- Koha - lists.katipo.co.nz

Switching from Other Library Software to Koha
by Ben Doughney 10 Oct '13

10 Oct '13

Hi, I have just joined this email list to see if anyone has transferred from the library software AccessIt to Koha. Our school has been looking at Koha for a while and it looks like very powerful and customisable library software. The biggest hesitation we have in switching over is how to get our current catalog imported into Koha. We currently have around 10,000 books in our library and we certainly don't want to start from scratch having to enter them all again. Has anyone else transferred their catalog from AccessIt or a similar system? Cheers, Ben Doughney ICT Manager Mission Heights Schools Ph (09) 277 7881, Fx (09) 277 7883 PO Box 64 448, Botany Town Centre, Auckland 2016 Please consider the environment before printing this email.

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Single Branch - "NO LIBRARY SET" - Auto setting Library
by Spurgeon 10 Oct '13

10 Oct '13

Hi, Greetings! We have a small library and want to operate koha in single branch mode. We are using Koha 3.12 In the intra page, the default library is NOT SET and we need to set it manually every time we login to the only library we have. Am I missing some setting or Is koha capable of detecting and setting the only library as default? Request your kind help on this... Thank you. Sincere, warm regards Spurgeon

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Re: [Koha] Switching from Other Library Software to Koha
by Catherine Kerrigan 10 Oct '13

10 Oct '13

Hi folks! Chiming in rather late on this discussion and although I don't have experience in AccessIT, I am currently in the process of migrating from an Australian system called Bookmark to Koha. Bookmark, like AccessIT, does not export in MARC format. Instead, it exports catalogue and holdings data in a TXT file. I copied/pasted the TXT file into an Excel spreadsheet. As Bookmark's catalogue records are not MARC-compliant, I then had to strip out a lot of the data to produce brief catalogue/holdings records and then used MarcEdit to convert into MARC records that could be imported into Koha. I am now adding the holdings data manually to the catalogue records, which is a very tedious but doable process as I only had 3.5k items - Bookmark has a separate catalogue record for each item so I have a lot of duplicates to delete later on. I was fortunate in that I didn't have any patron or circulation records to export. And I had previously exported full catalogue records from Libraries Australia and, when I imported them into Koha, used a matching rule of ISBN to replace the brief catalogue records when they were imported. What I have learnt from this process is that I could have saved myself a lot of effort by ensuring that the Default MARC framework in Koha was complete, especially the 9xx fields, so that I could map the Bookmark fields to the appropriate Koha fields. This is particularly important when using MarcEdit to convert the records. I found that the holdings data did not transfer across correctly because of mapping issues (hence the tedious manual input). I did look at the Perl csv-to-MARC utility but my IT skills were not up to that. MarcEdit worked very nicely for me once I got the hang of it (it took a few tries and a realisation going home one night that I needed to delete the header row from my Excel spreadsheet to get it to work properly). Hopefully, the above will give you some idea of how you might be able to move from AccessIT. Cheers! Catherine Catherine Kerrigan ::: Librarian and Projects Officer T 08 8299 7300 ::: F 08 8172 0504 Adelaide Central School of Art ::: PO Box 225 Fullarton SA 5063 7 Mulberry Road Glenside SA 5065 ::: (adjacent to the Adelaide Film Studios) www.acsa.sa.edu.au<http://www.acsa.sa.edu.au/> Library news<http://www.acsalibrary.blogspot.com.au/> _________________________ Adelaide Central School of Art is now located adjacent to the Adelaide Film Studios in the Glenside Cultural Precinct. Please call to book a tour of our new facilities. In the School Semester 2 - 15 July - 29 November 2013 Short Courses - Term 4 program - Download here<http://www.acsa.sa.edu.au/fileadmin/public/pdfs/Short_Course_Brochure.pdf> In the Gallery Wyld Stallyns - work by Johnnie Dady, James Dodd, Rohan Fraser & Glenn Kestell 20 September - 25 October Artist Talks 12.15 - 1.00 pm in the Central Gallery 3 October James Dodd 15 October Johnnie Dady & Glenn Kestell Preview the works online here<http://www.acsa.sa.edu.au/the-gallery/exhibitions/wyld-stallyns/> Watch video interviews with our graduates and staff by Sasha Grbich at http://vimeo.com/centralschool

