Robert, Under rules for MARC, all you really need is a 245 (title) field to be a record. It would be of dubious use, but would technically be a MARC record. As far as I have seen as a user, the issues with brief records in Evergreen are the same as with any ILS and are mainly in retrieval (indexing), display and how the circulation structure is assigned. The later may not be a problem for you -- basically Evergreen (at least how PINES uses it) first assigns circ policies based on the format of the item (visual, books, sound recording, etc) as defined in the fixed field and then on any circ modifiers set at cataloging. So, if the fixed field is not correct in the record, the wrong circulation period and fine structure may be assigned to the item at checkout. I'm sure there are ways around this in Evergreen that someone else can address.
Which fields you want to use in brief records will depend on the nature of your collection and how you will be circulating items. The less information in the record, the less likely you will retrieve the record in a search and to distinguish between like items in the catalog. If you have a number of different editions of the same title and want to be able to tell from the catalog which of those editions you've retrieved, you will need more than author/title in the record. If you will be loaning items to people and having different circulation policies for different formats (your books and your DVDs, for example) you may want to include fixed field information. There is probably a different way to indicate this -- I'm interpreting based on how we use Evergreen in PINES, so someone may be able to correct me. Before you decide which fields to use, decide whether you need to distinguish different editions from your catalog, if you want subject access, or multiple authors or artists listed. Basically, think about your collection in terms of how a really brief record might cause major problems in indexing and retrieval that would be solved by including more information in the record for the item. If you haven't already, take a look at OCLC's bibliographic format and standards for a description and examples of MARC fields (http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/default.htm) or at LC's MARC21 documentation (http://www.loc.gov/marc/) For variable fields, you are likely to need: 100 (personal name) or 110 (corporate name) if these are present 245 subfield a (subfield b if present) 250 subfield a (if other than 1st ed present) 260 subfield b (publisher) and subfield c (publication date) 300 subfield a (pagination) 6xx fields for subjects 7xx fields for multiple authors or artists For fixed fields -- BLvl Bibliographic Level DtSt Type of Date/Publication Status Dates Date 1 and Date 2 Lang Language Code TMat Type of Material Type Type of Record I did a Google search on "Z39.50 libraries" and found a few sites that might give you access to other library catalogs. They may not allow downloads, but you might be able to at least see a MARC record for one of your titles. http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/z3950/serverinfo.html http://staff.library.mun.ca/staff/toolbox/z3950hosts.htm http://www.loc.gov/z3950/ (this is a list of links, some of which don't work, of gateways to various library catalogs. Most are academic). You can see the MARC record in PINES as well. But we are not likely to have your Euroopean titles. There are others, if you do the same or more refined search, you might find one that does what you need. There are companies that provide, for a fee, software to allow you to download MARC records from different Z39.50 gateways. I only found one using the above search, but I know there are others -- http://www.scanbarcode.com/web5/Publisher%20Conversions/marcexpl1.htm Also, as a Georgia citizen, you can have access to our digital library, Galileo, which includes WorldCat, an OCLC product. While you can't see the MARC records, you can get an idea of subject and name headings and how individual libraries have cataloged and classified a title. Many libraries have allowed direct links to their catalogs from the record in WorldCat. Contact your local public library for a password you can use at home. If they can't help you navigate WorldCat, let me know off list and I can get you started. Elaine ________________________________ J. Elaine Hardy Library Services Manager - Collections & Reference Georgia Public Library Service, A Unit of the University System of Georgia 1800 Century Place, Suite 150 Atlanta, Ga. 30345-4304 404.235-7128 404.235-7201, fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.georgialibraries.org -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 04, 2008 5:37 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [OPEN-ILS-DEV] Adding bibs, volumes, copies without MARC Hello everyone, We (my wife and I) have a large number (large is relative, in this case 300-500) of paperback books as well as records, DVD, CD, VHS as well as items published in Europe that are not available via the Z39.50 Library of Congress lookup. For those items that ARE available via the LOC the load into Evergreen goes smoothly and painlessly with only a few mouse clicks :-) ! However these other items are going to be a rather big pain in the neck (or fingers when I finish typing their data). I've looked at the import_demo scripts to try and figure out what is really needed in the database tables and have come to the following options: ....... In either case, I obviously won't have all of the prolific data that is normally available in a professionally created MARC record. Can anyone give some idea of the minimum fields that should be entered? Obviously, Title, Author are needed but not sure what above that is needed to keep Evergreen from getting into issues about missing data. Maybe something like the above already exists and I have missed it. Any comments on the above (including "what a crazy idea") would be appreciated. For sure, Evergreen wasn't created for the 2 "patron" library so normally this type of load isn't a big requirement but as mentioned in several places, it is scalable (up in size as well as down )! I'll consider those comments then see what can be created (if necessary).
