Student Training

AML Weeding Manual

The Library Director makes the final decision on whether to Weed or NOT to Weed. For items that will be weeded, the Director indicates where the weeded items should be placed after the whole weeding process is completed.

This process may change slightly depending on the weeding policy for that collection and you may get a special instruction from the director as well.

Batch Weeding Selection

Professional Librarian: Selecting Titles for Batch Weeding and Reconsideration

Donna is going to write instruction…

If you see an item that you think should be weeded from our collection, please fill a Weeding Form and submit the item and the form to Director for weeding consideration. Make sure that you change the item status to Weeding /WE!

1. To run report that retrieves items with weeding status (WE) in Cataloging.

a. Run the General Retrieval Form (ret-adm-01) in Cataloging.

b. For Output File, type in a file name beginning with ndv, followed by an underscore, followed by weeding and a designation for the date (for instance, weeding0313 for March 2013), followed by another underscore, and ending with your initials. The name must have no capital letters and no spaces.

   Note: Copy down this file name to refer to it later.

c. For the first Retrieve by, select Item process St.

d. Below that selection, type in WE.

e. If you need to find weeded records within a particular collection, go to the next Retrieve by section, select Item Collection, and below that selection type in the collection code.

f. For Report Format, select the first choice (it begins with DOC No”). Leave everything else as selected or blank. Click Submit.

   Note: The number of items with (WE) status and the actual number of items on the Weeding cart should match. Confirm this by going to File List in the Admin Tab, opening the report that you saved with the Print Configuration set to Preview, and copy the sheet of results to an Excel file and get the count of items on the list. If the numbers don’t match, consult with the staff who did the Pre-Weeding Verification.

2. Creating report of raw list of items

This report is labeled “Deleted Items Report”, but at this point they aren’t being deleted yet (because Update Database isn’t selected). You will run the report again to actually delete the items and records, but first, you will need to check which bib records will be deleted.

Wait a minute for this report to run, then run Delete Item Records (item-11) from the Items services in either Cataloging or Circulation.

a. For Input File Name, type or paste the output file name that was generated by the General Retrieval Form (ret-adm-01) report (see To run report that retrieves items with weeding status (WE) in Cataloging).

b. For Items Report File Name, paste in the same name, add another underscore and the word report before your initials (see above).

c. Do the same, except with the word notices, for Notices File Name.

d. For Update Database, select no.

e. For Record Management, make sure that None is selected.

f. Make sure that Add to History is selected. Click submit.

g. In the Admin tab, keep refreshing until this report shows up. When it shows up (it should be the report that has the name ending in _deleted), open it

h. Copy this report, and paste it into a spreadsheet in Excel.

i. Rename the sheet as “Raw List”, and save the file as “rawlist_mmddyy_(your initials)”.

3. Selecting items to delete.

Still working with the RawList_Date file, you will now create another sheet that only has items to be deleted manually (in the next step).

a. Select all of the columns of data, and use the Filter option (found under the Data menu) to only show the items with Last Item equal to No.

b. Copy all of the items that are shown, along with the headers, and in a new sheet on the same file, paste.

c. Rename this sheet as “Delete Items”.

d. Go back to the “Raw List” sheet and undo the filters.

e. Create a new Excel file, and copy the “Delete Items” spreadsheet into it. Save the file as “deleteitems_mmddyy_(your initials)”.

4. Manually deleting item records

Using the “deleteitems_mmddyy” spreadsheet as a checklist, you will be deleting items in the Cataloging module.

a. Go to the Cataloging module, and search each bib record by Doc Number (enter in this number in the upper left search box on the Cataloging module, after selecting ADM Sys No.)

b. Only delete the Items with Weeding status. If all of the items are on Weeding status, make sure you leave one item in the bib record.

