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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Greetings All!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial> I'm a Librarian and a Library
Automation Consultant, and have been involved in library automation for 20 years
- since the earliest days of microcomputer applications for libraries. I have
been monitoring the listserv for a few days, and have become interested because
of my links with the supporters of Koha in my area. I am considering
getting a couple of clients to install the system here in Montreal.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial> I appreciate the comments I've seen on
this list regarding the need for a good acquisitions module to make Koha strong
against all competition. I agree, but not to the subordination of the
cataloguing functionality. We need to improve and perfect the acquisitions
function, but we must not neglect the provision of appropriate tools to create
records that meet the standard.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial> The standard for cataloguing - whether
we like it or not - is MARC (whichever version we should standardize on is a
question for another day) - and we need to be able to create entries in Koha
that will produce good MARC records for those we can't fetch from somewhere
else. I advise most librarians to use the internet and to fetch MARC
records from anywhere they can instead of creating them manually, and the z39.50
searching and fetching capability that I've noticed mentioned is a great tool to
have integrated in the system. Nevertheless, it does happen that there are
no valid records available for certain documents, and there is a need to be able
to catalogue them fully in the right structure. Also, it is necessary to
be able to edit the MARC record appropriately. Sometimes a librarian may be able
to take a record for a similar title and modify it so that it will be
appropriate for the new item.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial> To do that, the cataloguing module must
allow for the editing of all parts of the record - not a trivial matter for a
data structure with 1000 variable length fields, most of which may be
repeatable, and a maximum record size of 99999 bytes. (I have an article I
wrote for School Libraries in Canada called "Hitting the MARC" that discusses
the use of MARC as the data structure for library automation that may
help. Send me a message and I'll forward it back to you). It would be a
serious mistake to produce a system that doesn't allow for full record creation
and editing the MARC structure records. It is complex enough that I suspect it
should be a module of its' own.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial> Just my 2 cents worth! Looking forward
to some interesting discussions in the future.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Regards,<BR>Al Calame</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Management Consultant,<BR>Librarian-at-Large,<BR>Albert P.
Calame Consulting<BR>Montreal, Québec, Canada</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>514-745-3424<BR><A
href="mailto:albert.p.calame@sympatico.ca">albert.p.calame@sympatico.ca</A><BR></FONT></DIV>
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