[Koha] New to KOHA

[Steven F.Baljkas]

Monday, February 27, 2006      20:52 CST

Hi, Marie,

Just one quick notendum, as I know you have received useful responses on the more germane matters from Stephen, Joshua, et al, already ...

> From: "Marie Wardall" <mwardall at dce.k12.wi.us>
> Date: 2006/02/26 Sun PM 02:01:21 CST
> To: <koha at lists.katipo.co.nz>
> Subject: [Koha] New to KOHA
>
> Our school district is building a new K-5 building to open in the fall and we
> are looking into opening the library using KOHA.  I will be the librarian in
> the new building and have been looking into and trying things out in the KOHA
> demo. Our new school would be the pilot school for KOHA in the district and
> if things went well then it would be implemented throughout the district.
> [snip]
>
> *One last thing for now, as I am sure I will have others as I investigate
> more and am able to work through the setting up of the system preferences, is > that in the Cataloging on the demo there is a Default MARC record framework
> and a Test MARC record framework I could choose from.  I'm thinking I could
> set up different frameworks here for the different types of materials that I
> catalog such as book, video, DVD, CD, equipment and an easy MARC for when I
> don't need or want a complete MARC record.  Once I set up those different
> MARC frameworks when I would catalog I could just choose the framework and
> put in the information that was needed for that type of material or
> item...right?

Just a vocabulary suggestion here, really; since many ILS and cataloguers would refer to them as such, we may want to stick with the term 'template' for different set-ups to catalogue different material types (especially).

Also, I don't know that you need to have an easy MARC record per se: by that, I think you mean a record with just certain core fields, right? When would *you* (your library system) not want a complete MARC record? There are always the distinctions between 1st level and 3rd level description (nobody expects that you would do 3rd for everything ... I hope! If so, push for a pay increase ;-D).

You do realise that you do not have to have all fields represented for a record to be a valid MARC record. It is perfectly valid, for example, to decide that, for certain kinds of materials, certain fields are omitted. Many school libraries don't subject video materials to subject analysis (I personally think that a mistake, but hey, I'm a cataloguer) or decide that maps, globes and posters get 1st level description where books and videos get 2nd. I don't think even LC uses 3rd level for everything.

IIRC, Follett, among many others (Sagebrush, Mandarin), makes reference to easy MARC records to mean quickie records created when something new pops up or just as often, when the ILS has mysteriously lost an item ;-). If that is what you are worried about, Marie, I think you may find it is less a concern with Koha than with most ILS. In fact, I cannot remember anyone ever noting/complaining about Koha losing records in the nearly 4 years I have followed the listserv faithfully.

Good luck with your migration to Koha. Hopefully, it will be a success for you and give impetus to Anne and team in piloting Koha in other Wisconsin schools.

Best wishes,
Steven F. Baljkas
library tech at large
Koha neophyte
Winnipeg, MB, Canada