Merging authority records

You can merge authority records  to tidy up headings that have been created in error, or were created automatically by the old authorisor daemon. When one or more headings are merged, one is selected as the ‘Host’.  The other headings will be deleted, and any bibliographic records that contain those headings will be updated with the heading found in the ‘Host’ record.

Note

It is not advisable to perform large-scale updates when the library is busy.  There is a default limit of 1000 records, but this may be adjusted by setting an environment variable TAL_AUTH_REFS_LIMIT in the Talis Alto Configuration tool.

To merge headings

1. Perform an authority search for the headings you wish to merge.  

2. On the Results grid, check the checkbox to the left of each heading you wish to merge.  This will also update the References count with the accurate figure.

3. Highlight the heading you wish to retain.

4. Click the Host button.
   
   The row will change colour, to indicate that this row has been marked as the host.

5. Click the Merge button

• A message will be displayed, telling you how many bibliographic records will be updated, and asking you to confirm that you wish to continue.

• Alternatively, if there is a very large number of records to be updated, you may see a message warning you that this may affect system performance.

6. Click Yes.
   
   The merge will be submitted, and another message will confirm that this has happened.  At this point the checkboxes will be cleared.

Authority merge reports

Each time a merge is performed, a report will be produced.  This will be written to the Authority merge reports sub-folder of the Alto folder on the PC (normally C:\Program Files\Talis\Alto).  If required, the report may be written to a different location (for example, a shared drive) by setting the environment variable TAL_AUTHORITY_MERGE_REPORT in the Talis Alto Configuration tool.
 

Sample report