[Koha] Follett to Koha 3 Migration

[Doug Dearden]

>>> Ed Roche <edward_roche at solanco.k12.pa.us> 2/11/2009 9:55:11 AM >>>

Good Morning/Afternoon All

Anyone who has migrated from Follett to Koha, would you happen to have
documented how you did it? If so would you be willing to share?

Thanks
Ed

Edward J. Roche
Network Administrator
Solanco School District

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Hi Ed,

I recently did a migration from Follett, and can give you some broad stroke guide lines.

Install Koha.  If you haven't done this yet, take a look at the wiki for links to some installation guides.  I used Debian Etch, and since the server I was setting up on did not have hardware raid, I set up software raid using this guide: http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_software_raid .  If you aren't intimate with Linux, you have a pretty steep learning curve here.  You need to get a base Linux install done, then download the latest stable koha release and unwrap it.  Look at the INSTALL.debian file and follow all of those instructions to get the prerequisites installed and a base koha installation done, or use one of the installation guides in the wiki if you are installing on a different Linux distro.  I installed SSH and phpmyadmin so I could work easily from my desktop computer.  You probably want to review some of the installation guides on the wiki just to get a feel for the process and the potential snags.  I installed this on a test computer to begin with, then did it again on the server it is running on.  I started over from scratch more than once, and found that getting all of the Perl modules that koha needs installed to be my biggest hurdle.  Again, some tricks in the install guides on the wiki helped.

Once you have koha installed and working, get with your librarian and go through all of the System Preferences and set those.  I think you will find a link on kohadocs.org to a setup guide that will help.  You pretty much have to read the online manual about the different options and make decisions that fit your situation.  Also, get a look at the frameworks, and make sure you understand how the "hidden" field controls the display in the OPAC and the staff client.  Take a look at all of the other options in the staff client and get those set.

Migrating the patrons was pretty straight forward.  The import patrons page has a sample csv file you can download, I exported the patrons from Follett, imported them into excel and then did a cut and paste of columns into the csv file, saved it and imported it into koha.

With the size of our library, we did not have to migrate circulation records, so that one you get to figure out.  We also didn't migrate authorities, as our librarian wanted to build those anew.

For the biblio records, export from Follett (we use marc 21).  If I remember right you do that from the cataloging screen.  The Follett records are in pretty good shape, with a couple of exceptions.  If you haven't used marc edit, download it from here:  http://oregonstate.edu/~reeset/marcedit/html/index.php .  This utility will take a marc file, break it out so it is readable, and after editing put it back into the machine readable format.  It also has a script generator.  This all runs on Windows,  the script generator creates VB Script.  If you haven't worked with marc files before, your cataloging librarian will be happy to talk about it.  A lot.

Follett exports the holding info into the 852 record, including a $x field that has a string of stuff delimited by @ signs.  I used the script generator to create a basic script, then modified it to read that line and manipulate the data into the correct fields for koha.  In addition our librarian wanted to move a couple of other fields around that had been misused in the past.  I will attach my modified script to this with the caveat that it is extremely kludgy, as I kept revising it to handle this and that issue.  You may want to generate a script from Marc Edit and start from scratch.  You are free to use, modify, no guarantees, no support provided, etc. 

Once you get the Follett records converted into the koha format (mainly getting the item info into the 952 record), you can use the import tool in the staff client to bring them in.  I would suggest breaking them into smaller pieces using marc breaker/maker, and importing those.  The import can take a while and if it chokes on a particular record part way through you won't have one giant file to deal with.  I wound up with a couple of records that didn't want to import, so removed them from the file and redid the import.  I think we had to recatalog three records manually.  (I could have done the troubleshooting, but it was quicker just to catalog them in).

All in all this is pretty straight forward as migrations go.  This project did take me weeks though, as I had limited experience with Linux and spent a lot of time getting up to speed on it.  We also are running multiple databases, so I had to do a bit of work figuring that out (Merci Henri) and did a minor bit of customization to the look of things.  My big hurdle though was getting the server set up with the basic koha install done.  I did not install the zebra engine, as we have a small collection, so if you are doing that you have another layer of complexity.  

Good luck Ed.

Best,

Doug 

Note to list - The mail list server refused to post this because of the attached script file (good security).  I am posting to the list without the attachment, if someone else wants a copy of the script email me with "Follett/Koha script" in the subject line and I will send it to you .

Doug Dearden
dearden at sarsf.org