[Koha] Staff training with a live catalogue

Elaine Bradtke eb at efdss.org
Thu Nov 4 01:39:16 NZDT 2010


Copy cataloguing will help with the books.  But we have a lot of very
obscure material come through our doors, not to mention unique sound
recordings and moving images made in the field.

MARC doesn't worry me too much, but you should have seen the look on
the Director's face when he first saw the cataloguing interface.  It's
daunting for the uninitiated.  I sent him off to a MARC training
course, he's more confident now.
We'll definitely start training with copy cataloguing to ease them into it.

I haven't looked into reports, but that sounds like a good way to keep
tabs on things.

On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 7:16 PM, Joann Ransom <jransom at library.org.nz> wrote:
> Hi Elaine,
>
> We trained practically all our staff once we went live - including
> cataloguing so have no fear.
>
> re Marc: don't worry about it too much - it doesn't have to be a big deal.
> We manage by importing records through z39.50 and just changing the item
> type field on the 9th tab ( 942c).
>
> Re checking them I'd just run a report each day to bring up all the previous
> days cataloguing. Mistakes will be few if you copy catalogue and if a dodgy
> record is live for a day until its caught the world won't stop turning.
>
> Cheers Jo.
>
> On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 6:20 AM, Elaine Bradtke <eb at efdss.org> wrote:
>>
>> Has anyone trained their staff to use Koha after they've gone live?
>> Here's our situation.  We will be launching Koha with a discrete
>> collection of non-circulating material. There are political / funding
>> reasons for getting this up as soon as possible.
>>  At the moment, the rest of the staff has no MARC experience, though
>> they're very good cataloguers in our old system.  Switching to MARC
>> will be a big change for them, and will take some time, and training.
>> We'll need to have some sort of system in place where I can review
>> their work, preferably before it goes public. The plan is that by the
>> time we import the data for the circulating collection and the patron
>> information the staff will be fully trained. But there will be a time
>> period when they're still getting up to speed with MARC (we're all
>> part time). In effect we will be running two systems at once.  The old
>> system in house, and the new system (with only one collection to
>> start) on the web.
>>
>> Questions:
>> 1) Is there a way to hold back (from the OPAC) newly created MARC
>> records until they are checked, or a way to flag newly created records
>> to enable checking if they can't be held pending review?
>> 2) Or, should I consider:
>> a) a second instance of Koha for training purposes, from which I could
>> download records and then upload them into our live catalogue, or b) a
>> branch that is not viewable in the OPAC (is that possible?) from which
>> I could transfer items to the live catalogue?
>>
>> I am very much aware how much change and upheaval switching to Koha
>> means for our staff and I would like to make the transition as
>> seamless as possible.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated
>>
>>
>> --
>> Elaine Bradtke
>> Data Wrangler
>> VWML
>> English Folk Dance and Song Society | http://www.efdss.org
>> Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY
>> Tel    +44 (0) 20 7485 2206 ext 36
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Registered Company No. 297142
>> Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 305999
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
>> --Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)
>> _______________________________________________
>> Koha mailing list  http://koha-community.org
>> Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
>> http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
>
>
>
> --
> Joann Ransom RLIANZA
> Head of Libraries,
> Horowhenua Library Trust.
>
> Q: Why is this email three sentences or less?
> A: http://three.sentenc.es
>
>



-- 
Elaine Bradtke
Data Wrangler
VWML
English Folk Dance and Song Society | http://www.efdss.org
Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY
Tel    +44 (0) 20 7485 2206 ext 36
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registered Company No. 297142
Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 305999
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
--Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)


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