Justification

This policy provides guidance on the use of import profile settings that handle bibliographic and electronic inventory deletion. This guidance is provided due to the necessity of preserving bibliographic records in the Network Zone.

Policy

Network Zone bibliographic record deletion is restricted to those staff members who have access to the Alliance’s Network Zone Alma account. Alma import profiles configured to use the Network Zone present member staff with the ability to delete bibliographic records (on the Match Profile tab) and electronic portfolios (on the inventory tab when “Electronic” or “Mixed” inventory type is selected) when records that are marked for deletion in the incoming file.

When creating import profiles:

• Do not select the “Allow bibliographic record deletion” option (Match Profile tab under “Match Actions”) for imports of physical inventory or no inventory.
• It is permitted to select the “Allow bibliographic record deletion” option for imports of electronic inventory, if you wish to use the profile to delete portfolios the ebook vendor has marked for deletion. If you use this setting:
  • Note that not all vendors provide reliable delete files, so check to make sure you trust the data before using this setting.
  • Choosing to “delete the bib record” via this configuration option will actually unlink your institution’s bib from the NZ before deleting it, so it’s safe to use.

When loading portfolios to an electronic collection: in the Electronic Service Editor’s Load Portfolios interface, you may select “Delete bibliographic record(s)” under the “Delete portfolios” option. This option now behaves consistently with import profiles: the bib record is unlinked from the NZ before it is deleted.

Background

Software: Alma

Status: Approved

Written by: Collaborative Technical Services Team

Approved by: Collaborative Technical Services Team on 6/10/2014

Last updated: 12/2/2021

Nature of last update: major revision to reflect improved Alma functionality