5. Second Test Report for Delete Item Records

After you received a confirmation that all items (with No entries) are deleted from previous step, you should run the second test report. (Note: if none of the items had No in the Last Item field, then you may bypass this step.) This also requires a new general retrieval report. Follow these steps:

a. Go to General Retrieval Form (ret-adm-01) from the Items services in either Cataloging or Circulation.

b. Click View History and load the option at the top (the previous one that you ran) and click Open.

c. All of the settings should remain the same this time. Click the Submit button.

d. Go to Delete Item Records (item-11) from the Items services in either Cataloging or Circulation.

e. Click View History and load the option at the top (the previous one that you ran) and click Open.

f. All of the settings should remain the same this time. Click the Submit button.

g. Wait a minute for the report to run, then view the report. Check to make sure that the Last Item column reads Yes for every entry. If they all do, then continue to the next step.

h. If there are some that still read No, then you will need to go back and delete them manually. After you are finished, run yet another test report until every Last Item equals Yes.

6. Importing the Delete Item Records data

In this step, you will be creating a new spreadsheet based on the recent Test Report (step4); the purpose of this is to get the OCLC numbers of which you will later be deleting the holdings.

a. Select the “View Raw XML” option under Print Configuration (in the lower left corner of the Task Manager). Wait until the report you saved shows up. Click Print, and a text file shows up. Go to Save As, and make sure to save it with an .xml ending.

   Note: Change the “View Raw XML” selection back to Preview.

b. Then, start Excel and open the xml file that you saved, following these steps to get the xml file into a spreadsheet:

i. When prompted, select the “Use the XML Source task pane”, click OK

   Then click OK again when an additional message box comes up.

ii. On the right side of the Excel screen, an XML Source box is displayed, with the XML fields contained in the report. These fields can be dragged to the Excel spreadsheet. Select the following fields:

   * z30-barcode

   * z13u-user-defined-6 (this has the OCLC number)

   * z13-title

and drag them all to the upper left corner cell of the spreadsheet.

The fields should show up; the data will not show up just yet.

iii.      To open the data, right click in the first box, find the XML menu and  select import. Find the same XML file again and open it.  This loads all of the data from the report into the spreadsheet.

iv.       Name the spreadsheet as “Records to Delete.”

c. Save the file as weededrecords_mmddyy_(your initials)in the X:\institution\Offices\Library\Technical Services\Weeding\Weeded Records folder.

7. Deleting in Aleph Cataloging.

This service deletes all of the weeded items, as well as the holding records and bib records.

a. Go back to Cataloging and run Item Records (item-11) again. Click View History and load the option at the top (the previous one that you ran) and click Open. You will need to make just two changes:

b. Change Update Database to yes

c. Change Record Management to Delete.

d. Finally, click the Submit button.

e. Wait a moment for the report to run, then view the report (again, ending in _deleted). Check to make sure that the HOL Delete and BIB Delete columns have Yes for all records.

8. Deleting Bib-record Holdings in OCLC Connexion

Open / go to the weededrecords_date spreadsheet, make sure that you are in the Records to Delete sheet, and copy the numbers in the OCLC number column (z13u-user-defined-6) and paste them into a new spreadsheet to clean them up prior to uploading in Connexion.

a. First, select all and go to Text to Column in the Data menu

b. Then select Delimited option in Convert Text to Columns window.

c. Then select Next and then check Space delimiter and then click Finish.

d. Delete any duplicate OCLC numbers and remove text strings. You can do text string easily by going to Find and Replace.

e. Make sure all OCLC numbers in Column A and you should have OCLC numbers in number format.

f. Name the spreadsheet as “OCLC Number” and save the file.

g. Then, go into OCLC Connexion, go to the Batch menu and the Holdings by OCLC Number selection.

h. Paste in the numbers, select Delete Holdings

i. Click ok. This will delete their holdings from OCLC.

j. Check mark: Make sure that the number of records here matches the number of records deleted in Aleph in the previous step.

This is the checkpoint for the cataloger to ensure that all items with WE status, bibrecords and holdings are deleted properly in Aleph Cataloging and OCLC Connexion. See intsruction below for detailed information.

