Hi Joshua,<br><br>Thanks heaps for those comments - really helpful!<br><br>Cheers Jo.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 7:34 AM, Joshua Ferraro <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jmf@liblime.com">jmf@liblime.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im">On Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 6:08 PM, Joann Ransom <<a href="mailto:jransom@library.org.nz">jransom@library.org.nz</a>> wrote:<br>
> This is my understanding of the use of Item Types and CCodes based on the<br>
> emails and list discussion. If my understanding is wrong - please correct<br>
> it. If I have it clear then I think this would be useful for the Koha 3.0<br>
> Manual (certainly would have helped me!) Would love someone to please add in<br>
> the marc fields where you would enter the information which will display in<br>
> these fields(are we heading into mapping territory now?)<br>
><br>
> BIBLIO LEVEL INFORMATION<br>
><br>
> Search results display Biblio level info; which can include:<br>
><br>
> * Format (book, DVD, video cassette)<br>
><br>
> * Audience (children, young adult, adult)<br>
><br>
> * Content (bibliography)<br>
</div>The examples I provided were just examples, Koha can display icons for<br>
any authorized value you create at the bib-level. Koha 3.0 doesn't<br>
ship with any of the above authorized values already created, you have<br>
to create them and link them to bib fields, and link them to icons<br>
after you install Koha.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> * Material Type (using XLST search will display wee icons.)<br>
</div>These are available out of the box with Koha 3, if you want to change<br>
the icons that display, or the criteria, you have to edit the XSLT<br>
stylesheets.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> ITEM LEVEL INFORMATION<br>
><br>
> The holdings table displays Item level info, which can include:<br>
><br>
> * Item Types<br>
><br>
> * CCodes<br>
><br>
> * Shelving Location<br>
><br>
> * Call Number<br>
</div>Again, this is not an exhaustive list. You can have as many item-level<br>
fields linked to authorized values as you want. The most common ones<br>
are item type, shelving location, and collection code; to create<br>
another one, just add the authorized value and link it to an<br>
item-level MARC tag/subfield.<br>
<br>
Images associated with item-level authorized values don't display in<br>
search results pages, but should display on details pages (though I<br>
haven't had time to take a look at Owen's claim that they don't). In<br>
any case, it is trivial to get them to display on the detail page, but<br>
non-trivial to get them to display on the results page, because the<br>
results aren't an item view, they are a bib-level view. How do you<br>
display item-level information on the results page when you've got 500<br>
items on a given bib?<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> ADVANCED SEARCH<br>
><br>
> The Advanced Search interface displays either Item Types (with their<br>
> associated icons) OR Collection Codes (with their associated icons). You<br>
> cannot set both as Advanced Search options, although there is general<br>
> agreement that this would be a cool enhancement.<br>
</div>This is not a limitation of the search API, it's a limitation of the<br>
current templating options for the advanced search page. That is, if<br>
you created a custom template for the advanced search page, you could<br>
display both item types, collection codes, or really any field you<br>
wanted that was linked to a Zebra index. What we need to create is a<br>
back-end management interface to allow the librarian (rather than a<br>
template designer) control what search types and values are available<br>
for the advanced search page. This would be an interesting enhancement<br>
for someone to sponsor.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> NOTES ON ITEM TYPES<br>
><br>
> *set circulation policy<br>
> * you must have item types<br>
> * you don’t have to have CCodes<br>
> * can be used to define collections<br>
> * can be OPAC advanced search points<br>
</div>Yep, though I'd remove the mention of 'ccodes' and 'collections'.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> NOTES ON CCODESs<br>
><br>
> * have no relationship to circulation policy<br>
> * any number of CCodes can have the same the Item Type<br>
> * are optional<br>
> * are used to define collections<br>
> * can be OPAC advanced search points<br>
</div>There is really no formal hierarchical relationship between ccodes<br>
(collections) and 'item types' other than the fact that they are both<br>
item-level fields.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> NOTES ON CALL NUMBER<br>
> Shows an items shelf position, can include alpha and numeric characters.<br>
><br>
><br>
> NOTES ON SHELVING LOCATION<br>
> Denotes a physical location ie a floor or building. (Not sure if this<br>
> displays in OPAC or not.)<br>
</div>Yes, it does display in the OPAC.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> GENERAL RULE OF THUMB<br>
><br>
> If you don’t have to have CCodes to distinguish between Item Types and<br>
> Collection Codes, then don’t – just use Item Types.<br>
><br>
> An example of when you would need CCodes, is where you have a policy which<br>
> says borrowers may have no more than 10 AV items on loan at a time, but they<br>
> may be taken from arange of different collections. So Item Type is set as AV<br>
> and a bunch of CCodes are created: DVD, JDVD, Video, JVideo, CDROM, Audio<br>
> Book on Tape, Teen Audio Book on CD, etc. A borrow a total of 10 AV<br>
> materials from any of the CCodes related to Item Type=AV.<br>
</div>Perhaps, but there is not a hierarchical relationship between ccodes<br>
and itypes. Libraries that use ccodes typically use them to denote<br>
'Collections' ... ie, groupings of materials, such as 'Science<br>
Fiction' or 'Mysteries'. But, Science Fiction books and Mystery books,<br>
probably have the same circulation policy as each other, and that's<br>
where Item Types come in. Patrons don't typically care about your<br>
circulation policy, but they do care about where a given item is<br>
located in the library. So that's really the distinction -- Call<br>
Numbers, Collection Codes, Shelving Locations, typically refer to<br>
physical location, Item Type just says what the Circulation Rules are.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
Josh<br>
<br>
--<br>
<font color="#888888">Joshua Ferraro SUPPORT FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE<br>
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