June 2004 - Koha - lists.katipo.co.nz

Koha@Buffalo continues
by Christopher Brown-Syed 07 Jul '04

07 Jul '04

Greetings one and all. This past January, we began using Koha to catalogue two special collections in the State University of New York at Buffalo. We have run practicums for Master's students in library studies, with the intention of providing access to a unique colledtion of books and archaeological field notes housed in the Classics Department,involving about six volunteers. The students were impressed enough to set up a discussion for their colleagues in April. This project will continue in September. A second project involves the university's teaching and learning collection of materials to support instructors. Chien-Lin Liu, the UB Koha guru, has produced a custom Web interface which allows access to these collections, and provides a feedback bulletin board to collect student experiences and suggestions. We have not finished analyzing these, but will post summaries when available. Our ongoing use of Koha in the classroom continued during the first Summer session here in the University at Buffalo. About 17 students in a course on UNIX/Linux systems administration mounted Koha servers as part of their six-week course. One suggestion which arose from both of these experiences was that a more typical MARC table be included in the generic Koha parameters. A "cheat sheet" of "most frequently used" MARC tags was procured from the campus libraries, and we would be happy to share the specs.For instance, the publisher field designations currently include only the date ($c), not the place and publisher fields of the MARC 260 tag. This is confusing for newbies to MARC. The Library of Congress does publish a compact MARC brochure for about $10, but we think it might help to turn on the most frequently used tags and subfields from the get-go. At any rate, we now have a couple of dozen newly-minted open-source enthusiasts here - about six cataloguers and about seventeen budding sysadmins.I'm allowing for one or two who might not yet be convinced. :) -- Christopher Brown-Syed, PhD, Editor, Library and Archival Security. University at Buffalo School of Informatics <clb24(a)buffalo.edu>

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Migrating from Athena -- Koha-MARC DB links
by Tim McMahon - West Liberty Public Library 01 Jul '04

01 Jul '04

Has anyone switched from Athena to Koha or are in the process? I could use some help with the MARC DB links. The problem I'm having is mapping the items fields. It looks like I should be mapping 852 here. On the item fields test I'm getting ALL items MUST: -be mapped to the same tag -and they must be in the 10 (items) tab Do I need to map all of the items from the drop-down menu? -- Tim McMahon Technical Services West Liberty Public Library http://www.wlpl.org

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upgrade from 1.3.2 to 2.0
by Robert Maynord 01 Jul '04

01 Jul '04

Hello Koha Folks! It is summer, and time for our school KOHA upgrade from 1.3.2 to 2.0! I have 2.0 installed and working on a new machine, and I have left the old 1.3.2 library machine in place -untouched- until I complete the transition - just to be sure the data is safe. My plan is to save the data on the old machine using mysqldump - then transfer it to the new machine. As of my last inquiry about the process of upgrading (August 2003) there was no script that would completely handle the process. At that point, upgrading involved: * run update database * import MARC parameter tables * modify MARC parameter tables * run updatedb2marc.pl Should I still use this process? Would I start by importing my old database into mysql? Are the above commands included with 2.0? Are there documents available to help with the upgrade from 1.2.3 to 2.0? I have been promising our librarian an upgrade for a year now -- any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Robert Maynord Immaculate Heart of Mary School

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Re: [Koha-devel] suggestion module
by Hans Henderson 30 Jun '04

30 Jun '04

My first post to the list (hope I did it right!), so a quick intro's at the bottom of this message. Somebody's previous comment: >>The suggestion module looks a lot like an interlibrary loan request form to me, especially the document request. Paul's most recent response: >Is there something I don't understand ? The suggestion module is NOT an ill. It's a feature for a borrower/user that will enable him to "suggest" a library a book to buy. Me: Does bring up an interesting point though, as the motivation for both is "I want something this library doesn't have". Perhaps if at some point there were an ILL feature, the two functions would be connected, for example: Look it up in the multi-library catalog if found, put in an ILL request if not found, bring up the suggestion interface for the patron Allow the system to make suggestions to Acquisitions for those books that are ILL requested "frequently" (define via parameter setting) Another suggestion for the suggestion module <g> would be to call it something more clear, e.g. patron purchase request module? The generic term "suggestion" initially strikes one as perhaps asking the library patron to make general "customer service" suggestions to the library staff, or even for the Koha user to submit software feature requests to the developers, etc. ============================ First posting introduction: I'm implementing Koha for tracking graded readers and teacher resources (maybe even equipment?) in a private school (Shrewsbury International School) in Bangkok, Thailand. Our "real" library uses Alice, but they didn't want take on responsibility for these tracking these resources, and I wasn't given a budget for more Alice licenses, so - great opportunity for me for me to do a whole lot of extra work for the school! I'm now "just" an ESL / EFL teacher, used to be a computer guy in a previous life - network sysadmin stuff, not unix/linux nor programming unfortunately.

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KOHA LANGUAGES HELP !!!
by Adalid Ortiz 30 Jun '04

30 Jun '04

I'm testing koha in Windows 98. Change the default language (EN) to spanish (SP) and several menus not working, can't change to the default english version. Help wanted, LIC. FELIPE ADALID ORTIZ ANZALDO Area de Medios Electrónicos Biblioteca Loyola http://www.loyola.tij.uia.mx UNIVERSIDAD IBEROAMERICANA TIJUANA Ave. Centro Universitario 2501 Playas de Tijuana Tijuana, B.C., México 22200 Tel. 664 630-1577 Ext. 623 Fax 664 630-1591 eMail adalid(a)tij.uia.mx "No sobreviven los más fuertes, ni los más inteligentes, sino aquellos que tienen una mayor capacidad para adaptarse a los cambios." --Charles Darwin--

