[Koha] Simple MARC reference information

[BWS Johnson]

Salvete!

If you didn't like the tutorials, I don't think there's anything written
at a more simple level out there. 

>Can anyone suggest a good simple guide to MARC? I'm looking to develop
>some simple guidelines along the lines of "Enter the author's name in
>the XXX field, surname first then a comma followed by the other names".
>

This is harder to understand than the tutorials, but it's a great guide
for which fields to use, and I can always translate this into simpler
language.

http://www.slc.bc.ca/marc.htm

You usually enter the author's name in the 100a field - this is not true
of corporate authors or organisational authors, but generally, you
aren't dealing with that. Nor do you put more than one author in this
field together. Additional authors go in the 700a field, provided they
aren't corporate authors or organisational authors, too. You add a new
700a field for each additional author. 
Title goes in the 245a field, usually.Religious texts are a little
different, so do look up a Qu'ran entry and a Bible entry. You should
even find a few Arabian Nights entries - that title is as different as
they get.
The 650a field is _terribly_ important. These are your subjects. The
500a and 505a are also very important, but you'll use those more as you
become a better cataloguer.

Don't feel completely lost at sea. I do think that most people copy
catalogue, and that cataloguing in general is very similar to an
elementary school classroom. There are 2 or 3 very smart kids at the
front of the room like Steven B. that know what they're doing. Everyone
behind him tries to catch a glimpse of what he's doing to copy off of
him. Needless to say, the records at the back of the room aren't so
great. 

I really think that the easiest way for you to learn to catalogue is to
hit the Nelsonville Library's Catalogue (Or any other library that has a
MARC view, but I'm picking on Nelsonville because it's a Koha library).
Look up your favourite books. Click on the MARC view button and try to
understand the MARC record. After looking at enough of these, they'll
start to make sense. Eventually, your brain gets dented enough to be
able to read a raw MARC record, but that's after a while.

Feel free to ask me questions.

Cheers,
Brooke @ Hinsdale MA 
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