[Koha] MARC Communications Format Records

[Zeno Tajoli]

At 15.50 19/08/02 -0700, you wrote:

>  It looks like we will have
>to convert this alphanumeric value into an integer in order to use it as
>the biblionumber in Koha.  Can anyone suggest how we might load these
>records and convert the database control number?

Well, to modify MARC21 record a good tool is the Perl module 'MARC'.
Pay attention that it works with MARC21 record only in perfetct standard
ISO2709 (so no line-breaks for example).
A script to change field 001 into an integer value it can be so:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use MARC::Batch;
my $batch = MARC::Batch->new('USMARC','oder.dat');
open(OUT,'>newer.dat');
$i = 1;

while ( my $record = $batch->next() ) {
  ## look for the 001 field
  my $field_001 = $record->field('001');

  ## delete it
  $record->delete_field($field_001) if $field_001;
  
  ##write new 001
  $record->append_fields(
    MARC::Field->new('001',$i)
  );

  ## print out modified record
  print OUT $record->as_usmarc();

  ##Increment  $i of 1
  $i++;
}

Bye


Zeno Tajoli - Verona, Italy
Librarian and Software Developer