Circulation Best Practice: Voyager Patron Record Purge

The CARLI Office strongly recommends that I-Share libraries should routinely delete obsolete patron records from their databases. I-Share libraries may use the Voyager Patron Record Purge process to remove sensitive data for patrons who are no longer affiliated with their libraries. Besides removing personal information, deleting patron records keeps your patron database more up-to-date, which will help reduce effort in any future system migration.

Libraries may begin preparing for a patron purge by reviewing the Voyager Patron Record Purge for I-Share Libraries best practices document. This guide provides Access queries that help identify records for deletion, and it provides the steps for requesting and working through the purge job.

Many libraries have rarely, if ever, deleted old patron records. CARLI encourages you to begin thinking about patron cleanup for both current operations and future data migration.

As always, please share any questions with CARLI at support@carli.illinois.edu.