[Koha] Adding an independent branch

[Elaine Bradtke]

We have a sister library with very similar content that would like to be
added as an independent branch. I estimate the duplication rate of their
material with ours is 95% or better.  But most of this material does not
have an ISBN number. Their data, in its raw state is quite messy, and needs
cleaning up, but much of this work could be avoided by linking to biblio
records already in our catalogue.

Given that they have a part time professional librarian on a limited
contrantract (and I'm only part time on another limited contract) we're
trying to work out the most efficient way to add their records as an
independent branch.

Plan A) I have uploaded their data into our test site, with the item
records designated as their branch - If they did the linking and
corrections in the test site, could I export only their branch's records
(mostly item records, but perhaps some biblios) and import them into our
main site? We use the 999c in record matching because so much of our
material doesn't have ISBN.

Plan B) Upload their data directly to the main site, but mark them all as
Hide in OPAC until they can edit them. Simpler, but we're worried how much
access we'll have to grant to our biblio records.

Because we're keeping the branches very separate, would they be able to add
items to our bib records if they are limited to editing records from their
own branch? The problem is their cataloguing is done by volunteers and
especially after the professional librarian's contract ends,  we want to
very strictly limit what they can do to our records.

What's the best way to add items belonging to another branch if you have to
do it manually (because of no ISBN numbers?) Do you use the merge function?
I think this will require a lot of experimentation, but I'd love to hear
from anyone who's had experience with this process.
Thanks!

Elaine Bradtke

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 (This number is for the English Folk Dance and
Song Society in London, England. If you wish to phone me personally, send
an e-mail first. I work off site)
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"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
--Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)