[Koha] Where to put item information

[Thomas Dukleth]

Reply inline:


On Wed, December 1, 2010 21:18, Nicole Engard wrote:
> Darla,
>
> You might want to look into MarcEdit which has a swap fields function.
>  You can swap data in the 995 to the 952 and then import that file to
> Koha instead.

More than merely swapping fields, you might need to swap subfields within
a field to map them correctly to match the common use of other Koha
installations.

>
> Also, you might want to upgrade that 3.0 install to 3.2 if it's new
> cause 3.2.1 was just released :)

If you have a new installation, starting again with the current version is
probably the best idea.

>
> Nicole
>
> On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 2:46 PM, Darla Grediagin <dgrediagin at bssd.org>
> wrote:
>> Good morning,
>>
>> I have just gotten a new install of koha 3.0  Everything was going great
>> until I went to look at
>> the Koha Field for Items.  Instead of being mapped to 952, every item is
>> mapped to 995.

The Koha MARC 21 bibliographic frameworks have included some support for
the French Koha practise of using 995 to store item information with some
relationship to Recommandation 995.  There is nothing wrong with using 995
but the default configuration for storing items in 952 for MARC 21 may be
more complete and easier to understand.

>>  I have
>> tried to edit these to 952, but I couldn't do this.  I can edit my Marc
>> records so the
>> information matches being on the 995 fields, but I wasn't sure if this
>> would make a difference
>> to having it in 952.

Where the item data is stored matters very little as long as it is not
colliding with some other use of the same field.  MARC 21, its historical
US MARC predecessor, and various extensions such as those used for OCLC
and RLIN at one time have reserved almost every conceivable use of three
digit field names for some purpose.  If you do not have legacy records
especially from RLIN, then you may have many options for a Koha items
holding field with no conflicts.

If you want the easiest help from other MARC 21 Koha users using field 952
for holdings, then use 952.

The important thing is to choose one field for storing item data and not
to switch or some of your item data is liable to become lost to Koha. 
Having some records populated with holdings data in 952 and other records
with holdings data in 995 would be a condition to avoid until Koha has a
better holdings model altogether.

>>
>> I am using MARC21 as the flavor of MARC.
>>
>> Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Starting again with the current version of Koha and choosing options
carefully at set up time is liable to be much easier than trying to work
around the problem after the fact.  You should only contemplate the
complications of fixing Koha holdings fields if you a huge investment in
an existing Koha installation.


Thomas Dukleth
Agogme
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