[Koha-bugs] [Bug 10421] Add cron script to delete deleted records

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.koha-community.org]

http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=10421

--- Comment #11 from David Cook <dcook at prosentient.com.au> ---
(In reply to Colin Campbell from comment #10)
> In the past I've come across sites whose databases included a fair propotion
> of records with deleted status in the header, often imported from some
> external source. I'm wondering why you would flag recs in the koha db as
> deleted rather than delete them straight out

I decided to do a quick web search on this topic and here is the first thing I
stumbled across:

"Whether you perform the conversion or we do, consider whether you wish to
retain MARC records carrying the delete flag ("d"  in Leader/05). You may need
to retain these for reporting purposes if your database is part of a union
catalog."

http://www.itsmarc.com/UpgradingFromITS.asp

I imagine that this might be the use case that Katrin was mentioning. 

-- 

Perhaps it would be an institutional policy for library techs to mark a record
as deleted but only "authorized" librarians are allowed to delete the record?

Sort of following along the lines of the ideas mentioned here:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/asktico/procedures/deletion-bibliographic-record

--

In the MARC Authority record context, there are actually several different
"deleted" flags such as "s" and "x" which have different reasons attached to
them. 

http://www.loc.gov/marc/authority/adleader.html

d - Deleted
Used when neither code s nor code x is applicable, or when an organization
chooses not to use code s or x.
Some level of manual intervention may be needed to effect the change in
bibliographic records because the deleted heading may or may not be carried as
a 4XX See From Tracing field in other authority records and a 682 field
explaining the delete may be present in the record marked for deletion.

s - Deleted; heading split into two or more headings
Record has been deleted from a file because the heading has been split into two
or more headings, requiring a new authority record for each. The heading from
the deleted record is included in each of the new authority records as a
tracing in a 4XX See From Tracing field. This specialized delete value supports
use of automated systems to carry out any necessary reviews, since when a
heading is split, a computer cannot automatically replace the old heading in
bibliographic records.

x - Deleted; heading replaced by another heading
Record has been deleted from a file and that a new authority record in which
the heading from the deleted record appears as a 4XX See From Tracing field has
been added to the file. (In a system where authority control is linked to the
bibliographic file, a computer can effect the one-to-one replacement indicated
by code x without manual intervention.)

Apparently there is also a code "o" for obsolete but not deleted.

http://www.itsmarc.com/crs/mergedProjects/helpauth/helpauth/idh_leader_05_auth.htm

A person can also use the 682 to provide a reason apparently. 

http://www.loc.gov/marc/authority/ad682.html


Admittedly, the Authority context might not be relevant to this discussion
because it talks about automatic/manual updating of Bibliographic records. But
if you're deleting Bibliographic records...you wouldn't need to worry about a
trickle down effect (except in the case where its linked to another using 7xx
linking fields, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms).

--

In the end...I wonder if it's best to:

1) Not display "deleted" records in the OPAC
2) Have a label saying "deleted" in the staff client
3) Perhaps have a cronjob to clean out "d" records, but only at the behest of a
library administrator. It seems that having this cronjob active by default
might cause issues if only at a policy level (which is an extremely important
level in libraries)

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