Update existing records in Athena

If you are unsure about these instructions, check the Athena documentation for assistance.

Athena has different procedures for adding new records and updating existing records. If these are brand new records that are not already in Athena, follow the Import New instructions.

Backup database

If your system is backed up regularly, you should not need to do an extra backup, but you need to make sure that you have access to the backup in case you need to start over.

Contact your IT department about how your system is backed up. If your system is not backed up regularly, see the Athena documentation about the backup procedure.

Update Instructions

  1. Start Athena
  2. Click the Menu tab and return to the Cataloging menu.
  3. Click Refresh Bibliographic Data.
    The Refresh Bibliographic Data window appears.
  4. Under Refresh to, select the correct collection.
    If you have records in multiple collections that were updated, you need to repeat these instructions for each collection. Refresh will only replace records with matching bar codes and will not affect records that are in other collections.
  5. Select the Match titles based on existing bar codes check box and click Yes.
  6. Click Refresh. A message about the refresh parameters appears. Click OK to close the message window.
    The Locate MARC Record Refresh File window appears.
  7. Browse your computer for the file of updated records you’d like to import, select it, and click the Open button.
  8. Click OK on the confirmation window to begin the refresh.
    Note: If the Refresh stops at 3) Checking Bibliographic Records, then the Refresh has not completed. Because the refresh function is specific to Athena, you need to contact their technical support for further help with getting your records into Athena.
  9. After the refresh has completed, the Refresh MARC Records window contains a summary of the refresh.
    • If you have your Import/Export parameters set to Accept copies for the following location only, Athena skips records from other locations and they will be counted as Skipped Records. See the Athena program help article titled After Importing, Transferring, or Refreshing for further information.
    • If the number of records refreshed was less than the total number of records, contact Athena technical support about the discrepancy.