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Re: [Koha] Switching from Other Library Software to Koha
by Ben Doughney 10 Oct '13

10 Oct '13

Hi Chris, Yes, its that FireBird, although I don't know if there is any special customisation done of the software as it is packaged as part of AccessIt. Cheers, Ben Doughney ICT Manager Mission Heights Schools Ph (09) 277 7881, Fx (09) 277 7883 PO Box 64 448, Botany Town Centre, Auckland 2016 Please consider the environment before printing this email. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Cormack" <chris(a)bigballofwax.co.nz> To: "Ben Doughney" <bdoughney(a)mhjc.school.nz> Cc: "clint deckard" <clint.deckard(a)frontiers.co.nz>, "koha-user" <koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz> Sent: Thursday, 10 October, 2013 11:39:44 AM GMT +12:00 New Zealand Subject: Re: [Koha] Switching from Other Library Software to Koha On 10 October 2013 11:35, Ben Doughney <bdoughney(a)mhjc.school.nz> wrote: > Hi all, > > I had a look through AccessIt the other day. I can export a backup file, but it i saved in a FireBird database format which would require further work to get into a sensible format that could be imported into Koha. > > We may just have to bite the bullet and pay AccessIt to export the data for us, we just need to decide when the best time to change is. Hi Ben This firebird ? http://www.firebirdsql.org/ If so, I think we could get the data out of that as csv with very little effort, and then could use the cvstomarc tool to convert to MARC Chris

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Re: [Koha] Switching from Other Library Software to Koha
by Ben Doughney 10 Oct '13

10 Oct '13

Hi all, I had a look through AccessIt the other day. I can export a backup file, but it i saved in a FireBird database format which would require further work to get into a sensible format that could be imported into Koha. We may just have to bite the bullet and pay AccessIt to export the data for us, we just need to decide when the best time to change is. Cheers, Ben Doughney ICT Manager Mission Heights Schools Ph (09) 277 7881, Fx (09) 277 7883 PO Box 64 448, Botany Town Centre, Auckland 2016 Please consider the environment before printing this email. ----- Original Message ----- From: "clint.deckard" <clint.deckard(a)frontiers.co.nz> To: "Olugbenga Adara" <gbengaadara(a)yahoo.com> Cc: koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz Sent: Thursday, 10 October, 2013 11:08:19 AM GMT +12:00 New Zealand Subject: Re: [Koha] Switching from Other Library Software to Koha Olugbenga, Josef and Ben, I had replied to Ben directly but probably should have included the list as well. I investigated migrating from AccessIt for a small rural school in NZ. AccessIt has no export functionality for MARC or CSV. It is possible to use the reporting tool to get some data as csv but it was not comprehensive enough. If you only want basic info this is a possibility but it was not easy/possible to get anything like full marc data this way. The AccessIt company will export data as MARC for their customer, for a (not insubstantial) fee. In this instance the school could not afford the cost and had to stick with AccessIt. Best wishes, Clint Deckard. Olugbenga Adara wrote: > Hi Ben, > > > > >> it looks like, there's nobody with experiences with migrating from AccesIt >> to Koha. So, in general, the main question is: Are you able, to export data >> in MARC format? Which version of MARC do you use in your library? >> >> Regards, >> >> > > In addition to exporting out in MARC as Josef suggested, you may also be able to get by with a csv export. Though you will need to do more work to get it into MARC for import into Koha. > > But csv will serve you just ok for your patron's data. > > Olugbenga Adara > > _______________________________________________ > Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org > Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz > http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha > > _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org Koha(a)lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha

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Fast cataloging button in circulation - can it be disabled?
by Elaine Bradtke 09 Oct '13

