- Koha - lists.katipo.co.nz

Re: [Koha] Help-Dewey displays as 99.999 for most entries
by Olaf Clausen 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Hi Steven, Thanks for your help. I connected to the DB and had a look at the records. It seems that all the entries are either 99.999999 or 0 in the 'dewey' field of 'biblioitems' but the 'subclass' field holds valid entries ie. LOW or VER etc. If I add a new biblio item within the catalogue section of Koha and assign a dewey of 123.45 and subclass of CLA for example the new record in biblioitems ends up with a dewey of 99.999999 and subclass CLA. Any ideas? Furthermore, when I try to edit a biblio there is no field for dewey or subclass. I just get the numbers 0,1,2,3 down the side and a few marc tags but nothing that would be appropriate for dewey. Incidentally, if I add a new biblio and then edit it, I get the numbers 0-9 down the side but most of the sections are blank. Thanks again for your help. Olaf Clausen Fountainview Academy Lillooet, BC Canada --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, February 23, 2006 01:21 CST Hi, Olaf, A quick and provisional response to your letter ... IIRC, the version of Koha you referred to using is pre-MARC. It is important that you discover where that Dewey call number info is stored. For some of those 2600 records where another Dewey number (other than the obviously incorrect 99.999) is reported, can you see a difference in the record structure that you could imitate? You should probably ignore the 852 for now (unless that is somehow where you have your Dewey call numbers stored). Yes, 082 holds an assigned Dewey call number. The call number that your library chooses to use can be held elsewhere and that is an intended function of the 852. I don't understand why/how only the 852 $k would be editable. The simplest thing would probably be to get the call numbers you want to use moved (mirrored, copied, whatever) to the MARC 942 $k (which will hold Dewey numbers). You will also need to code the 952 properly so that there will be barcodes attached to the actual items. For more complete and useful information, please do take a look at Stephen Hedges' Koha Documentation page and his User's Guide and Brooke's Newbie guide there. Surf to URL <http://www.kohadocs.org> Hopefully this will get you started in the right direction. Best of luck! Cheers, Steven F. Baljkas library tech at large Koha neophyte Winnipeg, MB, Canada ============================================================ From: Olaf Clausen <olafpc(a)yahoo.ca> Date: 2006/02/22 Wed PM 06:34:08 CST To: koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz Subject: [Koha] Help-Dewey displays as 99.999 for most entries Hello, I'm fairly new to Koha having tried it out several years ago. At that time we had a student enter our books into Koha 1.2.3. For various reasons we had to shelve the project but we were able to enter about 3000 books into the system. I am once again trying to get Koha working for our small high school and have installed Koha 2.2.4 on a Fedora Core 4 box and imported the old database from 1.2.3. All the items show up fine but the dewey field in searches is the same for almost all books (2600 of them report 99.9999) and the remainder report another dewey number. I know nothing about MARC and am struggling to find out were the dewey information can be changed. In reading the user guides and posts, it seems to me that MARC tag 082a is supposed to hold this data but only tag 852k is editable and it doesn't seem to allow anything but two letters to be entered. Furthermore, search results show a Dewey field but no location/call number field (ie 852)--so what does 852 do anyway? Simpler is better for our little library so straight Dewey would work better for us. Can anyone help me figure out how to access and change the Dewey field for each item? Thanks, Olaf Clausen Fountainview Academy --------------------------------- Find your next car at Yahoo! Canada Autos

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Re: [Koha] marc import
by BWS Johnson 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Salve! >I don't understand why people think Koha is somehow deficient in MARC >support. (Most of the "problems" I've seen are a result of not reading >the manual!) When I got my MLS, I was taught that MARC is a way to store, >retrieve and share records between libraries. I don't remember a single >word being said about how the records are displayed or manipulated by an >ILS. If you can save, edit, and search on all valid MARC fields, then you >have full MARC support. Since Koha can do exactly that when it's set up >properly (as well as importing and exporting MARC records), then Koha has >full MARC support. Period. > 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. >NPL has been using Koha for 29 months now, and we haven't had any unusual >problems with any of our MARC records. To imply that Koha is somehow >"MARC-deficient" may work in the hallowed halls of theory, but in the real >world of day-to-day library operations, it's just not true. > 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. >Someday soon, when all of the rest of the world is using XML and only a >few of us MLS folks still give a damn about MARC, I expect to see Koha as >one of the few ILS's that is flexible enough to still survive. 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. Cheers, Brooke @ Hinsdale MA

