July 2002 - Koha - lists.katipo.co.nz

From the Kaitiaki
by Pat Eyler 26 Jul '02

26 Jul '02

26 July, 2002 To the Koha community; Hallo, It looks like another short note this week, my wife turns **[1] years old and I've been a bit distracted. ;) This certainly doesn't mean that we haven't been busy though. As you'll see below, the Koha project is rolling along with a full head of steam! 1.2 I'm very happy to see Koha 1.2.2 out and about. 1.2.1 managed over 20 downloads/day (from sourceforge) for the nearly 20 days since it came out. We seem to be moving more copies with each release ... I hope this trend continues. 1.2.3 is also on the drawing boards. It features a variety of improvements, including more templating. Snapshots of the 1.2.3 branch are available at sourceforge -- these are not release quality yet, so be careful (we'd love to hear about your experiences though). 1.4 Paul Poulain has posted a request for help on the 1.4 branch. He has put together a page of things still to be done for the new MARC version of Koha. Please see: <http://www.saas.nsw.edu.au/wiki/index.php?page=ToDoMARC> for more details. It is very encouraging to see all of the progress on 1.2, but we need to make sure that 1.4 doesn't slip because of it. If you're able to lend a hand, and aren't already up to your elbows in 1.2, please pick a task from Paul's list and get to work. Community I've got several oddments to mention here. The first is a bit of advertisement, I've got the english and french versions of these notes archived at <http://pate.eylerfamily.org/geek/Koha.html>. As additional translations show up, they'll be archived as well. I've also started reaching out to the Perl community a bit more. Recently a new website has been created to help newer programmers to develop their skills. I've added Koha to the list of projects seeking 'apprentices'. Take a look at <http://apprentice.perl.org/> for more information (or to sign up to work on Koha or one of the other worthy projects there). With the growing interest in translating Koha, it is interesting to see that a book about creating accessible web interfaces has been published on-line, <http://diveintoaccessibility.org/table_of_contents.html>. If you'd like to take on a quick, non-programming project -- you could read through this book, play with Koha in light of your new-found knowledge, and let the koha-developers list know about any discrepancies you find. It looks like we've got a fun ride ahead of us. Hang on and have fun. Baie dankie -pate Pat Eyler Kaitiaki of the Koha Project [1] In the interest of not sleeping on the couch, I'll decline to mention her age ...

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Koha is coming! Koha is coming!
by Pat Eyler 26 Jul '02

26 Jul '02

Koha 1.2.2 has been released. Special thanks (again) to Steve Tonnesen, who drove this release to completion. 1.2.2 is a significant bug squashing release: * checkvalidisbn() routine fixed * upload marc records routine fixed * some improvements to installer.pl and koha.upgrade * subjectsearch.pl was missing in OPAC interface * koha.upgrade wasn't modifying the Z39.50 daemon startup scripts properly * installer.pl and koha.upgrade warn if installing a release candidate * installer.pl asks for the location of apache's config file if it can't find it * Fix to updatedatabase script that fixes a problem with full acquisitions * Fixed bad link in detail.tmpl Many people have combined in testing this release, and we expect it to be the best Koha yet! We encourage you to get this new release and give it a spin. We think you'll like what you see. We plan on continuing to improve Koha, and would love to have you come along on this exciting journey. As always, downloads and more information are available from: <http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/koha/> Chris Cormack Pat Eyler 1.2 Release Manager Kaitiaki/Manager the Koha Project the Koha Project

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Re: [Koha] Library of congress call/control numbers
by Cora & David Bigwood 25 Jul '02

