Rosalie Blake wrote:
Hello Michelle, I can only answer part of your question, but I'm sending both your question and my reply to the kohalist, where people with eperience in MARC will pick it up, and offer some more answers, I'm sure.
Koha is easy for novice cataloguers. As a small public library, we don't need detailed cataloguing for most records, and we do need fast records - we like to get our books on the shelf without delay. So we don't import MARC records any longer. We used to, but gave it up some years back, when we realised it wasn't meeting our needs - too slow and too detailed, and sometimes not appropriate.
But I am very well aware that other libraries' priorities are different, and a team of Koha developers has been working on the MARC interface - notably Paul Poulain. I will leave him to comment on your questions about auto-coding.
Hi: Is koha easy to use for "novice" catalogers? Does it have a fill in the blanks template with author, title, publisher, etc., which auto-codes marc? Does the cataloger need to be very familiar, somewhat familiar or unfamiliar with marc code? Please advise. Also, please share your personal views on the koha system. I tried out the Koha OPAC at Horowhenua Library Trust via the web and it looks impressive. best regards from,
A more complete answer for MARC cataloguing : The new 1.4 version will support complete every marc flavor (through a
oups... I almost missed this mail ;-) parameter table). A LOT of things can be parameterised : * you can define up to 4 differents marc templates (for example : monographies, periodics, audio and other). * for each template you can define exactly which marc fields you want to manage or ignore. Thus, you can choose Z44-050 or if you prefer Z44-072 or Z44-073 for monographies. * Each subfield can be of one of the 3 following types : - free (anything can be entered) - listed values only (you enter in a parameter table authorised values, and you can only choose between those values) - in authority file only (you can enter any value in a authority parameter table. You can have as many "categories" of authorities as you want) * The MARC cataloguing is done through (upto) 10 tabs on the same page. you can choose which field you put on which tab. So, I think MARC cataloguing can be, to your choice, very simple (10 values on 1 tab) or very complete (400 values on 10 tabs). Note that MARC21 in english and UNIMARC in french parameters tables are already done. Any help welcomed to add more... -- Paul POULAIN koha 1.4 release manager