09 Oct '13

I would like to disable / remove the fast cataloging button that comes up if you try to check out something with a bar code that's not in the system. I've been looking around in the preferences, but I haven't found it yet. I do not want to prevent the staff from using the fast add framework entirely, I just want to make sure they search the catalog first, and then use the template I've designed that uses our modified version of the framework. -- Elaine Bradtke Data Wrangler VWML English Folk Dance and Song Society | http://www.efdss.org Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY Tel +44 (0) 20 7485 2206 (This number is for the English Folk Dance and Song Society in London, England. If you wish to phone me personally, send an e-mail first. I work off site) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Registered Company No. 297142 Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 305999 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" --Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)

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Koha General IRC Meeting 9 October 2013 at 10:00 UTC
by Owen Leonard 09 Oct '13

09 Oct '13

The next Koha General IRC Meeting is taking place 9 October 2013 at 10:00 UTC http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=Koha+IRC+General+M… The agenda is here: http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/General_IRC_meeting,_9_October_2013 I hope to see you there, Owen -- Web Developer Athens County Public Libraries http://www.myacpl.org

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Template or framework?
by Elaine Bradtke 08 Oct '13

08 Oct '13

Background info: We don't circulate a lot of materials (probably less than one item per day on average). 80% of the book stock is not yet in Koha (we have a legacy card catalogue). We only circulate books that we have more than one copy - nothing else leaves the building. When we brought the circulation system into play, I suggested to the staff that they could use the Fast Add Framework to put in a brief record before issuing something that's not already in Koha, and then place a hold the item so when it's returned they can update the catalogue. This hasn't worked well for various reasons. The Fast Add framework is lacking in critical fields. I've added a few, but there are still more that we need. I could either add the rest of the necessary fields to the Fast Add framework (tedious, but possible) or, build a template for quickly adding things on the fly. I'm not sure which method is best. The framework could be applied to a Z39.50 download, which would then hide the extraneous fields and possibly result in a more accurate catalogue record (the joy of cataloguing a book while on the front desk with the phone ringing and a patron waiting and someone else fussing with the photocopier right next to you). The template is a familiar tool as I've already got a couple in place for some of the more complex types of material, but unfortunately when you duplicate a template for editing, you end up with all those extra fields. Or. . . a combination of both? Any thoughts? Elaine -- Elaine Bradtke Data Wrangler VWML English Folk Dance and Song Society | http://www.efdss.org Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY Tel +44 (0) 20 7485 2206 (This number is for the English Folk Dance and Song Society in London, England. If you wish to phone me personally, send an e-mail first. I work off site) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Registered Company No. 297142 Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 305999 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" --Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)

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Ways of sending SMS from Koha..
by Somasekhar Rao K 08 Oct '13

08 Oct '13

Hi, There is a way of sending SMS for every action (check out, check in etc.,) from Koha. Many SMS gateways provide APIs in the form of HTML. It is given in the form of url for which you have to buy service and they provide you with login and password. The url requires the patron mobile number and message (koha action as check out, check in etc., ). Once you have all the inputs execute the same using "curl". It works. You can have a script of your own and make it as a cronjob activity. Regards, Somasekhar Rao K

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Re: [Koha] RDA questions WAS: Re: Flippin' Yanks
by Paul 08 Oct '13

08 Oct '13

At 05:41 PM 10/7/2013 +0100, Elaine Bradtke wrote: [snip] >We're not implementing it because we can't afford a subscription to >the documentation to even see if it will work for us. Agreed -- it's not in my budget either. $355 to find out what? A committee changes its mind, another $355 ... My "national library" states: "RDA has many of the strengths of AACR2 but its new features will make it more useful for description in the digital environment." Our charitable purpose is to maintain a *paper* copy library [1], and while Captain Kirk's "to go where no man has gone before" is admirable (albeit sexist, Captain Janeway notwithstanding), and that MARC might be considered a fifty year old patchwork quilt, we will only contemplate new fields that are compatible with what we have. Best -- Paul [1] my definition of a library, based on cuneiform tablets being assembled in groups ("libraries") nearly 5,000 years ago, compared with Kindle et al.

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