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Re: [Koha] KOHA LANGUAGES HELP !!!
by Adalid Ortiz 30 Jun '04

30 Jun '04

I'm testing the 2.0 version. I open the code and make some changes to the opac in order to translate some messages to spanish but using the english default language, then open the configuration tool and choose SP as the default language. LIC. FELIPE ADALID ORTIZ ANZALDO Area de Medios Electrónicos Biblioteca Loyola http://www.loyola.tij.uia.mx UNIVERSIDAD IBEROAMERICANA TIJUANA Ave. Centro Universitario 2501 Playas de Tijuana Tijuana, B.C., México 22200 Tel. 664 630-1577 Ext. 623 Fax 664 630-1591 eMail adalid(a)tij.uia.mx "No sobreviven los más fuertes, ni los más inteligentes, sino aquellos que tienen una mayor capacidad para adaptarse a los cambios." --Charles Darwin--

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News and Release Notes has been updated
by kea-notify＠katipo.co.nz 29 Jun '04

29 Jun '04

News and Release Notes has been updated. The revised page is available at: http://www.koha.org/news/index.html

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From Paul Poulain: Koha 2.1.0 released
by Owen Leonard 29 Jun '04

29 Jun '04

Paul asked me to post this message while he works out problems between his ISP and Sourceforge: Hello, Many people are working hard to provide a VERY good major Koha version. 2.1.0 is the 1st "snapshot" of the future version. You can see the result here : * release notes (long list of new feature & CALL FOR HELP): http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=249591 * download from here : http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=16466 Enjoy ;-) -- Paul

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Choral and Handbell Music
by Steven F. Baljkas 28 Jun '04

28 Jun '04

Sunday, June 27, 2004 17:39 CDT Hi, David, Just going through your message, a few questions arise -- > We would like to use Koha for our church's Choral and Handbell Music Library. How large is your congregation's collection? If you are talking about 100s vs. 1,000s or 10,000s of items, it makes a big difference in the amount of work that goes into setting up and then maintaining an automated system. > I'm not familiar with MARC or customary library practices. Anyone who has read the listserv knows I am a devotee of MARC, but depending on how many items are in your collection and how they are used (lent out? used chiefly by one music director? etc.), it might be overkill to go for a fully automated MARC system. And that's not knocking Koha in anyway: it's just that set up and collection maintenance factor again. (One of my cataloguing supervisors, and a dear mentor, is a wiz with MARC and has prepared consultant reports on automation, but in dealing with setting up her church's new (and intended to be small) congregational library, a full MARC system wasn't even considered.) There are online resources that would help introduce you to MARC coding. A good one to start with, one that helps demystify MARC greatly, is readily available off the Library of Congress (LC) MARC Documentation page (URL http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/) and is entitled Understanding MARC Bibliographic: surf to URL http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/ and check it out. I am not a music cataloguer, but I would be glad to provide whatever MARC and general cataloguing guidance I could. Also I have a good lib tech friend who works in a music library who I am sure I could impose upon for questions of musicology in cataloguing. As for customary library practices, the best practices are what work best for you and your clients with your collection. There are many of us on Koha -- and on other library listservs that you could subscribe to for that matter -- that would gladly offer whatever free advice we could on professional standards and our own experiences. So don't worry about that. > We have no currently automated system. If you are automating from scratch that poses a different set of questions than if you are automating from a collection indexed or catalogued in some manner. Do you have a card or book catalogue? > It would seem that using MARC would help us with data entry, assisted by z3950. To be fair, MARC cataloguing for music isn't as available as MARC cataloguing for books, but that's understandable. I did some quick checking -- testing out my local provincial university's Music Library catalogue with a keyword search on "choral" -- and that generated 100s of results, which bodes well. Since LC, NLC and other national level institutions do catalogue music, as do university libraries with music faculty, you should be okay with that, depending on how esoteric your collection is. > Unfortunately, reading the newbie documents, I don't understand whether we need to modify the > configuration provided by the default install of Koha 2.0.0. Specifically, it seems that I should be > concerned with "Authorised values", "Thesaurus", "MARC tag structure", and "Links Koha - MARC DB" > so as to help enforce proper data entry that minimizes typing. You are not alone. ;-) # From a recent response from Paul, the "Authorised values" and "Thesaurus" functions -- technically a part of the Authorities (that which determine valid forms for a library catalogue and which cross-reference the collection) -- will be undergoing upgrading. I know from reading it frequently that you have to define your Item Types and the MARC tag structure first off. Josh F. and Stephen Hedges have provided other start-up advice regularly and recently, so they or other cognescenti will hopefully respond soonish with what else you need to do. (I am still not clear on the "Links Koha-MARC DB" thing myself, but then again, I have a programmer friend helping me and have thereby avoided those computer-y issues I know I am not ready to deal with yet.) > Is there anyone who currently uses Koha in for Choral/Handbell Music, > and if so, any advice on how to use? Hope some of the above helps. Give me a shout off listserv anytime you'd like guidance with MARC, MARC records, cataloguing or library management issues. Cheers, Steven F. Baljkas library tech at large Koha neophyte Winnipeg, MB, Canada --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com) Version: 6.0.707 / Virus Database: 463 - Release Date: 15/06/2004

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Using Koha for small hybrid resource centre
by Kennedy, Catherine 28 Jun '04

28 Jun '04

I have been considering using Koha to catalogue and circulate a small (but growing!) collection of books, journals, e-books, article citations, company reports, web sites, online reports currently scattered across our intranet, WebCT, e-book services and an MS Access database. Before I commit myself to a far bit of work over the summer, I'd be interested in having a look at a system that is using Koha for a collection that is not predominantly print-based and makes use of the 856 field in MARC. Any offers? Thanks, Catherine Kennedy

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