[Koha] Some questions - and a suggestion - on treatment of ISBN in koha

Tue Apr 30 05:05:45 NZST 2013

When we convert our files for upload into Koha we remove all the spaces and
hyphens.  When staff members edit new records in Koha, they're supposed to
delete hypens and spaces.  This seems like a lot of extra work. I'd say
only 20 per cent of our collection has ISBNs, so we don't rely on them that
much for searching.  But  I find a similar problems to what M. Saby
describes when searching for titles in Copac or other cooperative
catalogues.  What should be an aid (a standard number) is often an
impediment, due to the inconsistency  in cataloguing methods. Perhaps some
bright programmer can come up with a solution to search all the variables,
without bringing back too many false positives.

On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 1:13 PM, Mathieu Saby
<mathieu.saby at univ-rennes2.fr>wrote:

> Hello
> improving the management of ISBN would be a nice enhancement.
> This could improve search, and detection of duplicates.
>
> I have never used Z3950 search, but if it is always translating 13 digits
> isbn into 10 digits, it is probably not a good. It should search both forms.
> Or search 3 forms in some cases : remember 13 digits isbn are not only
> made with 978 prefix, but also 979. So, from a 10 digits isbn you can made
> two 13 digits isbn.
>
> For the way you must store isbn in the record :
> In France, with UNIMARC and french cataloguing standard, we work like this
> :
> 010 $aISBN10 (WITH the hyphens)
> and we add an other 010, ONLY if the two are printed on the book, or if
> the book were printed with isbn10 and reprinted some years later with
> isbn13.
> 010 $aISBN13 (WITH the hyphens)
>
> With AACR2 and Marc21, OCLC is also repeating the 020
> https://www.oclc.org/**bibformats/en/0xx/020.html<https://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/0xx/020.html>
>
> But rather than populating automaticly the record with alternates versions
> of ISBN - that would be against our cataloguing rules - I would prefer a
> change in Search.pm, so that when a search is made on isbn index, Koha
> would search alternates versions of the isbn.
> For an isbn10 : search isbn10 OR 978-isbn10 (with correction of control
> element)  OR 979-isbn10 (with correction of control element)
> For an isbn13 : search isbn13 OR isbn 10
> This could be done for isbn index, but also for any index if the string
> searched by a user is an isbn.
>
> M. Saby
>
>
>
>
> Le 28/04/2013 10:28, Manos PETRIDIS a écrit :
>
>  Please consider the following scenario:
>>
>>
>> I have a book in my hands that bears ISBN-13 9780553507065, and wish to
>> make
>> a biblio entry in koha. I go to Home > Cataloging and perform a
>> "Cataloging
>> search" i.e. "Search the catalog and the reservoir" with the ISBN on the
>> book. Failing to find it, I then perform a Z39.50 search, select a fitting
>> entry and try to import it in my koha, only to find that the book already
>> exists there. Odd...
>>
>>
>> Correct me if I'm wrong, but koha staff client cataloging search at
>> /cgi-bin/koha/cataloguing/addb**ooks.pl <http://addbooks.pl> seems to
>> look for specific strings of
>> characters.
>>
>> Therefore, when one enters an ISBN number of 9780006483113 as a search
>> string for example, koha fails to find entries bearing ISBN numbers of
>>
>> 978-0-553-50706-5
>>
>> 0-553-50706-0
>>
>> 0553507060
>>
>> i.e. the alternate forms of the same ISMB number.
>>
>>
>> I also remember reading here in the list, that when performing Z39.50
>> searches koha first "translates" the ISBN-13 user input to ISBN-10 before
>> querying Z39.50 targets.
>>
>> Thus, should one select a Z39.50 result with ISBN-10 and fail to "correct"
>> it before saving the new entry, is prone to the problem described above.
>>
>>
>> Furthermore, should that be the case, if one chooses to use the ISBN-13
>> form
>> only when editing his own entries, they would fail to appear on other
>> people's searches on his own koha installation, if their own system was
>> koha
>> too (or preformed along similar lines).
>>
>>
>> Questions:
>>
>> If one wishes to enter all four alternate forms of the same ISBN, is it
>> better to use multiple 020a entries (in USMARC) or to use multiple
>> occurrences within the same 020a entry?
>>
>> Do other libraries/systems use the notion "A | B | C | D" I see in their
>> Z39.50 results, or is it simply a convention used to display in one line
>> values kept as discrete entries in the originating system?
>>
>>
>> Suggestion:
>>
>> I guess there is some valid reasoning behind the behaviour described
>> above,
>> resolved when these koha modules were created, I wonder however if it
>> would
>> be useful that koha would automatically populate the bibliographical
>> entries
>> with the missing alternate  020a entries (in USMARC), either at the time
>> of
>> user input, or by some batch procedure, that would also take care of
>> existing entries. This could well be controlled by two new
>> options/preferences, one that would enable such behaviour and one that
>> would
>> instruct koha to use one 020a entry to keep all four forms, or four
>> discrete
>> entries.
>>
>>
>> kind regards,
>>
>> Manos PETRIDIS
>>
>> Athens, Greece
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Mathieu Saby
> Service d'Informatique Documentaire
> Service Commun de Documentation
> Université Rennes 2
> Téléphone : 02 99 14 12 65
> Courriel : mathieu.saby at univ-rennes2.fr
>
>
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>

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