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Koha starting up error
by Abdul Rasheed 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Hello Everyone I have managed to installed Koha on Windows with all bit of pieces. When I type in OPAC or INTRANET in Internet Explorer, after flashing up welcome to Koha it gives error messages. I have looked into log files but no luck. I have tried all tricks which are mentioned in Koha Docs. Could you please send me some instructions. Looking forward to hear from you. bye for now Abdul --------------------------------- What are the most popular cars? Find out at Yahoo! Autos

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Re: [Koha] marc import
by Steven F.Baljkas 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Wednesday, February 22, 2006 18:15 CST Hi, Christine, In quick reply to your message ... > From: "Christine Forte" <cforte(a)antiochsb.edu> > Date: 2006/02/22 Wed PM 05:38:52 CST > To: " <koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz>" <koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz> > Subject: [Koha] marc import > > hi everyone, > > i've got several files of marc records i downloaded from oclc. i would > like to do a bulk import, but have been reading about the need to add a > 952 subfield. will i need to change something in these oclc records? or > can i just do a bulk import? ... yes, you can bulk import them. I would recommend decompiling them into editable text outside of Koha first though, using a free tool like MARCEdit (about which see URL <http://www.loc.gov/marc/marctools.html>) then adding the necessary 942 and 952 information, editing or deleting any other fields you like, and then using MARCEdit to reconvert the whole back into valid MARC21 which you will then be able to bulkimport easily. Plus, doing things this way you will save any trouble trying to edit with Koha's editor. As has been cautioned before (many times), Christine, please remember to keep your original (in this case OCLC) MARC records, as there are elements in MARC records which Koha does not currently handle correctly and some which it just plain ignores. (Given your library type and depending on your long-term interest in keeping with Koha, Christine, you may well want to spend the time configuring Koha to include display of the MARC control fields it would otherwise ignore: see Thomas Dukleth's blessedly helpful explanation on this in the comments to the defining Systems Parameters section in Stephen Hedge's Koha User's Guide at URL <http://www.kohadocs.org/usersguide/ch01s03.html#lowtags> .) > i'm pretty sure they're all sitting in the breeding area right now waiting > to be uploaded, (must i do this one at a time?) I think it might be better to do it through running a bulkmarcimport script as I outlined above. (I think you might have to do them one at a time out of the breeding area: it has been a long time since I've looked at that, sorry.) Hope this helps a bit. Cheers, Steven F. Baljkas library tech at large Koha neophyte Winnipeg, MB, Canada _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha ============================================================

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Re: [Koha] barcode questions
by Steven F.Baljkas 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Thursday, February 23, 2006 02:30 CST Hi, Christine, I can't tackle most of the barcode questions, but it would seem to meet that the component portions of a set of materials (the last item you ask about) wouldn't be analytically different to a computer (and therefore to Koha) than the various volumes that comprise an encyclopedia set. Looking forward to hearing back from others in the community with answers to your other barcode questions. Cheers, Steven F. Baljkas library tech at large Koha neophyte Winnipeg, MB, Canada ============================================================ From: "Christine Forte" <cforte(a)antiochsb.edu> Date: 2006/02/22 Wed PM 05:46:56 CST To: " <koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz>" <koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz> Subject: [Koha] barcode questions these, hopefully, are pretty easily answered questions. how do i add multiple barcodes in a single record that will reflect multiple copies of the same book. how do i add multiple barcodes in a single record that will reflect multiple volumes of a set. and then... any recommendations for this little problem. in our psychology library, we have tests that consist of multiple components, which we would like to barcode. is it possible that under 1 record (let's just say for a rorschach test) i could have a barcode that might specify a box of card and another that might be placed on a booklet, and another that might be placed on a set of scoring cards? (btw -- i'm going to do very, very basic cataloging of most of these myself) thank you for your help and thoughts. christine Christine Forte Psychology Library Director Antioch University Santa Barbara 801 Garden Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Phone: 805-966-5615 Fax: 805-962-4786 e-mail: cforte(a)antiochsb.edu _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha ============================================================

