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<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Hello
Lucy,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Your
problem is fairly typical.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>If you
import data in some non-marc format, and map the pertinent fields to their
matching tags in the resulting marc records, you still wind up
with bad marc records. "Bad" meaning there is a complete marc record for
that material somewhere in the world and yours looks bad compared to
it.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>However, it would get you up and running. With bad
records.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
value of a full complete marc record (in my opinion) is all the additional data
in it. Subject headings, etc. Also, since it is an international standard, full
marc records will allow you to make your catalog searchable by other libraries
using the marc standard (through z39 communication between servers). Non-marc or
incomplete marc records don't allow that. For example, if your incomplete marc
records don'[t have any subject heading tags, you can't search by
that.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Alternatively,
</FONT></SPAN>you can</FONT></SPAN> do a "full retro" where you find the correct
marc record for the material, download it into your system, add any local
information (torn pages, shelf location, call #, etc), slap on a barcode and go
on to the next one. Hiring a company to do a retro for you might be fifty cents
a record or so (at least), and they will need a shelf list with whatever
additional local info you can provide.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Perhaps a better
solution would be to </FONT></SPAN>import your csv and turn it into marc
records, albeit incomplete marc records, and then fix those records as time
allows. As long as you don't share out your catalog (as a z39 server) with other
libraries, who's to know? Your patrons would only be able to search via the
information in those csv/incomplete records, which would improve as you improve
those records.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>You
need some more funding, girl. And automating your catalog is an easy one to
sell, in terms of grant proposals (are you in the US?).</FONT> <FONT
face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Aim high, include $ for additional equipment (a
lot), and include fat money for additional staff salaries. You could hire a
part-timer for like a year or two, and teach them to do what needs to be done.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Good
luck! </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>-Joe</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=593042616-05062008><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz [mailto:koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz] <B>On
Behalf Of </B>Lucy Pearson<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, June 04, 2008 5:02
AM<BR><B>To:</B> Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Koha] Investigating
Koha: import formats<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Hi
all,<BR><BR>I'm new to the list, and have only just begun investigating Koha,
so apologies if I ask any silly questions! I'm at the stage of investigating
Koha to see if it is suitable for my needs, and I'd really appreciate it if I
could draw on your collective expertise. I have a specific question about
Koha, but I'll also give a bit of detail on my circumstances, in case anyone
has any more general ideas which can help me.<BR><BR><B>A bit of
background:</B> I work for a new archive which has a relatively substantial
book collection (c. 20,000 items). Up until last year, these were completely
uncatalogued and unlisted, so we've been working on a project to list our
holdings. The plan is that once we have a handlist we can assess the
collection, weed substantially and then put in place a formal cataloguing
strategy. This last will include identifying a suitable LMS - we use DServe's
CALM for the archive material, and may also put the books on there, but as
it's primarily a museums / archive platform we have some reservations about
that. To get a handlist quickly, we've catalogued using <A
href="http://www.readerware.com/">Readerware</A> , which lets you scan
barcodes and searches the web for the data associated with those ISBNs. Now
we're at a point where we would really like to make it easy for people outside
our library site to access this list, even though it's not a proper catalogue.
So, we basically need a web OPAC - Readerware is not at all equipped to supply
this. In the long term it would be really good to be using a
standards-compliant library catalogue. so if I can migrate my data over to
Koha that would be great for forward-planning.<BR><BR><B>My Koha question:
</B>Is it possible to import data to Koha in CSV or tab-delimited format?
Unfortunately, none of my existing data has MARC records - I can export into
those tewo formats, so I need a database which can accept those.<BR><BR>I
strongly suspect the answer is no, but I wanted to be absolutely sure before I
abandoned Koha completely. In addition, I'm hoping that if this <I>isn't</I>
possible, this list of tech-savvy librarians might have good advice on
alternatives. At this stage, I don't actually need a full-scale LMS - I just
want a web app I can import my data to and which will allow users to seacrch
by title, author, etc. (I've already explored LibraryThing, but for various
reasons it's not really suitable.) It needs to be free software or very cheap,
because we're so low on funds and this is an interim project.If I <I>could</I>
get my data into Koha,a it would be perfect, because the full-scale LMS
features are there if we need them, and the organisation would be able to buy
in support if they found themseves without enough tech-savvy in
house.<BR><BR>Any advice? I'll be most appreciative of any and all
help!<BR><BR>Thanks!<BR><BR>Lucy<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>