On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, Owen Leonard wrote:

As we get further along in evaluating Koha and closer to an actual switch, we're starting to address thorny issues like database transfers. This brings up a couple of issues you all might be able to help us with.

First, is there a good write-up of the database structure, with descriptions of all the fields? Some stuff is self-explanatory, like 'surname' and 'firstname' in the borrowers table, but others are more obscure.

I don't believe that this has been done, but would certainly be a worthwhile project. :)

Second, is there any library out there that's made the switch from another library automation system, doing a full database transfer in the process? If so, we'd love to hear about how they approached it.

I exported MARC records from the Alexandria commercial library automation program and wrote a custom script (bulkmarcimport.pl) to import those records into the Koha database. This script could probably be modified to work with your data as well. There is also work underway to change the underlying bibliographic database structure to be capable of storing MARC data. This will likely not be finished until the fall at the earliest. Note that I did not transfer any patron records, as it was not necessary in my case. Steve Tonnesen tonnesen@cmsd.bc.ca Coast Mountains School District