Purging records is an irreversible process associated with weeding your catalogue to ensure your Infiniti library catalogue records accurately reflect the collection of items in your library.


Infiniti provides two weeding processes:

  1. Remove - is a special Infiniti status that allows you to prevent bibliographic records and holdings or copies records from appearing in normal Opac searches. Records with a status of Removed still exist but remain inactive in your catalogue. When students and teachers search your catalogue, items with a status of Removed will be excluded from the displayed search results. 
  2. Library staff can locate records with a status of Removed using ISBN or Copy barcode search options from the Cataloguing Search box only, and can manually reinstate and reactivate them if required. Historical loan records for items with a status of Removed are maintained and will be available for future statistical reporting.
  3. Purge - is an irreversible Infiniti process that allows you to permanently delete or expunge bibliographic records and/or holdings or copies records from your catalogue. 
  4. Purged records do not remain in your database. When students and teachers search your catalogue, purged items will not be located. Library managers cannot locate purged records and purged records cannot be reinstated or reactivated. 
  5. Historical loan statistics for purged items are also purged and therefore will not be included in statistical usage reporting.

Note:  We would advise that a safe process is to firstly Remove records, and only Purge those Removed records when it is certain that they will no longer be candidates for reinstatement.  

Items may be found by Last modified date for Removed status to be added to the Bulk update screen.


Our recommendation is that the on screen list of items to be purged is exported to a CSV file and kept as an audit of those resources being purged.


Please note: that retrieval of a database backup will incur a fee.


Prepare A Candidate List of Records To Purge


To remove or purge records you must firstly locate and identify one or more candidate records in your catalogue. There are several methods you can use to locate candidate records:

  1. Go to: Cataloging - search from here is ideal for removing single copies of items or a single bibliographic record which you can readily locate by barcode, ISBN, or title. Note: Purging bibliographic records automatically performs the same process on all copies attached to the bibliographic records.
  2. Go to: Cataloging > Bulk Update > Resources (Barcode) (or Multiple barcodes) - starting from here is ideal for removing multiple items which you can readily identify by barcode. Scan barcodes to build your list.
  3. Go to: Cataloging > Bulk Update > Resources (Search) - starting from here is ideal for removing multiple resources which you can readily locate. Use basic filters to build your list.
  4. Go to: Cataloging > Bulk Update > Bibliographic Records (ISBN) (or Multiple ISBNs) - starting from here is ideal for removing multiple items which you can readily identify by ISBN. Scan ISBNs to build your list.
  5. Go to: Reports > Catalogue > Bibliographic Records - starting from here is ideal for preparing a bibliographic catalogue report of multiple items which you can identify by searching and filtering records using multiple attributes. Once your list has been refined:
    1. to send it to bulk update by Bibliographic Records (ISBN).
      1.  - clear any records currently in bulk update and start a new list.
      2. - leave any records currently in bulk update and add to the list.
    2. Build a consolidated list in Bulk Update using different search parameters as required. Note: Purging a bibliographic record automatically purges all copies attached to the bibliographic record.
  6. Go to: Reports > Catalogue > Resources - starting from here is ideal for removing multiple items which you can readily identify by searching and filtering records using multiple attributes. Once your list has been refined:
    1. to send it to bulk update by Resources (Barcode).
      1.  - clear any records currently in bulk update and start a new list.
      2. - leave any records currently in bulk update and add to the list.
    2. Build a consolidated list in Bulk Update using different search parameters as required. Note: Processing (remove or purge) bibliographic records automatically performs the same process on all copies attached to the bibliographic records.


The Purge Process


Note: Prior to initiating a purge process a warning will be displayed informing you about the consequences of proceeding. You will be required to confirm your intention to proceed.


Purge Individual Copies

  1. Locate the bibliographic record using method 1 above.
  2.  - list all copies.
  3. Locate the individual record you want to purge.
  4.  - remove the unwanted copy.
  5.  - to commence the purge process.
  6. Read and acknowledge the warning by typing YES.
  7. .
  8. Repeat process to purge other copies.


Purge A Bibliographic Record And All Associated Copies

  1. Locate the bibliographic record using either method 1 above.
  2. - to purge the unwanted bibliographic record all attached copies.
  3.  - to commence the purge process.
  4. Read and acknowledge the warning by typing YES.
  5. - the bibliographic record and all associated copies will be purged.


Purge A Set Of Copy Records

  1. Locate the candidate copy records using either method 2 or 6 above. Note: Both methods can be used in sequence to aggregate a list.
  2. Choose.
  3. - to commence the purge process.
  4. Read and acknowledge the warning by typing YES.
  5. - all copy records will be purged.


Purge A Set Of Bibliographic Records

  1. Locate the candidate bibliographic records using either method 4 or 5 above. Note: Both methods can be used in sequence to aggregate a list.
  2. Choose.
  3. - to commence the purge process.
  4. Read and acknowledge the warning by typing YES.
  5. - all bibliographic and copy records will be purged.