[Koha] Question on Z39.50 cross-format queries

[Manos Petridis]

Sorry, seem to have replied by mistake to the poster and not to the list.


>________________________________
> From: Manos Petridis <egpetridis at yahoo.com>
>To: BWS Johnson <abesottedphoenix at yahoo.com> 
>Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 3:24 PM
>Subject: Re: [Koha] Question on Z39.50 cross-format queries
>  
>
>Thank you for your welcome Brooke, and for your prompt reply.
> 
>I do understand that my own installation can be either USMARC/MARC21 or UNIMARC. What I was enquiring about is Z39.50 look-ups. Why I am puzzled:
> 
>a) It it were simply a case of either/or, then why can I select the MARC flavour of the various Z39.50 origins set up at my installation? What is the reason to let koha know of the MARC flavour/dialect, if it not able to use the data that each server sends? There must be some functionality behind the dropbox selections, even if it only defines the query statement dialect.
> 
>b) From What I can see in the data presented (in the MARC form window) it sometimes is just a matter of mapping. For example, it seems that 
>
>in SUTRS, information is stored in the following keys:
>Title:                     200
>Author:                    700_a, 700_b, 701_a, 701_b...Editon details            210
>Physical descrition:       215
>DDC*:                      676_a
>DDC description:           676_9
>Subjects:                  606
>
>in USMARC, information is stored in the following keys:
>Title:                     245
>Author:                    700
>Editon details             260
>Physical descrition:       300
>DDC*:                      082 (revision and Category)
>Subjects:                  650, 505 (fixed and free-form)
>LCCN:                      010
> 
>in UNIMARC, information is stored in the following keys:
>Title:                     200
>Author:                    700, 701Editon details             210
>Physical descrition:       215
>DDC*:                      676 (revision and Category)Subjects:                  606, 712 (fixed and free-form)
> 
>This is what I meant when I wrote "I understand that both standards encode the same more-or-less information, differently" in my original message. There are bound to be differences, sure, but I'm looking for the gest in the MARC records, not the details that frankly I don't even know what they represent. 
>
>I understand that even the information retrieved via Z39.50 from same-flavour installations, passes some kind of mapping, from the MARC record form to the form of the various tables and fields/columns used by the specific software/implementation, koha in our case. I expect therefore that it would be a matter of utilising the appropriate mapping tables, as dictated by the MARC setting of each Z39.50 origin, so that koha could make use of "foreign" MARC records.
>kind regards,
>Manos Petridis---
> 
> 
> From: BWS Johnson <abesottedphoenix at yahoo.com>
>To: "koha at lists.katipo.co.nz" <koha at lists.katipo.co.nz> 
>Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 1:21 PM
>Subject: Re: [Koha] Question on Z39.50 cross-format queries
>
>
>>Salvete!
>>
>>    Welcome to the Community. :)
>>
>>
>>> Question:
>>> I have selected USMARC/MARC21 as my installation's native format. This 
>>> serves nicely when I perform Z39.50 queries against many USMARC/MARC21 sources. 
>>> On the other hand, when I perform Z39.50 queries against UNIMARC sources, I 
>>> don't get properly formatted results even though I have set-up those sources 
>>> (origins) as UNIMARC in koha. 
>>> 
>>> I understand that both standards encode the same more-or-less information, 
>>> differently. 
>>> Therefore - if I understand correctly - koha would have to request from an 
>>> UNIMARC-only-capable source that they return UNIMARC-formatted results, and koha 
>>> would need to map them - if and as possible - to the native format of my 
>>> installation, i.e. USMARC/MARC21. 
>>> 
>>> Apparently this doesn't happen. Is it
 normal?
>>
>>
>>    That is very normal. MARC21/UNIMARC is an either or standard selection. You may have MARC21 or you may have UNIMARC. To my knowledge, you may not have both.
>>
>>    That said, when this last came up, I can see the point of wanting to be able to run both in parallel if you absolutely MUST have both. Suggestions for how to do that are here:
>>
>>http://koha.1045719.n5.nabble.com/Software-error-td5114149.html
>>
>>Cheers,
>>Brooke
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Koha mailing list  http://koha-community.org
>>Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
>>http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
>>
>>
>>   
>
>