[Koha] Notes from Cat-SIG, June 4, 2020

[Hernandez, Heather H]

Hi, all--

Our Koha-US Cataloging SIG meeting on June 4 was not recorded, but here are the notes from the meeting:

Information on the Koha-US Cataloging SIG is here, open to everyone (you don't need to be a Koha-US member to join):
http://koha-us.org/special-interest-groups/

MarcEdit and batch processes:
The process in our May meeting for verifying & downloading authority records, recorded here https://youtu.be/J2WddLD41uQ , was correct.  Subsequent testing has shown that sometimes you do get a file full of free authority records downloaded from the Library of Congress, but sometimes you don't--it seems that sometimes LC is responsive, sometimes it's not.  Participants have found this also with batch searching/download of bibliographic records as well, but more testing is needed.  The question was asked if LC throttles numbers of records at one time?  We don't know at this point.
MarcEdit is available here: https://marcedit.reeset.net/
Fred played a short video of his use of MarcEdit to batch search and download records.   If you're new to MarcEdit, there is a good "101 series" of videos here: https://marcedit.reeset.net/marcedit-101-workshop
And Terry Reese (the MarcEdit developer) has posted a lot of updated how-to videos on his YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7OLudoObYgiN_EmyDtZ_DQ

Record templates:
I created a page on the Koha wiki with a template for a "good enough" bibliographic record, with a link to download this record in MARC:
https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Good_enough_biblio_record/
It currently doesn't have a subject heading field, but I'll add that.  I'll also add a link on the Koha wiki to the Library of Congress' MARC21 page for those who would like to find out more about MARC.
It was also mentioned that one library has a lot of template records in their Koha catalog and that they hide them.

Elaine shared a link to a .pdf file that she created with tons of useful resources that includes many of the resources mentioned here, in addition to other great resources:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/108VI7xdMQo0QpGYZ43Wy-hKl9FbUinn3/view?usp=sharing

Many of us viewed the ByWater video on setting up Z39.50 servers in Koha:
https://youtu.be/HxZHekLGWxA
This video mentions the IRSpy directory of Z39.50 targets--you can add your catalog to it, too:
http://irspy.indexdata.com/
You can also find Z39.50 targets (and add your catalog) to the Koha wiki:
https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Koha_Open_Z39.50_Sources

Authorities:
Experiences with authority records and authorities workflows were shared--some libraries outsource this (one library uses Backstage Library Works), some do it in house.  Thomas shared this link http://www.loc.gov/cds/products/marcDist.php to the MARC record distributing from the Library of Congress.  Some libraries are cleaning up local authority files migrated into Koha from previous systems (and use reports available from the Koha wiki http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/SQL_Reports_Library and/or imported from Mana, a capability in later versions of Koha).  ByWater did a video of how to add reports to the Koha wiki:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHlGjszH5Zo
And also did a video on editing reports from Mana:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVmw7f1hL8g
 Some libraries are also working on correcting/updating headings in their bibliographic records.  Sharing workflows is encouraged, especially for working remotely--we can share these workflows via email and/or in the Cataloging Training Resources area of the Koha wiki, https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Training_resources#Cataloging , and/or at our future Cataloging SIG meetings (which will be recorded).

Some folks communicate additions/changes for headings/authority records to the Library of Congress; I often use this form to send them information on improving existing authority records: https://www.loc.gov/contact/catalog-record-error-report/
Resources for LC subject headings are here, including requesting new/added subject headings, and the "Approved Lists" which contain new and revised subject & genre headings: https://www.loc.gov/aba/cataloging/subject/

Workflows related to these new/revised subject headings lists were discussed--small staffs/solo catalogers skim/read the new lists and keep an eye out for headings that would be useful for their materials, are possibly in their catalog, etc., then download the new or revised authority record(s) which overlay/update on the 010 field (usually) in Koha--linked headings in bibliographic records are updated, but if the heading is used and not linked (e.g., because of a subdivision), those have to be searched and then updated.

Some libraries created authority records from scratch in databases, spreadsheets, etc., then used MarcEdit to convert those to MARC for import into Koha.

Archival resources:
Many of us have archival resources in our collections--some of them are cataloging into Koha, some are waiting to catalog their published materials before beginning on the archival resources.  Some of these cataloging records are directly for the archives, archival resources, items, collections, even museum objects, some are bibliographic records for finding aids to the archival collections.  Some bib records have links to online/digital versions.  MarcEdit can be used to convert EAD finding aids to MARC records.  Some also have user copies of archival resources in their Koha catalogs for, e.g., digitized versions of the archival resources, or even hardcopy photocopies of e.g. manuscripts & other resources in the archives.

Jason shared some SQL for reports that can be used to send the output hyperlinked into a spreadsheet!
CONCAT('http://192.168.1.163:8081/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=',biblionumber) AS URL
 =HYPERLINK(A1)

More on subject headings:
The importance of subject headings in even the most minimal bibliographic records was discussed, even just one very general heading.  It's common for users to need & want this.  There is a useful report in the Koha wiki, "Bibs without subjects"--I edited it in my Koha catalog to include local subject headings (690 fields), to this:
SELECT CONCAT('<a href=\"/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=',biblionumber,'\">',biblionumber,'</a>')
AS bibnumber
FROM
(SELECT biblionumber, ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="650"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub1,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="651"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub2,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="600"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub3,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="610"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub4,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="611"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub5,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="630"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub6,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="648"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub7,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="653"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub8,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="654"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub9,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="655"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub10,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="656"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub11,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="657"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub12,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="658"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub13,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="662"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub14,
ExtractValue(metadata,'//datafield[@tag="690"]/subfield[@code>="a"]') AS sub15
FROM biblio_metadata) AS subjects
WHERE sub1 = ""
AND sub2 = ""
AND sub3 = ""
AND sub4 = ""
AND sub5 = ""
AND sub6 = ""
AND sub7 = ""
AND sub8 = ""
AND sub9 = ""
AND sub10 = ""
AND sub11 = ""
AND sub12 = ""
AND sub13 = ""
AND sub14 = ""
AND sub15 = ""

It was a fun discussion!  Our next meeting is Thursday, July 2 @ 8 am – 9 am PT (9 MT/10 CT/11 ET in the United States), open to all, topic TBA, and we will return to recording the meeting and posting the recording for those who couldn't make it--detailed information on joining the meeting is on the Koha-US calendar here: http://koha-us.org/calendar/

Let's document and share those cataloging & project workflows!

Cheerio!
h2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ms. Heather Hernandez (she, her, hers)
Technical Services Librarian
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Research Center
2 Marina Blvd., Bldg. E, 3rd floor, San Francisco, CA  94123-1284
415-561-7032, heather_hernandez at nps.gov<https://webmail.lmi.net/src/compose.php?send_to=heather_hernandez%40nps.gov>
Library catalog: http://keys.bywatersolutions.com/