How to locate duplicate patron records

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Article Type: General
Product: Aleph
Product Version: 20

Description:
We are finding cases of duplicate patron records in our system. Is there a way we can systematically check for such cases?

Resolution:
If the $usr_library tab100 has CHECK-UNIQUE-NAME-BIRTH=Y, then the check_z303 program will automatically check for duplicates, issuing the following message: "A user with the same name and birth date is already in the system" and preventing the duplicate from being created. See KB 8192-2109 for more on this message.

But if you have CHECK-UNIQUE-NAME-BIRTH=N (which is the default), then, though the system will prevent the addition of a barcode or any additional ID which already exists, it will not prevent the creation of the patron.

If you populate the z303_birth_date field, the check on unique name-birthdate should work well and we suggest setting CHECK-UNIQUE-NAME-BIRTH to "Y".

If you have CHECK-UNIQUE-NAME-BIRTH=N, you can check for duplicates with the following SQL:

SQL> set heading off
SQL> select substr (z303_name,1,80), z303_birth_date, z303_home_library, z303_rec_key from z303 where z303_rec_key in (select z303_rec_key from z303 where z303_name in (select z303_name from z303 group by z303_name having count(*) >1 ))
order by substr (z303_name,1,80);

You can create a file with patron record keys you want to delete and use it as input to p_cir_23.

Article last edited: 10/8/2013