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.

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. 

• Tip: If you have non-unique Authority Term Names, e.g. two John Smiths, the CSV Importer will match with the first term that it finds. Notes in the processing report will indicate that the term has more than one match, and provide the URI of the term the tool plans to use.

• 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: You must create authority terms in CollectionSpace before using those terms in other records. If you use a non-existent authority term in a record, the CSV Importer will report a processing error for the record and will not transfer that record to CollectionSpace if you complete the batch steps. If your batch contains terms that do not already exist in CollectionSpace, the processing step will generate a missing terms report listing unique instances of all missing terms. You can use the content of this report to generate import CSVs to create the missing terms.

• 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.