ARN Routines

Browse, correct, merge, and remove authority records — the names, subjects, series, and publishers that your catalogue is built on.

ARN Routines give you direct control over the Authority File — the shared pool of standardised names and terms that cataloguing records reference. When an author's name is misspelled, when two slightly different versions of a subject heading have crept in, or when a publisher's name has changed, ARN maintenance lets you fix the authority record once and push the correction out to every BRN that references it in a single operation. It is one of the most powerful data-quality tools in Papyrus.

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What is an ARN?

An ARN (Authority Record Number) is a record in the Papyrus Authority File. Each ARN represents a single authorised form of a name or term — for example, the author Rowling, J.K., the subject heading South African History, or the series Harry Potter. BRNs (catalogue records) reference ARNs rather than storing the text directly, so when an ARN is corrected, the change flows automatically to all the catalogue records that use it.

The Authority File is divided into seven types:

ARN Type code	Type name	Examples
`PERS`	Persons	Authors, illustrators, editors — individual people.
`SUBJ`	Subjects	Subject headings and topic terms.
`SERI`	Series	Named series (e.g. Alex Rider, Harry Potter).
`KEYW`	Keywords	Free-form keywords used in OPAC searching.
`PUBL`	Publisher	Publisher names (e.g. Penguin Books, HarperCollins).
`TITL`	Uniform Title	Standardised titles used for works with multiple editions or translations.
`CORP`	Corporate Name	Organisations, institutions, government bodies.

Each ARN also stores its data as a set of MARC subfields — individual labelled components of the authority value. For a Person ARN, for example, subfield a might hold the given name and subfield b the surname. These subfields are what the catalogue tools read when building the ISBD string and search index.

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Maintain ARNs — browsing the authority list

Found at Routines → ARN Routines → Maintain ARNs. This is the first screen in a two-step workflow. It lets you browse the Authority File for a given type and select the ARN you want to work with.

Selecting an authority type

Choose one of the seven authority types from the Authority Type dropdown. The results grid updates immediately to show all ARNs of that type.

Filtering the list

Type into the Filter field to narrow the list to authorities whose value starts with the characters you enter. The grid refreshes as you type. This is useful when working within a large authority type such as Persons or Subjects.

Results grid

Column	Description
ARNType	The authority type code (e.g. `SERI`, `PERS`).
ARN	The ARN number — click this to open the authority record for editing on the detail screen.
ARNValue	The full authority text as it appears in the catalogue (e.g. Alex Rider ;, Rowling, J.K.).
BRNs	The count of BRNs (catalogue records) that currently reference this ARN. An ARN with a count of 0 has no BRNs linked to it and is a candidate for deletion.

Clicking an ARN number opens that authority record on the Maintain ARN detail screen in a new tab, described in the next section.

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ARNs with 0 BRNs. These are orphaned authority records — they exist in the Authority File but are not referenced by any catalogue record. They can safely be deleted from the detail screen to keep the Authority File tidy.

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Maintain ARN — editing an authority record

This is the detail screen, opened by clicking an ARN number from the browse list. It shows the full authority record and provides all the tools needed to correct, merge, or remove it.

Header fields

The top section shows three read-only fields identifying the record you are working with:

Field	Description
Authority Type	The type code and its description — e.g. `PERS` / Person.
ARN	The unique ARN number for this record.
Value	The full authority text as it currently appears in catalogue records — e.g. J.K., Rowling.

ARN record — MARC subfields

Below the header is the ARN record grid, which shows the individual MARC subfields that make up this authority record. Each row in the grid is one subfield:

Column	Description
MARC Item	The single-letter subfield code (e.g. `a` for the first name component, `b` for the second).
Authority Value	The text of this subfield (e.g. J.K. for subfield `a`, Rowling for subfield `b`).
Edit / Delete links	Edit changes the subfield value in place. Delete removes that subfield from the record.

A blank row at the bottom of the grid has an Insert button for adding a new subfield to the record.