25 Jul '02

The LC Call number (LCC) can be in fields 050, 051, 090 or 852. I think the fields in 852 would be the ones to use since those are the ones connected to the items in the library. The others can all be in the record, but the particular library decide to use Dewey and put that info in 852. The Library of Congress Control number (LCCN) is often a 2 digit year followed by six digits. With Y2k the format changed. It is field 010. More info can be found at http://www.fsc.follett.com/products/marctags/tag010.cfm -- Cora & David Bigwood cbigwood(a)onebox.com - email (713) 590-2340 x9551 - voicemail/fax ---- Daniel Holth <dholth(a)fastmail.fm> wrote: > > > > ---------- > > From: Daniel Holth[SMTP:DHOLTH@FASTMAIL.FM] > > Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 4:14:47 PM > > To: koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz > > Subject: [Koha] Library of congress call/control numbers > > Auto forwarded by a Rule > > > I should be more specific about my congress classification > constructions. > > First, I'm using the latest unstable version of KOHA, from > koha-1.2.3RC5.tar.gz. > > Second, the fix wasn't as simple as I thought. > > By default, the version of KOHA I'm using doesn't appear to store LC > Call numbers, just LC card catalog numbers. That's what I made appear; > I thought it was correct because I had entered an LC Call No. instead > of > the proper LCCN for my first book. > > To make do what little more I wanted, I added two fields to biblioitems, > one each for the a and b fields of the MARC 050 element. I then edited > a couple of the search results templates to show those numbers, also > editing the MARC import entry form to let me change those numbers. > A > couple of the C4 Perl modules needeed changing as well. > > As you can see from this link, > http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ecbdclas.html, my solution > is > incomplete. First, it appears the LC is not the only source for > LC-format call numbers, second there can be multiple (a) records for > a > particular item and only one of them is held in the database. > > But I'm happily putting LC Call labels on some of my books now. Thanks! > > On a side note, my local library has switched twice to increasingly > inferior OPACs. The first one was very usable to my UNIX-trained mind > - > text based w/dumb terminals, special keys on the keyboard for search, > prev, next, very fast and clean and accessable via modem. Then they > switched to a client/server GUI that opens with a picture of a library > - > almost no text - so that it wasn't immediately clear where to click > to > search for a book. Now they have an ugly web based system that runs > on > a precious few 60Hz screens in the library. > > My alma mater's system, cat.stetson.edu, is slightly better but it's > dog > slow. I feel like my libraries are locking down their collection by > making it unpleasant to find things! > > Is it typical for libraries to switch to increasingly inferior systems? > > Ignoring koha, are there any truly excellent OPAC systems out there? > > - Daniel Holth > > _______________________________________________ > Koha mailing list > Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz > http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha >

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Re: VIRUS: [Koha] Re: Your password!
by Brig C. McCoy 25 Jul '02

25 Jul '02

Just in case no one was paying attention, this was an example of the frethem.k virus. :( Please don't click on the attachment in the original document. For more information on the virus you can check Computer Associates web site at: <http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virus.asp?ID=12569>. ...brig At 10:16 AM 7/16/02 -0500, tpark(a)voicenet.com wrote: >Content-Type: text/html; > >ATTENTION! > >You can access >very important >information by >this password > >DO NOT SAVE >password to disk >use your mind > >now press >cancel > >(Michele Petrovsky) -- Brig C. McCoy 5109 Cherry St Head, Systems Office Kansas City, MO 64110 USA Linda Hall Library of Science, 816 926-8749 PHN, -8790 FAX Engineering, and Technology <http://www.lindahall.org> PGP Public Key: <http://www.theworld.com/~brigc/pgp/>

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Library of congress call/control numbers
by Daniel Holth 25 Jul '02