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Re: [Koha] Help-Dewey displays as 99.999 for most entries
by Steven F.Baljkas 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Thursday, February 23, 2006 01:21 CST Hi, Olaf, A quick and provisional response to your letter ... IIRC, the version of Koha you referred to using is pre-MARC. It is important that you discover where that Dewey call number info is stored. For some of those 2600 records where another Dewey number (other than the obviously incorrect 99.999) is reported, can you see a difference in the record structure that you could imitate? You should probably ignore the 852 for now (unless that is somehow where you have your Dewey call numbers stored). Yes, 082 holds an assigned Dewey call number. The call number that your library chooses to use can be held elsewhere and that is an intended function of the 852. I don't understand why/how only the 852 $k would be editable. The simplest thing would probably be to get the call numbers you want to use moved (mirrored, copied, whatever) to the MARC 942 $k (which will hold Dewey numbers). You will also need to code the 952 properly so that there will be barcodes attached to the actual items. For more complete and useful information, please do take a look at Stephen Hedges' Koha Documentation page and his User's Guide and Brooke's Newbie guide there. Surf to URL <http://www.kohadocs.org> Hopefully this will get you started in the right direction. Best of luck! Cheers, Steven F. Baljkas library tech at large Koha neophyte Winnipeg, MB, Canada ============================================================ From: Olaf Clausen <olafpc(a)yahoo.ca> Date: 2006/02/22 Wed PM 06:34:08 CST To: koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz Subject: [Koha] Help-Dewey displays as 99.999 for most entries Hello, I'm fairly new to Koha having tried it out several years ago. At that time we had a student enter our books into Koha 1.2.3. For various reasons we had to shelve the project but we were able to enter about 3000 books into the system. I am once again trying to get Koha working for our small high school and have installed Koha 2.2.4 on a Fedora Core 4 box and imported the old database from 1.2.3. All the items show up fine but the dewey field in searches is the same for almost all books (2600 of them report 99.9999) and the remainder report another dewey number. I know nothing about MARC and am struggling to find out were the dewey information can be changed. In reading the user guides and posts, it seems to me that MARC tag 082a is supposed to hold this data but only tag 852k is editable and it doesn't seem to allow anything but two letters to be entered. Furthermore, search results show a Dewey field but no location/call number field (ie 852)--so what does 852 do anyway? Simpler is better for our little library so straight Dewey would work better for us. Can anyone help me figure out how to access and change the Dewey field for each item? Thanks, Olaf Clausen Fountainview Academy _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha

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Otamarakau School Library
by Chris Cormack 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

----- Forwarded message from Glenn & Ginny Meikle <g.v.meikle(a)xtra.co.nz> ----- Hi, My name is Virginia Meikle, I'm the librarian at Otamarakau School, We are a very small rural school, with a role of 40 children. I am looking at updating our library software, and was wondering if Koha would be suitable, This needs to be kid friendly, as I would like to get the student using the library as an information resource, rather than just a place where they have to go once a week to get a book. Also firstly, I'm a Mum, and do the library 3 hours a week, so IT knowledge is limited, and time. I want to bring us up to 2006 and forward, could you please let me know if Koha would work, or is there anything else you could suggest. Thank you Virginia Meikle Otamarakau School Old Coach Rd RD 6 Te Puke email; g.v.meikle(a)xtra.co.nz ----- End forwarded message -----

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Re: Re: [Koha] marc import
by Joshua Ferraro 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