Linked BRNs

At the bottom of the screen is a grid listing every BRN that references this ARN, showing: BRN (links to EasyCAT in a new tab), PubType, ISBD, Last User, and Cat Date. This gives you full visibility of the impact before making any changes.

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Actions on an ARN

Four action buttons appear between the MARC subfield grid and the linked BRNs list. Each requires confirmation before proceeding.

Update all BRNs

Propagates the corrected authority record out to every BRN that references this ARN. This is the standard action after editing a subfield value — the correction flows automatically to all the linked catalogue records. Confirmation prompt: "Are you sure you want to update all the BRNs with this ARN item?"

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Always run Update all BRNs after editing subfields. Editing a subfield on this screen changes the authority record in the Authority File, but the change does not reach the individual BRNs until you click Update all BRNs. Until then, a BRN may still show the old text.

DELETE this ARN

Removes the authority record from the Authority File only. The linked BRNs are not changed — they retain whatever text was catalogued against them. Note: if you subsequently run Update BRNs (from BRN Routines), the Authority File will regenerate this ARN from the catalogue data, so this delete can effectively be undone by a re-index. Confirmation prompt shown before proceeding.

MERGE into [another ARN]

Merges this ARN into a different ARN that you specify. Type or scan the target ARN number into the field next to the Merge button — autocomplete is available within the same authority type. On confirmation, all BRNs currently referencing this ARN are updated to reference the target ARN instead, and this ARN record is deleted. Use this to consolidate duplicate authority entries — for example, merging Rowling, J.K. and J.K. Rowling into a single authorised form.

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Merge is irreversible. Once merged, the source ARN is deleted and all its BRNs point to the target ARN. Check the linked BRNs grid and the target ARN carefully before confirming.

DELETE and REMOVE

The most destructive action. This deletes the authority record and removes every cataloguing entry for this ARN from all linked BRNs — meaning the author, subject, series, or publisher field is blanked out of every catalogue record that referenced it. The button is marked in red on screen and carries the warning: "Use with caution!"

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DELETE and REMOVE cannot be undone. This permanently strips the authority entry from every linked BRN. Only use this when you are certain the authority term should be removed from all catalogue records entirely — for example, removing a subject heading that was added in error across a batch of records.

Summary of actions

Action	Effect on Authority File	Effect on linked BRNs	Reversible?
Update all BRNs	No change — pushes existing record to BRNs.	Updated with the corrected authority text.	Yes — edit and re-run.
DELETE this ARN	ARN record deleted.	No change — BRNs retain their current text.	Effectively yes — re-indexing recreates it.
MERGE into	This ARN deleted; BRNs transferred to target ARN.	Updated to reference the target ARN.	No.
DELETE and REMOVE	ARN record deleted.	The authority entry is blanked out of every linked BRN.	No.

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When to use ARN maintenance

ARN maintenance is most valuable in the following situations:

Situation	Recommended action
An author's name is misspelled consistently across many records.	Find the ARN for that author in Maintain ARNs (PERS type), correct the subfield value, then click Update all BRNs. All linked records are corrected in one step.
Two slightly different versions of the same author name exist (e.g. Rowling, J.K. and J.K. Rowling).	Open one ARN and use MERGE into to merge it into the preferred form. All records consolidate onto the authorised heading.
A subject heading was applied incorrectly to a batch of records during an import.	Find the ARN, review the linked BRNs to confirm the scope, then use DELETE and REMOVE if the heading should be removed entirely, or correct and re-apply with Update all BRNs if it should be amended.
The Authority File has grown cluttered with ARNs that are no longer linked to any BRNs.	Filter the browse list for each authority type and look for entries showing BRNs = 0. Open each and use DELETE this ARN to remove the orphaned record.
OPAC searches by author, subject, or series are returning incomplete or incorrect results.	After correcting the relevant ARNs and running Update all BRNs, also run Update ARNs from BRN Routines to rebuild the search cross-references.

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ARN maintenance and re-indexing work together. For best results, after any significant ARN maintenance session, run Update BRNs and Update ARNs (found under BRN Routines → Update BRNs & ARNs) to ensure all search indexes are fully rebuilt.