At 07:45 PM 3/23/2016 +0000, Daniel Glendening wrote:
Hi,
I'm working on a restructuring of a small arts non-profit library. The
library currently uses an esoteric, confusing custom catalog numbering
system devised by a staff member who is no longer here.
We'd like to switch all our records over to LoC cataloging. We currently are
using Koha 3.18.05.100 - I'm curious if it's possible to replace all our
records with LoC records, in bulk, rather than editing each individually.
Having gone through the same sort of "exercise" for about 13,000 records
five or six years ago, the short answer is "no", it's not possible. (The
long answer is that it might be possible to write a script to try and batch
import via Z3950, but this would assume many things -- that there are no
typos in your existing titles, authors (confusion over authorities), ISBNs,
publishers, edition numbers, publication dates, etc; and that LoC actually
have all your records which is probably true for 99% of US first and
numbered/revised edition publications, but watch out for differences in
ISBNs between hardbacks and trade paperbacks, and be very aware that later
imprints are "spotty" at best; LoC is also helpful for a few / some
"foreign" titles.)
We "imported" from spreadsheets via MarcEdit and in hindsight got a lot of
"success" and some blatant deficiencies which we're still correcting. The
bottom line is that we are still "re-cataloguing", with LoC, LAC, BL, BNF,
whatever Z3950 records, (and of course with the "Mark 1 eyeball" method)
many books that have been on our shelves for twenty or more years.
Your mileage might vary...
Wishing you luck -- Paul
---
Maritime heritage and history, preservation and conservation,
research and education through the written word and the arts.
<http://NavalMarineArchive.com> and <http://UltraMarine.ca>
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