diff --git a/pipeline/instance.py b/pipeline/instance.py
index a86fc900..aed3fd4f 100644
--- a/pipeline/instance.py
+++ b/pipeline/instance.py
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ def _build_multi_instance_links(self, instanceReferenceList:List) -> str:
 
     def _build_instance_library_link(self, instanceReferenceList:List[Dict]) -> str:
         # this function assumes that all instances in list have the same type
+        if "@id" not in instanceReferenceList[0]:
+            raise ValueError(f"Was not able to find id of instance {json.dumps(instanceReferenceList[0], indent=2)}")
         instance_example_id = instanceReferenceList[0]["@id"]
         instance_example_type = instance_example_id.split("/")[4]
         instance_type_plural = self._build_plurals(instance_example_type)