[Koha] Use koha as a reference database

[CConner]

We are using Koha for our GIS Bibliography, see: gis.library.esri.com.  There
are roughly 150,000 citations (with some full-text pdfs) in our database. 
The goal is to cover all significant literature and grey material related to
geographic information science.

We've encountered several issues and I am still working out the kinks.
1. First cataloging citations in MARC is difficult.  We are not cataloging
physical items and MARC limitations for such records is beyond frustrating. 

2.The whole purpose of our bibliography is for users to export citations
while performing research.  The built-in OPAC export tool did not export
anything correctly!  The export tool used the MARC leader position 6 for
item type instead of the Koha item type when exporting to RIS or BIBTEX. 
This meant that conference papers, journal articles and book chapters always
exported as "Books."  Not helpful for users trying to build citations! 
We've been working with ByWater on this issue since 2013.  They created a
plugin that allows us to tell Koha what MARC fields to map to certain
RIS/BIBTEX tags.  So now the export tool points to 942c for item type
instead of the leader.  

3.  Another issue we encountered involved the data migration from our old
homegrown database to Koha.  We did not have our records in MARC format and
when they were converted we lost some valuable data.  The biggest issue here
involved journal volume, issue and page numbers being combined into a single
773 Host field.  That meant exported citations did not have these valuable
bits separated into their own fields.  We have since copied this info to
363abc so that they are independent of each other.  Also our data vendor put
editors into author fields...another big no-no for citations.
  
When I first started working on this project I contacted Fred King and found
his website very helpful.  I believe Koha was the correct choice for our
library and I think the user interface and search options will make our
bibliography users very happy.  

Colleen Conner
Corporate Librarian, Esri



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