Relationships are between Cataloged Items, and Cataloged items are often congruent with biological individuals. Thus, three values comprise a Relationship:
- a Cataloged Item
- a related Cataloged Item
- a type of relationship
Some relationships are completely reciprocal; e.g., “sibling of.” For other relationships, the reciprocal values are not equal; “parent of” and “offspring of.” In either case, the reciprocal relationships are not stored, but derived by the query interface from the type of relationship. Therefore, a Relationship need be entered only once; either member of the Relationship can be appropriately identified.
Relationship is the kind of relationship. The vocabulary is controlled by a code table.
Relationships are reciprocal, but only one relationship is required to represent the reciprocity.
Creating Relationships
In entering new specimen data, Relationships cannot be finalized until both items are in the database. Nevertheless, a prospective relationship can be entered if there is a definitive identifier for the forthcoming second item.
Relationships can be viewed and created in the Relationships tab in SpecimenDetail, or they can also be added in batches from the Enter Data -> Batch Tools ->Bulkload Relationships tab (http://arctos.database.museum/tools/BulkloadRelations.cfm).
The Relationships tab in SpecimenDetail has three functions: (1) You can see and edit existing relationships. (2) You can create a new relationship between the record you’re in and another existing record. (3) You can take the data from the record you’re in and insert it into the bulkloader as a new record with a chosen relationship.
The Relationships bulkloader is relatively self-explanatory. It processes a comma-delimited text file (.CSV) with nine columns, four of which specify a cataloged item, four of which specify a related item, and one of which specifies a Relationship Type. The first four columns must specify unique cataloged items.
