[Koha] some thoughts about cataloguing and acquisitions [important]

[paul POULAIN]

I want here share some ideas for the 2.0 version of koha, around 
cataloguing and acquisition.

Most ILS, in France at least, separate cataloguing and acquisition.
* *cataloguing* is often done through a CDROM (from the BNF for example) 
: the librarian download from the cd the biblio in MARC format, which is 
included in it's ILS. The cataloguing refers only to BIBLIO notice, not 
items and how they arrive in the library.
* *acquisition* referers to how "books" arrive in the library (and 
includes items)

In koha, at the moment, there is no distinction between those 2 topics : 
look at koha main page, there is only a "acquisition" picture, which 
includes cataloguing and acquisition in fact.
I want to begin de debate to see if it's a good idea to distinct 
acquisition and cataloguing in 2.0.
It would mean :
* in mainpage => 2 links for cataloguing and acquisition
* acquisition => works almost like the normal acquisition system of the 
old version : search for a supplier, enter a little part of the biblio...
* cataloguing =>
- if marc is selected : works like the acqui.simple in 1.3.3 (see 
demo.koha-fr.org),
- if marc is not selected : works like the 2nd part of the normal 
acquisition in 1.2 : enter the biblio details.
this supposes a new parameter in the systempreferences table.

One other idea : it would enable a "suggestion" feature in the opac : 
readers could suggest books to add, which could be stored in the 
"acquisition" part of koha, in a "to validate" status.

 From a developper point of vue, this means :
* duplicating biblio table to acqui_biblio table
* split normal acquisition in 2 parts
* change normal acquisition to write acqui_biblio table and not biblio
* create some screens to link the acquisition part and the cataloguing one.
some work, but not too much i think (if someone wants to fund it, send 
me a mail :-) ).

Of course, if you create a book in the acquisition part, all what you 
typed would be auto-copied when entering the cataloguing part :-)
So there should not be too much more work for the librarian/cataloguer 
(but a few, anyway : this would add screens, so, more clics)

-- 
Paul POULAIN
Consultant indépendant en logiciels libres
responsable francophone de koha (SIGB libre http://www.koha-fr.org)