25 Jul '02

I should be more specific about my congress classification constructions. First, I'm using the latest unstable version of KOHA, from koha-1.2.3RC5.tar.gz. Second, the fix wasn't as simple as I thought. By default, the version of KOHA I'm using doesn't appear to store LC Call numbers, just LC card catalog numbers. That's what I made appear; I thought it was correct because I had entered an LC Call No. instead of the proper LCCN for my first book. To make do what little more I wanted, I added two fields to biblioitems, one each for the a and b fields of the MARC 050 element. I then edited a couple of the search results templates to show those numbers, also editing the MARC import entry form to let me change those numbers. A couple of the C4 Perl modules needeed changing as well. As you can see from this link, http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ecbdclas.html, my solution is incomplete. First, it appears the LC is not the only source for LC-format call numbers, second there can be multiple (a) records for a particular item and only one of them is held in the database. But I'm happily putting LC Call labels on some of my books now. Thanks! On a side note, my local library has switched twice to increasingly inferior OPACs. The first one was very usable to my UNIX-trained mind - text based w/dumb terminals, special keys on the keyboard for search, prev, next, very fast and clean and accessable via modem. Then they switched to a client/server GUI that opens with a picture of a library - almost no text - so that it wasn't immediately clear where to click to search for a book. Now they have an ugly web based system that runs on a precious few 60Hz screens in the library. My alma mater's system, cat.stetson.edu, is slightly better but it's dog slow. I feel like my libraries are locking down their collection by making it unpleasant to find things! Is it typical for libraries to switch to increasingly inferior systems? Ignoring koha, are there any truly excellent OPAC systems out there? - Daniel Holth

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LCCN in opac search results
by Daniel Holth 24 Jul '02

24 Jul '02

Easy! Add <b>LCCN:</b> <TMPL_VAR NAME="lccn"><br> between e.g. lines 35 and 36 of /usr/local/koha/intranet/htdocs/includes/templates/default/catalogue/detail-opac.tmpl - Daniel Holth

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Install questions
by georgejenner＠belgacom.net 24 Jul '02

24 Jul '02

Hi, I decided to try to install on Windows. I seem to have completed the perl installation, but I'm stuck here: Copy koha.conf to /etc/ when I run updatedatabase mysql tells me the database hasn't been specified, and I think it's because teh config file is not located. Si? I can't find a directory called /etc, and no matter where I created it it doesn't work. I think the database does exist, as it shows up in mysql admin. Does the koha.conf also require a path to the database? Thanks for any ideas George

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KOHA use
by Daniel Holth 24 Jul '02

24 Jul '02

Hi. I have a book collection and I'm looking to organize it. Mostly I want to find the Library of Congress classification for each book and order them on the shelves that way (e.g. PN6231.E4H3). It would be really neat to be able to search the collection too and to let friends see which books I have. I have found a few programs that might do this (one, tyrannio, does almost exactly the above but doesn't work). Koha looks promising and it runs. Does KOHA support the LC call number? Where should I look to add it (I'm a computer scientist). Thanks. - Daniel Holth

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RE: [Koha] Database description
by Owen Leonard 23 Jul '02

23 Jul '02

> Chris and I converted all the data for Horowhenua when we were developing > Koha. Their previous system was an A/Rev system called Catalist. I created > delimited files from that, and Chris and I imported them. It needed some > massaging to make it fit, but we managed to do it several times during the > course of the change-over. We're trying to figure out what our methodology should be. We'll be moving from a Pick database (Unidata), which seems pretty arcane to us. We'll be working with a consultant who knows Pick, but we're trying to get a good handle on the process before he comes in. The biggest task for us seems to be to analyze the current database and see how its structure matches up with Koha's database. With around 200,000 items in the collection, the "massaging" stage sounds pretty daunting. What kind of database tools did the original system offer you? Were there existing functions for exporting data in a format you could import to MySQL? -- Owen

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New Problem: Server down on ports 8080 and 8081
by Larry Currie 23 Jul '02

23 Jul '02

We have a new problem. When our network administrator rebooted our server, the OPAC and Intranet opening pages were no longer accessible; we got the message that "the server may be down...". By typing ps -xa, we were were able to see that the Apache server is running and that Mysql is also running, but what could have happened to our access to the two parts of Koha? Larry Currie -- Lawrence W. Currie User Services Librarian California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park San Francisco, CA 94118 lcurrie(a)calacademy.org (415) 750-7108 (415) 750-7106 fax http://www.calacademy.org/research/library/

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