feature is for consortiums, as well
as others. I think with time, academic libraries using EG can come up
with ideas for new features or workflows that might work better for
small/academic library needs, yet not getting in the way of the
requirements of large libraries. I also agree with you that with
deleting bibs, this is something that might best work as a batch
process run that can only be run by a trusted employee, since if done
incorrectly the effects would be huge.
To those reading along, here is the wiki page for the Evergreen for
Academics for those that have not seen it.
http://wiki.evergreen-ils.org/doku.php?id=evergreen_for_academics
Jennifer's library has contributed to this group already, and we are
planning our next meeting in late September. This group can use more
volunteers to come up with, when applicable, customized workflows,
code, or configurations for the use in academics libraries. Then
again, I expect we might come up with ideas that might be useful for
any EG library or consortium.
Thanks,
Yamil
On Fri, Aug 7, 2015 at 10:34 AM, Walz, Jennifer jlw...@asbury.edu wrote:
Martha,
Thank you for an example. I should try to give more myself. :-)
But there is a bit of a flaw of logic in what you are stating - at least
from our perspective. For almost ALL items we delete, we do check the circ
history first. MOST items we do delete are items that have NOT circulated.
Ergo, they will not have any data in the circ table. Or should not. Also,
we do not care about historical data really longer than about 1 year ago.
Maybe 2 years at best. And certainly not for items we have deleted.
Because we have deleted them with purpose, we don't need them to still be
hanging around in the background cluttering up the data for actual, real,
current, on-the-shelf books. It now really bugs me that deleted items are
messing up my stats about circulation as well.
In the case of lost, damaged or really old books, if they are deleted, I
don't care how they circulated prior to deletion. They were well used
obviously, but it is of no concern after it is removed.
However, I DO see these concerns are real for other situations. We don't
want to impose our concerns over those of others. That is why I think it
would be good to have an OPTION to fully and completely delete records with
impunity. It could even be something that is done in batches AFTER all
stats and data have been retrieved that is needed.That way, you can be
sure to have full knowledge of what you are doing, but in the end, your
system is cleaned of all the drek.
Here is an example that just presented itself where I would be very
concerned if all the data hung around our system for all eternity. We have
just now completed entering in items to a collection of materials that
might be considered on any other campus to be a department library. We are
doing this as an experiment and don't know how long it will last. We did it
out of courtesy to another academic department on campus. They house the
materials in another building that only their students use. Most of their
materials are pamphlets or flyers or other things of that kind.But when
they decide that they don't want to use our catalog any more, or want to get
rid of all or most of their items, then what? They will still all be
hanging around in the background forever?They will count in our
circulation stats?I'd rather not.If they get removed, I'd like them
to be removed completely and permanently. Never to be seen or heard from
again.
Thanks!
Jennifer
--
Jennifer Walz, MLS - Head of ILS Confundity
Kinlaw Library - Asbury University
One Macklem Drive, Wilmore, KY 40390
859-858-3511 ext. 2269
jlw...@asbury.edu
-Original Message-
From: Open-ils-general
[mailto:open-ils-general-boun...@list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of
Martha Driscoll
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2015 11:15 AM
To: open-ils-general@list.georgialibraries.org
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Deleting Patron Accounts - AND books?
Hi Jennifer,
The way the system is currently designed, the expectation is that the copy
data will be available even if the people want to delete a record.
The circulation tables records each circulation transaction. That table is
used in reports that need to count circulation statistics. The table does
not record specific information about the copy that was circulated, but it
does point back to the specific copy.
Let's say a professor wants to know how the eastern religion books circulated
over the last 5 years. Maybe the college put some money into that program
and bought a lot of material.
