Thanks everyone for getting back to me. I will talk to the Director about the information I have gathered so far, and I am sure I will be back with more questions!
Laura Long Marshall Public Library ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] General Questions From: "Mike Rylander" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, March 27, 2008 12:46 pm To: [email protected] "Public Open-ILS tech discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 12:40 PM, Bill Ott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >> 1. We currently use Baker & Taylor for cataloging of new book purchases. > >> We download records from their web site, and then upload them into > >> Unicorn..I assume this would also be possible with Evergreen, but is the > >> process simple? > >> > > > > I'm not familiar with Baker & Taylor, sorry. > > > > But I'm interested in some more detail- are you downloading just the > > bibliographic records via Z39.50? Evergreen supports this today; you > > would just have to set up Baker and Taylor as a Z39.50 source. > > > > Or are you downloading batches of MARC bibliographic records into a > > file, that you then load into Unicorn (either via a report or via some > > cataloging tool)? This is not quite as easy today; at the moment, to > > load batches of records into Evergreen you have to run some command > > line scripts. > > We use Baker & Taylor's Title Source 3, and download MARC records based > on our orders, which I believe is what's being described. What I've > done is create some slightly modified import scripts, run as CGI > scripts, which allows batch importing from these files to add bib > records. It also works for OCLC's CatME files, and probably others. > > It's a quick and dirty approach, and we're only using it on a test > basis, but it works well for dumping some data into the database > relatively quickly. For production use it needs some TLC. > > The beauty of the Evergreen staff client is that it's essentially a Web > browser. So, you can run a CGI script right in the client, and with > some minor tweaks add it right in as a cataloging menu option. > > Bill, would you be willing to share what you have right now, either on-list, directly to me, or perhaps as a ILS-Contrib package? There are thorny problems with large batches (as I'm sure you know) but I'd love to see what you've got right now. Maybe it's a better or alternate starting point for "simple batch ingest" than my current Project Vandelay (import/exporter joke from Seinfeld, for those that aren't big fans of the show). -- Mike Rylander | VP, Research and Design | Equinox Software, Inc. / The Evergreen Experts | phone: 1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457) | email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | web: http://www.esilibrary.com
