Agents

Deleting a duplicate agent

Sometimes an agent record has been made in error for the same person as a previous agent record. The duplicate should be deleted as soon as it is discovered. Usually the duplicate entry is newer, and has been used less often in Arctos records, but in some cases the older agent record may have less data and is chosen for deletion.

* Rename the ‘preferred name’ of the duplicate agent so that you can differentiate it from the correct agent. * Transfer any data fields only occurring in the duplicate from the duplicate to the correct agent (e.g., Wikidata URL, birth, death dates). * Edit all the specimen records in which the duplicate agent has been used and switch the data field (e.g., collector) from duplicate to the correct agent. * Finally, add a new ‘**bad duplicate of**’ relationship field to the duplicate agent record, pointing to the correct agent. You will need to also add a date, your agent name, and some text in the ‘method’ field. * Save the duplicate agent, and it should automatically disappear. Check by searching again on a name that previously returned both correct and duplicate agents.