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Union Site Record

In a Centralized Catalog, the Union Site is the default site record created by Alexandria. It’s not a normal, licensed site, and isn’t used for circulation. Instead, it’s meant to be a bit of a catch-all to help you maintain your libraries. The Union Site is where the default preferences for new sites are defined and where records with an undefined site can be assigned. 

Here are a few things you should know:

  • Patrons can be assigned to the Union Site but cannot check items out.
  • Items assigned to the Union Site cannot be checked out to a non-system patron.
  • When a site is removed, all of the associated records — items, patrons, bulletins, global Explore panes, etc. — are reassigned to the Union Site.
  • Item and patron records that are imported with a non-existent or invalid site code will be assigned to the Union Site.

In a well managed collection, the Union Site should only contain default preferences and site record data. It’s up to the librarian (or person with proper access) to reassign any items from the Union Site to a licensed site and maintain the preferences and other records that belong to it. We recommend only giving this privilege to administrators or other select individuals.

How do you use it?

When an item is assigned to the Union Site, it’s automatically checked out to the In Processing system patron. You can change it, but because these items aren’t meant to circulate, they can only be assigned to another system patron. Even if you manage to change it, any Union Site records assigned to a non-system patron will be reset to In Processing during daily operations.

Default Data

One of the primary purposes of the Union Site is to set up the default settings to be used when a new site is created. The settings can be modified in the new site, but this allows you to start with a few standard defaults.

  • Site record data
  • Preferences
  • Global Explore panes
  • Bulletin boards

Import, Reports, Utilities

Item and patron records that are imported with a non-existent or invalid site code will be assigned to the Union Site for processing later.

You can also select the Union Site to run reports and utilities, which will help you to identify and reassign any records improperly assigned during by a flawed import. Just be aware that utilities can only change records for the sites the operator has access to, so only operators with access to the Union Site can modify records associated with it.

Search Results

In Researcher — Search and Scout — you can click on the site name at the top of the window to change the site you’re searching in. The Union Site is not an option; however, when All Sites is selected, items assigned to the Union Site will be included in your search results. If you don’t want that to happen, there are two things you can do:

  1. In Preferences > Researcher > Auto-Hide, check Enable Auto-Hide to automatically hide any titles that aren’t in circulation.
  2. Make sure you’re logged in to the Union Site, then go to Items and check Don’t Show In Researcher on each record. Or, you can run the Hide Titles in Search utility to hide all or large groups of records at once.