[Koha] marc import

[BWS Johnson]

Salve!


>I don't understand why people think Koha is somehow deficient in MARC
>support. (Most of the "problems" I've seen are a result of not reading
>the manual!) When I got my MLS, I was taught that MARC is a way to
store,
>retrieve and share records between libraries. I don't remember a single
>word being said about how the records are displayed or manipulated by
an
>ILS. If you can save, edit, and search on all valid MARC fields, then
you
>have full MARC support. Since Koha can do exactly that when it's set up
>properly (as well as importing and exporting MARC records), then Koha
has
>full MARC support. Period.
>

The 650 x problem is a big deal. Other than that, I agree. Now, if there
is a way to make the subject subheadings play nice with their bigger
brothers, let me know. I do like the keyword search - it blows other
ILSs out of the water. Much of this falls under "save the time of the
reader" to me.


>NPL has been using Koha for 29 months now, and we haven't had any
unusual
>problems with any of our MARC records. To imply that Koha is somehow
>"MARC-deficient" may work in the hallowed halls of theory, but in the
real
>world of day-to-day library operations, it's just not true.
>


I generally tell people that most librarians wouldn't notice, and almost
all users won't. To me, it boils down to this: I'm not paying for the
fix, so if the fix comes slowly, great. As it is, the support with Koha
is way better than commercial products. Frankly, and I know I'll get
burned at the stake for this, Koha was really meant as a small to medium
public library product in a nation that couldn't give a fig about MARC.
Having perfect MARC compatibility is an academic or medium to large
library problem. 


>Someday soon, when all of the rest of the world is using XML and only a
>few of us MLS folks still give a damn about MARC, I expect to see Koha
as
>one of the few ILS's that is flexible enough to still survive.


This I wholeheartedly agree on. How I already grin at the thought of
being able to easily link my ebooks! It's awesome that Koha was all set
to do this. 

Cheers,
Brooke @ Hinsdale MA 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.katipo.co.nz/pipermail/koha/attachments/20060223/334b0f7b/attachment.htm