[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Deleted items in the system

[Jason Stephenson]

Quoting "Walz, Jennifer" <jlwalz at asbury.edu>:

> All -
>
> Ok.  A secondary question to my previous query.


> WHY do deleted items remain in the system?

Mainly for database integrity. The id numbers are referenced by past  
circulations and many other things, so deleting them without  
completely breaking things is very difficult.

>  And do they take up space on the server?

Yes. Anything stored in the database will take up space.

> Is there a way to purge them?     Is there a time frame that can be  
> set for them to disappear for good?

No and no, basically. You could actually remove them from the database  
if you are willing to purge historical and possibly current  
circulation data as well. This would require someone with a good  
knowledge of PostgreSQL and the database because you would need to  
disable a number of triggers and constraints in the database itself.  
You would also need to delete a number of related records also.


>
>   Why is it that we need to set a check box on all reports to  
> exclude them?   Seems to me that you would have that checked by  
> default and only UN-check it when you needed to see deleted items.    
> Is it backwards?

I can't answer that one, because I do not generally work with reports  
in the Evergreen staff client. I usually do my own queries with SQL in  
the database.



>
> Thanks!
>
> Jennifer
> --------------------------------------------------
> Jennifer Walz, MLS - ILS kook
> Kinlaw Library -  Asbury University
> One Macklem Drive, Wilmore, KY 40390
> 859-858-3511 ext. 2269
> jlwalz at asbury.edu


-- 
Jason Stephenson
Assistant Director for Technology Services
Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
1600 Osgood ST, Suite 2094
North Andover, MA 01845
Phone: 978-557-5891
Email: jstephenson at mvlc.org