[Koha] [EXTERNAL] Re: Advice for how to update huge numbers of bib records, for former Millennium user

[Eric Phetteplace]

There's an additional step which ferries the data from a report into the
batch modification tool (Tools > Batch item/record modification). For bibs
or authorities, you need to create a MARC modification template
<https://bywatersolutions.com/education/monday-minutes-marc-modification-templates>
describing
your changes first. It's a relatively new feature but our 19.11 Koha lets
you perform batch operations on the visible records displaying on the
report results page, but that maxes out at a thousand records. You could
also save the visible records into a list and then perform batch operations
on the list. That might be more foolproof since you have a stored record of
what was modified.

If you need to modify more than 1000 records, I think you have to download
a list of the record identifiers and then feed that file into the batch
modifications tool. If you just make your report's SELECT statement only
retrieve the identifier column (itemnumber, biblionumber, etc.) that works,
but it also makes the reports less understandable for others. You could
download the report CSV and then trim the non-identifier columns. You could
also operate on records in smaller batches e.g. a few hundred a time. But
something like "modify these 40,000 bibs" is probably always a multistep
process. We're small (90,000 items total) so maybe a larger library can
chime in on whether there's a better approach at scale.

Best,

ERIC PHETTEPLACE Systems Librarian, Libraries (he/him)

ephetteplace at cca.edu | o 510.594.3660 (cca)

5212 Broadway | Oakland, CA | 94618

CCA is situated on the traditional unceded lands of the Ohlone peoples.

Black-owned bookstores in Oakland: Ashay by the Bay
<https://ashaybythebay.com/>, Marcus Books
<https://www.facebook.com/marcus.books/>

:(){ :|: & };:


On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 2:31 PM Bales (US), Tasha R <
tasha.r.bales at boeing.com> wrote:

> I really appreciate your reply Eric, thank you.  I will check out your
> link.  Alas, this is also a bit of a disaster.  I see my workload
> increasing.  J
>
>
>
> If staff will be using SQL, I have reservations about unintentional
> changes or deletions.  Once a Report is created, are you just using SQL to
> change field data as well, or is there a different tool available that
> staff may use to actually apply their changes?
>
>
>
> Thanks for your time,
>
>
>
>
>
> *Tasha R. Bales*
>
>
>
> *From:* Eric Phetteplace [mailto:ephetteplace at cca.edu]
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 21, 2021 12:48 PM
> *To:* Bales (US), Tasha R <tasha.r.bales at boeing.com>
> *Cc:* koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] Re: [Koha] Advice for how to update huge numbers of
> bib records, for former Millennium user
>
>
>
> EXT email: be mindful of links/attachments.
>
>
>
>
> Hi Tasha,
>
>
>
> We were also a former Millennium library that migrated to Koha, though
> it's been a while (migrated in 2016). Reports are essentially Millennium's
> "Lists" but they require more skill to create. So your example would need
> to be a SQL Report filtering according to the properties you've laid out
> (e.g. biblios not linked to the orders table, with item location in (X, Y,
> Z), biblio.author != 'AUTHOR', etc.).
>
>
>
> I hosted workshops (here's a recording of one
> <https://youtu.be/K0zTu4qZ88c>) with our catalogers and other technicians
> on learning basic SQL and I write the more sophisticated reports for them.
> You can use runtime parameters to make the reports a little more flexible
> so that staff can adjust them to changing needs but they're not going to be
> able to accomplish much on their own without an understanding of SQL. I
> never use the guided reports in Koha and my memory of the few times I tried
> was that you couldn't accomplish anything substantial, but then again I
> prefer working in SQL anyways as it's so much more powerful than
> abstractions like Guided Reports or Create Lists.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> *ERIC PHETTEPLACE* Systems Librarian, Libraries (he/him)
>
> ephetteplace at cca.edu | o 510.594.3660 (cca)
>
> 5212 Broadway | Oakland, CA | 94618
>
> *CCA is situated on the traditional unceded lands of the Ohlone peoples.*
>
> *Black-owned bookstores in Oakland: Ashay by the Bay
> <https://ashaybythebay.com/>, Marcus Books
> <https://www.facebook.com/marcus.books/>*
>
> :(){ :|: & };:
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 10:15 AM Bales (US), Tasha R <
> tasha.r.bales at boeing.com> wrote:
>
> What would be the Koha equivalent to Millennium Create Lists* (or Alma
> Normalization Rules and Record Sets)?
>
> So far, I see that lists and carts can be used to update records in Koha,
> but this seems to demand working with a pre-determined list of record
> numbers, or else by manually adding items to a cart.  What if I need to
> update a huge number of "unknown" records meeting specific criteria?
>
> Can anyone suggest what the approach would be to accomplish an objective
> like this:
>
> A non-administrator with limited technical skills needs to gather and
> update 40,000 bib records in Koha that can't be identified by any single
> unifying attributes.  My Millennium query might have looked like this:
>
> *         Bib record not attached to order AND
>
> *         (Location is Y or Location is X or Location is Z) and
>
> *         Author is not TODD and
>
> *         Note doesn't have FREE
>
> *Millennium Create Lists allows you to create a Boolean Search, with up to
> about 20 statements, to query the entire database (various methods to
> search subsets or existing result sets also exist) and saves it to a file
> that can then be exported, or operated on (to apply global updates to fixed
> or variable fields, for instance).  No knowledge of SQL is needed.
>
> Thanks in advance for any tips.  As an administrator, I could conceivably
> do this with SQL, but that's not feasible for cataloging staff.  We update
> large quantities of records all the time.
>
>
> Tasha R. Bales
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