Koha

While some cataloger somewhere obviously must create a MARC record for an item that has never been cataloged before, most cataloging is done by modifying MARC records that already exist; very little cataloging is "original" cataloging. Catalogers (much like open source developers!) share their work, so others can build on and improve what they have done. If you are using MARC, adding records to your database usually begins, then, with acquiring pre-existing MARC records.

Importing good MARC records is very dependent on defining a good default Biblio Framework through the Parameters page. MARC tags that are "ignored" in the default Biblio Framework will not be imported into Koha when acquiring MARC records through Z39.50 or the upload of a file into the MARC reservoir. Spend extra time making sure that you have a well-defined default Biblio Framework. Since this is a Union Catalog, everyone will be using the same Bibliographic Framework; any recommendations would be appreciated by contacting LILRC at garthus1@lilrc.org.

Z39.50 is an international standard computer protocol for exchanging data, including bibliographic records. To be precise, "Z39.50" is actually the standard identified as ISO 23950 or ANSI/NISO Z39.50. The standard specifies a client/server-based protocol for searching and retrieving information (like MARC records) from remote databases. You can find more information from the Library of Congress' Z39.50 home page,
http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/.

For the Union Catalog, we have chosen to use Koha with MARC support turned on, Koha includes a Z39.50 client for retrieving MARC records from libraries which maintain a Z39.50 server. Librarians can pull MARC Records from the Library of Congress (LOC), or the National Library of Medicine (NLM). You will be given a choice through a check-box when the Z3950 search is first initiated.

You start the Z39.50 search process by choosing :"Add biblio" from the "Catalogue" link. This is the first step in any cataloguing chore.

This screen provides you with an opportunity to search your existing catalogue records and any records in your MARC reservoir before you add a new record. The purpose of this initial search is to avoid instances of duplicate records. For example, if you wanted to catalogue a book entitled Spy Catcher, you would enter that title in the "Title" search field and might get a result like this:

If nothing in the results screen matches the item you want to catalogue, you can click on the "Add New Biblio" button (and choose a Biblio Framework from the pull-down menu) to proceed to the next step. Likewise, if you are sure the item you want to add to the catalogue does not exist in either your current catalogue or your MARC reservoir, you can skip the search step and click on the "Create Empty Biblio" button on the first Add Biblio screen. Either way, you now come to the cataloging screen for adding a MARC record:

The appearance of this screen is controlled by the Biblio Frameworks that were set up when you defined your Koha parameters. The MARC record may be subdivided across as many as ten different screens, which can be accessed by clicking on the tabs (numbered beginning with "0") along the left side of the page. Above these tabs are two buttons: "Add biblio" (used to add the record to the catalogue when you have finished entering information) and "z3950 search." This second button is the one that we are now going to explain.

The Z39.50 client will search for items by either ISBN, author, or title. An ISBN search will, of course, return the most relevant search results, but the other search methods are provided for items that do not have an ISBN. Let us assume that you now have an new book you want to catalogue -- Donna Tartt's The Little Friend -- and you have already searched your catalogue and come to the screen above for adding a new MARC bibliographic record. To use Z39.50 to search for a record from other libraries, insert the ISBN in the ISBN field and click on the "z3950 search" button:

Figure 4.21. Z39.50 Searching

Figure 4.20. Add Biblio cataloging screen

Notice that the ISBN is entered without any hyphens. Clicking on the "z3950 search" button opens a pop-up window that reports on the progress of the search, beginning by reporting "Still ?? requests to go." As results are found, the "??" will be replaced by the number of Z39.50 servers remaining to be searched, and finally a list of all the retrieved results will be displayed.

There are several factors that can make the Z39.50 search fail at this point. First, you must have your browser set to allow pop-up windows from your Koha server. The window is actually opened to begin the search by a JavaScript, so your browser should also have JavaScript enabled. Finally, if you keep getting the "Still ?? requests to go" message over and over, your system administrator probably has not started the Z39.50 daemon using the koha/intranet/scripts/z3950daemon/z3950-daemon-launch.sh script.

Once Koha has searched through the list of Z39.50 servers that were setup in your Koha parameters, the pop-up window will display the search results.

At this point, all of the retrieved records have been added to your MARC reservoir. You can now choose from the list and click on the "Import this biblio" link next to your choice to automatically use that record to fill in the MARC values on your cataloging screen.

After editing the MARC bibliographic record to include your local information (such as the Koha Itemtype in our example) and making any other changes, click on the "Add biblio" button to save the MARC record and proceed to entering the item information.

Acquiring MARC Bibliographic Records

The Z39.50 Search