[OAI-implementers] Question about deleted records

[Lisa M. Brooks]

Hi all -

Due to the help and support received from folks on this list, our data
provider has been up and running for several months with just one hiccup in
service. So, first: thanks!

Now I have a question about deleted records.  We started up our service
without any support for deleted records
(<deletedRecord>no</deletedRecord>).  However, I'm realizing that this was
short-sighted and now want to support deletions. But I'm a little confused
as to how to proceed.

We are an archive of research listings. People who contribute to our archive
get a free account and log into that to add and subsequently maintain their
listings. They do have the ability to make a listing "unavailable". As well,
if there's a problem with a listing we can "unapprove" it. Either of these
actions takes the listing off-line.  When either action occurs, I plan to
update our data provider and swap out the record in question with a record
signifying a deletion which is essentially what either of these actions
translates into.

I understand that my choices are persistent
<deletedRecord>persistent</deletedRecord>, or transient
<deletedRecord>transient</deletedRecord>. I'd like to go with persistent,
but does that mean that I have to maintain a record of every single time
someone makes their record unavailable and then makes it available again in
our database (this doesnt' happen a ton, but does happen often enough to be
a concern)?  Also I'm not finding anything online letting me know what data
is needed to show all of these records deletions -- how would I get that
info to any of our harvesters?

I just switched us from "no" to "transient" which seems a little less, well,
daunting. So we start deletions tonight. But would like some clarification
re: exactly what the technical requirements are to share our data through
persistent data provider.

Any insight, ideas, help -- much appreciated!
~Lisa

Lisa M. Brooks
IssueLab: bringing nonprofit research into focus - http://www.issuelab.org
lisa at issuelab.org
773-649-1790
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