[Koha] Stage MARC Records for Import vs. bulkmarcimport

[Rachel Hollis]

I am a cataloging librarian and know very little about anything else. At a previous job, we used BulkMarcImport (BMI) to load nearly all of our records. We used several scripts (perl?) to remove specifically coded subject fields and to set collection/shelving locations. As I remember, the ILS had the matching arguments so that when BMI files were loaded they replaced records according to rules we set up.

There was another way to load bibliographic records and it didn't take quite as long and was similar to Stage Marc Record Import (SMRI) in that it was mouse (button/link) driven. I don't recall precisely but I think that loading record this way did not allow for record matching. Because the records were not run past the scripts, we had to edit these records to remove unwanted data fields.

This week, working with the latest batch of MARC records we receive as part of our service, I consider whether there could be a way to use BMI to load these records setting MARC Frameworks, removing certain subject fields and setting collection/shelving locations. While I realize that my operation is not a big one (only one shelf worth of titles on my cart presently), I find it slows down the process to perform these operations title by title. Is anyone using a process that is more streamlined?

In typing this I realized that I have used Koha long enough (only since October 2008) and I now know it better than the systems that I used for multiple years! :-)

Rachel Hollis, librarian
Stevens-Henager College, Boise Idaho Campus

-----Original Message-----
From: koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz [mailto:koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz] On Behalf Of Nicole Engard
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 5:32 AM
To: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
Subject: Re: [Koha] Stage MARC Records for Import vs. bulkmarcimport

I will gladly add it as an FAQ to the manual - and possibly on the import page.

---

Nicole C. Engard
Open Source Evangelist, LibLime
(888) Koha ILS (564-2457) ext. 714
nce at liblime.com
AIM/Y!/Skype: nengard

http://liblime.com
http://blogs.liblime.com/open-sesame/



On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 9:38 AM, Sébastien
Hinderer<Sebastien.Hinderer at snv.jussieu.fr> wrote:
> Hi Paul, thanks a lot for your prompt and complete reply.
>
>> BMI is usually used when migrating. So it's only once, before you go
>> live.
>
> Ah I see.
>
>> SMRI is used on a daily basis by librarians. For example (as you're
>> french), after getting your order list from Electre. Or from DVD
>> vendors. Those vendors send by mail an iso2709 file, that can be
>> included in Koha in a few clics.
>
> Understood, thanks.
>
>> > 3. Once I understand things better, I'm willing to write something in
>> > the manual or in the wiki to explain what I have understood and which
>> > could then be improved by others. old that be relevant, and, where would
>> > that fit best ?
>> HTH
>
> Yes it helped a lot, thanks.
> Reading your answer, I realize things are rather simple and perhaps not
> worth a lot of writing in the manual or on the wiki.
> Still, I'd appreciate it a lot to have a documentation that presupposes
> less library science knowledge the manual does.


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