Merge duplicate title records in a Resource List

Your collection may contain several title records for the same item. Duplicate titles can cause confusing search results, skew circulation statistics, and bloat your database.

With the Merge feature, you can add all the duplicate title records to a Resource List, select the best one, move all the copy records onto it, and delete the others.

Please remember that title records are shared throughout your district. When you select the best title and merge all the copies onto it, the process includes copies owned by all the libraries and schools in the district.

To merge the copies

To move the copies onto the selected best title record, follow these steps:

1. Add all of the possible duplicates to a Resource List.
2. Select the Duplicated title check box for those titles whose copies you may want to merge.
   To select them all, click Select Page at the bottom of the list.
3. After selecting all of the possible duplicates, select View these Duplicates from the I want to list and click Go!.
4. On the Possible Duplicates page that opens, evaluate the title records to determine which one you want to retain. To help you in selecting the best record, click Details to review the record for each.
5. If you determine that a particular title is not a duplicate, click Remove to remove it from the Possible Duplicates list—but not from your Resource List.
6. Once you determine the best record, select its Best title option to preserve it.
7. At the bottom of the list, click Merge.

Destiny transfers all of the copy records from all of the other title records in the Possible Duplicates list onto the best title record. Destiny then automatically deletes the remaining (now copy-less) title records from your collection.

This process leaves you with the one best title record with all of the copies attached to it. The copy records retain any checkout information, fines, holds, or reserves that they had before the merge.

Record changes

The merge process affects your collection in the following ways:

Library and district media titles

Any local tags in the other title records are added to the Best title. If any of these additions are duplicates of those already in the best title, the fields are merged. This includes the following:

• 521
• 526
• 590-599
• 658
• 690-699 (including site-specific subjects—those with Destiny® (<site ID>) in subfield _5)
• 790-799
• 856
• 900-939
• 941-999

Textbook titles

No information from the other title records are added to the Best title.

The best title retains any class or section associations and gains any associations the other title records had.