User Manual: CSV Importer: Formatting Records and Relationships

To create new Procedural (e.g. Objects, Loans, Acquisitions) records, follow the data formatting guidelines and then move to the instructions for using the CSV Importer webapp.

• Tip: If your new Procedural records also contain new Authority terms, we recommend importing the new Authority terms first, then importing the Procedural data. 

To update existing Procedural or Authority records, your spreadsheet only needs to contain the columns you plan to update. Fields that aren’t in your spreadsheet won’t be affected by the import. 

• Critical tip: If the data you’d like to update includes multi-valued fields, all existing values will be replaced by the data you import. To make sure you don’t delete existing values by mistake, we suggest first exporting the records you’d like to update via the Search Results Export feature, and then editing that CSV vs. creating one from scratch.

  • For example, if your existing record has colors Red and Blue, and in your spreadsheet you enter the value Green into the cell, after updating, your Color field will only include Green. If you want to keep Red and Blue and add Green, your Color cell needs to read: Red|Blue|Green.

• Critical Tip: We strongly recommend adding new terms to an authority before importing other records that use the term. The CSV Importer will generate a report that alerts you to the presence of any terms that don’t already exist, which you can then use to create an import CSV for those terms. If you import without creating the terms first, “refnames” for the new terms will be created when Procedural data is imported, but they will be stub records that don’t really exist until the Authority Term record is created, and may lead to mismatched data if the terms that are created after the fact have been changed at all from the initial import.

• To create relationships between procedures, use the “Non-Hierarchical Relationship” template in GitHub. 

  • Tip: Both sides of a relationship, i.e. both procedures, need to exist before you can add the relationship.

• Your spreadsheet needs to include the record type for both sides of the relationships and the ID number for both records, example below.

  • Tip: Proper formatting for all Record type names is in the GitHub template.

• To create hierarchical relationships between Authority Terms, use the “Authority Hierarchy Relationship” template in GitHub. 

  • Tip: Both sides of a relationship, i.e. both Authority Terms, need to exist before you can add the relationship.

• Your spreadsheet needs to include the Authority type and sub-type (e.g. for Concept, if the terms are in the Activity sub-Authority) for both sides of the relationships and the Display Name for both records, example below.

  • Tip: Proper formatting for all Authority type names is in the GitHub template.