[Koha-devel] The future of Koha (some ideas and thoughts)

[Paul POULAIN]

Thomas D a écrit :
> The call number related columns from the biblioitems table, such as
> biblioitems.dewey, would not be needed in Koha provided that the templates
> are changed to use items.itemcallnumber.

You're 100% right here.
I needed a long time to understand how.
Let me explain : to define a "book", you have 2 differents things :
- it's classification => meaning what the book is related to. Many 
libraries uses dewey, but not all. Many uses lccn (not in France), or 
another classification (for example : ams for mathematical libraries)
- it's physical location in shelves => the "callnumber".

The difficulty here is that most libraries, and they are right, have 
callnumbered theirs "books" like they have classified them.
So, classification = callnumber.
But that's not the same concept :
* a single book (= 1 callnumber) can have X classifications in some 
cases (= some subjects)
* X books can have the same callnumber, or differents callnumbers, even 
if they have a single classification (=when the library has a callnumber 
not 100% related to classification)

That's why I introduced itemcallnumber in Koha 2.2 branch.

We need a CLASSIFICATION at the biblio level and a CALLNUMBER at the 
item level !
Usually they contain the same information, that's why there is a 
systempref where you can say "ok, computer, automatically report 
subfield XXXy from biblio into item when adding an item".

And, imho, in the opac pages we should not mix classification & 
callnumber informations.

-- 
Paul POULAIN
Consultant indépendant en logiciels libres
responsable francophone de koha (SIGB libre http://www.koha-fr.org)