Introduction and authority import question
Hi All, Let me first follow the suggestion from the subscription confirmation email when I joined this list and introduce myself. I am a cataloger by training and currently a manager of a library technical services department. I have been interested in Koha for a while and have wanted to play around with it since I first heard about it. My background in the command-line environment is essentially nil (a little bit when I was getting my MLS) but I would like to learn more. I found out about the Koha virtual appliances created by Kyle Hall and was able to get Koha up and running in VirtualBox on my MacBook. My intent is to try to catalog my personal library on Koha and I have a few reasons for doing so. First, I want to have an inventory of my personal collection. Second, I'm just generally curious about Koha and want to learn more about it, and learn a little about ILS administration. Third, where I work, we currently use a very non-standard system, and I want to stay up-to-date and in practice (also, as a manager, I don't really do a lot of cataloging these days) with a system that adheres more closely to cataloging norms. I realize that using Koha for my personal catalog is probably like using a bazooka to swat a fly, but I think it will be very instructive for me nonetheless. So, that's why I'm here. Now, my question is this: I would like to import authority records that I download form the US Library of Congress. It is my understanding that the only way to do this in Koha is using the bulkauthimport.pl script, right? OK, here's the part where I'm embarrassed for being such a noob... How do I do that? I know how to download the MARC record, and I assume I run the script from the command line and not from the Web interface, but I don't know who I need to be logged in as and how to run the script or to point it to the file I want to import. Is this something someone can explain to me? I hope it's not bad form to ask such a basic question. Thanks for any help you can provide, John -- "I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." - Thomas Jefferson
On 27/02/2010 11:44 a.m., John Vosmek wrote:
So, that's why I'm here. Now, my question is this: I would like to import authority records that I download form the US Library of Congress. It is my understanding that the only way to do this in Koha is using the bulkauthimport.pl <http://bulkauthimport.pl> script, right? OK, here's the part where I'm embarrassed for being such a noob... How do I do that? I know how to download the MARC record, and I assume I run the script from the command line and not from the Web interface, but I don't know who I need to be logged in as and how to run the script or to point it to the file I want to import. Is this something someone can explain to me? I hope it's not bad form to ask such a basic question.
Thanks for any help you can provide, John While you can use that script from the command line, I would suggest using the tools in the web interface. Go to Tools->Stage Marc Records For Import. It should be fairly self explanatory.
Hope that helps, Braedon
2010/2/27 Braedon Vickers <braedon@tw.co.nz>:
While you can use that script from the command line, I would suggest using the tools in the web interface. Go to Tools->Stage Marc Records For Import. It should be fairly self explanatory.
Actually, John is right, there is no tool in Koha for staging authority records. The only way to load authority records is from the command line - that said, I've never done it ... so I'm not sure how to give any tips on the topic. Nicole C. Engard
On 1/03/2010 2:14 a.m., Nicole Engard wrote:
2010/2/27 Braedon Vickers<braedon@tw.co.nz>:
While you can use that script from the command line, I would suggest using the tools in the web interface. Go to Tools->Stage Marc Records For Import. It should be fairly self explanatory.
Actually, John is right, there is no tool in Koha for staging authority records. The only way to load authority records is from the command line - that said, I've never done it ... so I'm not sure how to give any tips on the topic.
Nicole C. Engard
Apologies - I was under the impression the web tool did both. Kindly ignore me. As for running the script, I have not done so personally, but some general Koha script tips: You will generally need a couple of environmental variables - KOHA_CONF and PERL5LIB - set to run Koha scripts. They will have been given to you when you installed, but if you did not set them up then, you will need to run exports for them before you run the script. For example: export KOHA_CONF=/etc/koha/koha-conf.xml export PERL5LIB=/usr/share/koha/lib These paths may vary with your install. Check if they exist and look alright first, and if not, find the correct locations for your system. The export command will only work for the current session. To have these variables set permanently, you will need to add the export commands to a file like /etc/environment. The script is probably only touching the database, so any user that can execute the script and associated Koha modules, and read your authorities file, should hopefully be OK to use. The Koha user(or equivalent) is usually preferred, however. Running the script with the -h flag should give you a list of flags and parameters you can pass into it. If you have not used a command line much before, it may pay to do some reading on basic theory, or find someone who can give you a quick tutorial in person. Hopefully some of that is more helpful than my last post. Braedon
Dear John, [...]
I found out about the Koha virtual appliances created by Kyle Hall and was able to get Koha up and running in VirtualBox on my MacBook. [...]
So, that's why I'm here. Now, my question is this: I would like to import authority records that I download form the US Library of Congress. It is my understanding that the only way to do this in Koha is using the bulkauthimport.pl script, right?
As I now, yes. In fact you need to learn the command-line on your Mac Book. You can start from here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=532104 http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2008/04/unix-terminal-command-line-tip... http://osxdaily.com/2006/12/11/how-to-customize-your-terminal-prompt/ Search help and how-to about 'bash' (the standard command line shell for Mac) And this is the book for you: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596009151/ Bye Zeno Tajoli
Thanks everyone for your help with this. Sounds like I've got to learn some basics before I attempt this. Coming to this software as a cataloger, it's interesting to me that importing MARC bibliographic records was built into the cataloging interface, but importing MARC authority records was not. Thanks again, John
participants (5)
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Braedon Vickers -
Braedon Vickers -
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Nicole Engard -
tajoli