1. Checking Deleted Holdings in OCLC Connexion

a. Run OCLC batch searching for the deleted records:

b. From the “OCLC Number” spreadsheet, copy all the nubmers.

c. Open Notepad and paste them in, then save it as a text file.

d. Again, go into OCLC Connexion Client; in the Batch menu, select Enter Bibliographic Search Keys.

e. For the Use default index menu, choose OCLC Number (no:)

f. Click Import, select the text file, and Open. You will be asked if you want to delete the old file; for now, don’t delete it.

g. Click the Save and then Close button.

h. Next, from the Batch menu, select Process Batch.

i. Check the DefaultBib.bib.db and the Online Searches check boxes, then click OK. This runs a search for these bib records.

j. When this is complete, go to Cataloging/Search/Local Save File from the menus. You can then just click OK.On the list that comes up, find the newest set of records; these are the weeded ones. If none of them have “Held” show up in the Held column, then they have been completely deleted from OCLC. Delete them from the Save File List.

k. If there some that have HELD status, revise the weeding process and fix the error.

2. Rechecking WE status items that are deleted in Aleph Cataloging

a. Run the General Retrieval Form (ret-adm-01).

If all items were deleted successfully there would be no item records with WE status at this point.

b. If there are items with WE statuses, revise the weeding process and fix the errors.

3. Checking if any bib records have no item. 

a. Open the last of the Delete Item Records (item-11) reports (step4 of Procedure for Batch Weeding Records), and copy/paste it into a new spreadsheet.

b. Copy the numbers in the Doc Numbers column.

c. Open the rawlist_mmddyy file (step2 of Procedure for Batch Weeding Records)

d. In the column directly to the right of the data, paste the numbers.

e. In the next column to the right, in the row of the first item, enter in the following formula:       =ISNA(MATCH(A2,L$2:L$199,FALSE)) ; change A2 to the cell of the first item’s doc number, and change the L$6:L199 range to the range of the numbers pasted in d. See below for an example of how it should look.

f. Copy this cell; select every cell in for every row of data, and paste. This copies the formula for every item.

g. For every item that shows a TRUE in this column, this means that the doc number was not one of the ones on the final list. This could mean that the remaining items are ones that were meant to be kept, or it could mean that every item was deleted before the final delete service was run(meaning that the bib record is remaining with no items). The latter situation is one that we strongly want to avoid, so you will need to check all of the bib records with TRUE just to make sure that they have remaining items.

h. Use the Doc number to search in the Cataloging Module.

i. If a bib record still has items, continue on to the next Doc number.

ii.If a bib record has no items, then you will need to manually delete the bib record. Before doing so, make sure to get the OCLC number in the MARC record and delete holdings in OCLC.

This is process is to ensure that all items status were changed to WE and deleted successfully in Aleph. It is also the third and last checkpoint where you can catch errors during the weeding process. 

1. In Aleph Circulation, scan in the item barcode in the Item tab.

a. If item record displays and the barcode matches, note the error on the LIBRARY ITEM ROUTING FORM and return the item and form to the Cataloger.

b. If item record does NOT display, proceed to next item.

   SPECIAL NOTE: After the books/items are weeded we offer them to our library staff, patron & recycling agencies. Try your best not to damage the books/items during the physical weeding process!

If the weeded item has a reusable cover, case or box, consult with the Systems Specialist t.

1. Peel off the DUE DATE carefully – try not to damage the book or items!

2. Stamp WITHDRAWN on the cover with red ink (for hardcover books, instead stamp on the title page).

3. Cross the barcode & call number on the spine with a black marker.

4. Cross out the VCSU red stamps on the edges of the book with a black marker.

5. Send the items to the BetterWorldBook Search step (see “BetterWorldBooks” ISBN Scanning) .

“BetterWorldBooks” ISBN Scanning

You will be searching the items that were withdrawn.

1. Go to BetterWorldBooks website and log on at http://rufis.betterworldbooks.com/login.aspx

2. Then click on Prescreen Books button.

3. Scan or enter the ISBN and tag them with colored papers.

a. if Don’t Send It is the result, label a shelf with the tag “Don’t Send” and place the item on it.

b. if Send It is the result, put them in the BetterWorldBooks shipping boxes.

c. If you cannot find the ISBN on the book, go to http://www.betterworldbooks.com/ and search for the book by title and author. If it is being sold, put it in the BetterWorldBooks shipping box. If not, put it on the “Don’t Send” shelf.

4. Log out when finished.

5. Notify Library Office staff that you finished sorting the books. He or she is responsible for sorting which books will be sent to BetterWorldBooks and arranging UPS Pick up as well.

6. :) You have successfully completed weeding!