Koha is not ready yet for standards compliant holdings. That would hardly make Koha unusual for library systems. However it is done, I do believe that all information that can be should be recorded in MARC. If real time updates to status in the MARC would compromise system performance, then use a corresponding more efficiently updated items.status. The status should still be updated in the MARC record as either part of a batch process, or part of a script that builds the complete record upon record export. Either of these procedures should allow status information to be stored in the record at least upon export or demand without adversely affecting system performance. If a build upon export procedure is used, then that should include export for the Z39.50 server in addition to the export script. Thomas D Quoting COURYHOUSE@aol.com :
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The best thing is to keep MARC as standard as you can...
Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC.
Paul et al,
In Paul's proposed scheme for item statuses, the items.notforloan field is linked to MARC field 942$k and then an authorized value is set for that field (defined by the library). Before we invest too much development energy on this idea I'd like to question whether it's even a good idea to store status information in the MARC record, especially we we move toward using Zebra to store our textual (MARC) database.
Stephen and I spoke earlier today and he's got me thinking that maybe it's not such a good idea to store statuses in MARC. MARC wasn't really designed for anything but the static record information. It's ill-suited for transactional based data such as statuses.
I propose that for Koha 3.0 we create a new field in the Koha tables called 'items.status'. items.status can be a numeric value and have a set of library-defined authorized values. We can then add a framework for setting those values that a library must setup when they install the system. For instance, it should be possible to set Koha to automatically set an items status to 'in transit' when an item is on reserve to a patron in a branch other than the holdingbranch (when the item is returned) and 'waiting' when it arrives and is scanned. But the goal would be to make this a setting that the library could define when setting Koha up, a set of 'status rules'.
Comments, suggestions, volunteers?
Cheers, -- Joshua Ferraro VENDOR SERVICES FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE President, Technology migration, training, maintenance, support LibLime Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS jmf@liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS
Thanks,
Ed Sharpe, Archivist for SMECC
See the Museum's Web Site at www.smecc.org
We are always looking for items to add to the museum's display and ref. library - please advise if you have anything we can use.
Coury House / SMECC 5802 W. Palmaire Ave. Phone 623-435-1522 Glendale Az 85301 USA
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