On Wed, Feb 22, 2006 at 08:56:53PM -0600, Steven F. Baljkas wrote: > That said, Christine, you may need to revisit the call numbers used because > Koha is still a touch fussy because it was originally designed for a > specific type of call number (Dewey) and I'd bet that Christine will be > making use of unique LC numbers. Koha is able to support unique LC numbers so long as your MARC links are set up correctly. > Third: Joshua, I am sorry I keep having to repeat this, but the simple > fact is that Koha doesn't properly use MARC records and so it is prudent > -- and in fact, at least in my legal jurisdiction and probably in yours, > too, Christine, since it would fall under the legal category of **due > diligence** -- to protect the data that you have already harvested AT > COST against loss (OCLC or not, your cataloguing department presumably > isn't run by volunteers, directed by volunteers, on donated computers with > free power from the electric company). > In the past, I have worked at libraries where we did double back-ups of > both our raw retrieved cords and system-specific edited records (call it > paranoid if you want, but it can help prevent disasters). First off, I'm all for being paranoid. By all means, make backups. However, I must reemphasize one fact: there is a major difference between 'properly using' MARC records and 'properly storing' MARC records. It's true that Koha does not _use_ MARC records to the fullest extent possible ... see below ... however, it's missleading to imply that Koha can't _store_ MARC properly. > > Fourth: yes, Virginina there is a Santa Claus, but he doesn't give stuff > away for free. > > This is my smarmy way of saying that, yes, there are ILS that actually > do use MARC completely, Joshua. Think Voyager for one. There are others. > Of course, they are not free and they do not respond to users' requests/ > demands/pleas for improvements/corrections/customisations at nearly the > rate Koha attempts. This is simply not true: no ILS fully uses MARC, they all use a subset of it (which is usually how standards are adopted, think SQL, POSIX, W3C and even Z39.50). If you've ever attempted to program something to a standard you'll know why most standards are never fully realized :) Let me cite just one example. Standard MARC requires the following of the 245 tag: If $f $g $h $k follow $b they refer to subtitle. If they follow $a they refer to title. No ILS that I've ever seen handles this in its indexes. As a friend once remarked: if the sun shines in ecuador then 245z equals title in swahili. Many bits of semantic information are lost the moment you import your records into an ILS because the ILS doesn't have any reasonable way to present such a vast semantic domain to humans in a way that it ends up improving our use of the system. Of course, there is also the issue of what do you mean by MARC. Are you refering to MARC syntax, MARC data elements, AACR? Another topic I suppose, though feel free to clarify... > But, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, Joshua et alia, don't get into the > habit of excusing Koha's current deficiencies in that regard by > assuming that nothing else gets it completely right either! > > Joshua, I know that attitude isn't typical of what you have expressed in > the past; it certainly isn't on the progressive path that people need to > be on if problems are ever to be fixed and the software improved for > everyone. If course, my goal as release manager for 3.0 is to improve Koha's use of MARC. That's the whole reason we're switching to Zebra. I am aware of our current limitations with regard to handling, for instance, Standard MARC Holdings, and I fully intend to fix those limitations so that Koha will be a strong candidate for even the most MARC-centric libraries. > > (And for the record, yes, I realise it is easy for us who were > trained to catalogue to spot and harp on Koha's problems with > cataloguing. Similarly, yes, I realise that I and most cataloguing- > oriented folk have not contributed and likely will never contribute > anything concrete towards resolving the problems we can detect, > other than pointing them out to the talented programmers and > developpers who (may) have the skill set to solve the problems. And > as a final concession/confession, yes, it is true that most ILS have > quirks with their cataloguing components and how they handle MARC and > that many don't use MARC completely/completely correctly: the fact > that Koha has quirks isn't the problem; it is a problem that it doesn't > completely handle MARC by the MINIMUM STANDARD rules yet -- because > you have been so helpful to me, Joshua, I could clarify what that > entails, but I can guarantee you would not find it pretty). It's worth bringing yet another distinction between Koha's ability to _catalog_ Standard MARC and Koha's ability to _store_ Standard MARC. Koha can store standard MARC fine. And give the proper framework it can catalog Standard MARC as well. If you don't believe me, take a look at the proof-of-concept here: http://koha.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/acqui.simple/addbiblio.pl That demo handles a leader and Directory, 003, 005, 006, 007,008, and to my knowledge can catalog a BOOK material designation as per the MARC standard. If you find otherwise please let me know. Also, I should point out that I don't know of any other MARC editor that provide such a great interface for selecting possible values for the fixed fields ... The problem is, none of our clients want to catalog using 'Standard MARC' so noone has bothered to write a complete set of frameworks to accomodate that. Also, no professional cataloger that I know of has take the time to customize his/her own framework to support the subset of the standard that he/she needs. > > Fifth: I have yet to see any example of Koha-exported MARC, so I > cannot say definitively, but I would suggest that any system that > does the violence of separating the record into multiple levels may > not be capable of reintegrating into valid MARC. I would have to see > actual samples to know. I have to receive any takers on that (and I > have requested Koha-ised MARC exports in the past). I'd be happy to supply some MARC records exported from Koha ... you could of course export some yourself from the LibLime demo: http://koha.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/export/marc.pl > To begin with the obvious, though, Joshua, exactly how do you propose > that Koha re-encodes the Directory portion (the series of numerals > coding tag occurence and field length, immediately following the Leader), > when it currently ignores all the control fields? Any changes a > Koha-library made to a record would be lost; any attempt to export that > record would result in invalid MARC as the Directory, even if kept > somewhere, would match the original MARC, not the edited version. Again, you're missing the point. Koha doesn't need to 'use' the MARC record to properly store it and export it, just like a directory doesn't need to 'use' the MARC to store a MARC file. The field length in the Directory portion is managed by the MARC::Record module. > Sixth: yes, the majority of problems Koha-ites complain of/question on > list-serv do indeed seem to be, as Joshua suggests, occurences of > improper or incomplete configuration by the new would-be Koha library. > > That admitted, Joshua, you, like most of the programming-savvy, tend to > forget that most of us actually working in library science/library tech > are used to turn-key systems that require a great deal less set-up. (Take > Voyager circulation config for one small example: it can autofill the > circulation fields saving a lot of time Koha wastes requiring cut and paste.) Absoutely, which is why some of us have formed support companies to help out with that proccess. (BTW: autofill circulation fields, I'm curious, could you expand on that?). > > That is not a complaint, in and of itself, just an observation of > differences in experience that are apt to cause friction unless taken > into account. I think it's a healthy conversation. I'm certainly not going to claim that I've got as much direct knowledge about the ins and outs of the MARC standard as you; I know enough to build some tools that can manage MARC correctly though, and I can read the free online specifications. Certainly, if you are willing to lend help in defining how Koha should 'use' MARC in ways that it doesn't currently, I'm all ears. > (I still think it would be ideal, one day in the distant future, to get > Koha to a level where it would behave like a more typical turn-key ILS: > that said, I do like the fact that Koha reminds us about all that goes > into making the system work and what configuration really requires.) ditto I truly hope we can get a good thread going here ... I think it would be good for the project if we addressed these issues now, as we're designing the next major version of Koha. Sincerely, -- Joshua Ferraro VENDOR SERVICES FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE President, Technology migration, training, maintenance, support LibLime Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS jmf(a)liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS

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Help-Dewey displays as 99.999 for most entries
by Olaf Clausen 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Hello, I'm fairly new to Koha having tried it out several years ago. At that time we had a student enter our books into Koha 1.2.3. For various reasons we had to shelve the project but we were able to enter about 3000 books into the system. I am once again trying to get Koha working for our small high school and have installed Koha 2.2.4 on a Fedora Core 4 box and imported the old database from 1.2.3. All the items show up fine but the dewey field in searches is the same for almost all books (2600 of them report 99.9999) and the remainder report another dewey number. I know nothing about MARC and am struggling to find out were the dewey information can be changed. In reading the user guides and posts, it seems to me that MARC tag 082a is supposed to hold this data but only tag 852k is editable and it doesn't seem to allow anything but two letters to be entered. Furthermore, search results show a Dewey field but no location/call number field (ie 852)--so what does 852 do anyway? Simpler is better for our little library so straight Dewey would work better for us. Can anyone help me figure out how to access and change the Dewey field for each item? Thanks, Olaf Clausen Fountainview Academy --------------------------------- Find your next car at Yahoo! Canada Autos

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Re: [Koha] Setting up branches in koha
by Steven F.Baljkas 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Wednesday, February 22, 2006 18:29 CST Hi, Bernadette, It sounds like the mapping errors your error message below describes are the result of (perhaps) incorrectly coded 952 fields. Maybe take a look at that first before continuing on with other problem analysis. Hope that helps a bit. Cheers, Steven F. Baljkas library tech at large Koha neophyte Winnipeg, MB, Canada P.S. There will be a vast diversity in how different libraries have set up their different branches: it might help to focus your question a bit more specifically than that. A friendly observation. ============================================================ From: "Bernadette Cassidy" <BernadetteC(a)burwood.org.nz> Date: 2006/02/22 Wed PM 03:50:14 CST To: <koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz>, <koha-devel(a)lists.sourceforge.net>, "Rosalie Blake" <rosalie(a)library.org.nz> Subject: [Koha] Setting up branches in koha Hi, I'm trying to set up a holding branch without success, items are listed as held in the Allan Bean Centre Library not the new location/branch How have other libraries set up their branches? When I checked system preferences I noted the following see below. How can I rectify this? Many thanks, Bernadette homebranch NOT mapped the items.homebranch field MUST : * be mapped to a MARC subfield, * the corresponding subfield MUST have authorised value=branches holdingbranch NOT mapped the items.holdingbranch field MUST : * be mapped to a MARC subfield, * the corresponding subfield MUST have authorised value=branches OK biblionumber and biblioitemnumber mapped correctly TOTAL You have 4 error(s) in your MARC configuration. Please fix them before using koha Bernadette Cassidy Library Manager Allan Bean Centre for Research and Learning in Rehabilitation Private Bag 4708 Christchurch Tel: (03) 383 9492 Fax (03) 383 7500 Email: bernadettec(a)burwood.org.nz <mailto:bernadettec@burwood.org.nz> ============================================================ _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha

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