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Salve!<br>
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>I don't understand why people think Koha is somehow deficient in MARC<br>
>support. (Most of the "problems" I've seen are a result of not reading<br>
>the manual!) When I got my MLS, I was taught that MARC is a way to store,<br>
>retrieve and share records between libraries. I don't remember a single<br>
>word being said about how the records are displayed or manipulated by an<br>
>ILS. If you can save, edit, and search on all valid MARC fields, then you<br>
>have full MARC support. Since Koha can do exactly that when it's set up<br>
>properly (as well as importing and exporting MARC records), then Koha has<br>
>full MARC support. Period.<br>
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The 650 x problem is a big deal. Other than that, I agree. Now, if there is a way to make the subject subheadings play nice with their bigger brothers, let me know. I do like the keyword search - it blows other ILSs out of the water. Much of this falls under "save the time of the reader" to me.<br>
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>NPL has been using Koha for 29 months now, and we haven't had any unusual<br>
>problems with any of our MARC records. To imply that Koha is somehow<br>
>"MARC-deficient" may work in the hallowed halls of theory, but in the real<br>
>world of day-to-day library operations, it's just not true.<br>
><br>
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I generally tell people that most librarians wouldn't notice, and almost all users won't. To me, it boils down to this: I'm not paying for the fix, so if the fix comes slowly, great. As it is, the support with Koha is way better than commercial products. Frankly, and I know I'll get burned at the stake for this, Koha was really meant as a small to medium public library product in a nation that couldn't give a fig about MARC. Having perfect MARC compatibility is an academic or medium to large library problem. <br>
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>Someday soon, when all of the rest of the world is using XML and only a<br>
>few of us MLS folks still give a damn about MARC, I expect to see Koha as<br>
>one of the few ILS's that is flexible enough to still survive.<br>
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This I wholeheartedly agree on. How I already grin at the thought of being able to easily link my ebooks! It's awesome that Koha was all set to do this. <br>
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Cheers,<br>
Brooke @ Hinsdale MA
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