CSV to MRC
From Spreadsheet to Koha
CSV to MRC
From Spreadsheet to Koha
By Fred King, MSLS, AHIP
MedStar Washington Hospital
Washington, DC
fred.king@medstar.net
Lauren Denny
Teamwork Library Consortium
Obligatory Cat Picture
Fred shares a bit of personal history
Ben Mathews photo by Katie Loyd, UNCG news release
Browsery photo from TripAdvisor
First with a shareware program
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Then Paradox
Photo: Internet Archive
Then MS Access 97
Photo: Internet Archive
So I exported the database to a CSV file
And put them in Koha
And so can you!
My advice is not always the most elegant way
First, a little cleanup of the old records
For example, some authors, publishers, etc., may have typos:
Copy and paste the column into a new spreadsheet
Select “Remove Duplicates”
Then sort the column
Look through it, make changes in the original file.
Then sort the column
Look through it, make changes in the original file.
Then sort the column
Look through it, make changes in the original file.
You can do this for any column you want to check.
Convert abbreviations
Find and replace in a column
Add p. or cm to a column
MS Word
Add p. or cm to a column
But Wait!
What if not every cell has something in it?
Find and Replace again
If you copied, searched and replaced, then pasted back into the spreadsheet, the bottom cell will align with the bottom row.
You should probably check, just to be sure.
Or you can create a new column, paste your data into there, check to see that it lines up, then delete the old column.
Sometimes a spreadsheet isn’t your friend
Lauren Says: When I use excel to automatically add text, I need to copy and “paste values” or MarcEdit will not know how to handle the “formula”.
Sometimes a spreadsheet isn’t your friend
Sometimes a spreadsheet isn’t your friend
Sometimes a spreadsheet isn’t your friend
Now to the exciting part
Here are the original tags I assigned when cataloging. �
Now to convert the tags to their MARC equivalents
https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/
Now to convert the tags to their MARC equivalents
Now to convert the tags to their MARC equivalents
Now to convert the tags to their MARC equivalents
Did you know that you can have multiple item-specific fields in the 952$z field?�
You can have multiple fields in any field!�
Koha is infinitely configurable!
You can have multiple fields in the any field!�
Koha is infinitely configurable!
Here’s how:
From the Koha home screen…
Select Koha administration
Then MARC bibliographic framework
Then edit subfields for 952
Field 952
Edit subfields
Make subfield z repeatable
Click here!
Add the tags and MARC fields to the spreadsheet
A better view of the first three rows:
Highly recommended:�identify the columns in the spreadsheet
Highly recommended:�identify the columns in the spreadsheet
The label
Highly recommended:�identify the columns in the spreadsheet
The MARC Field
Highly recommended:�identify the columns in the spreadsheet
The column number
https://marcedit.reeset.net/
Who Uses It?
Anybody who does anything with MARC records.
What does it run on?
Available for Windows, Linux, Mac
Cost?
FREE
Tech Support?
Terry Reese!
He never sleeps!*
*Not confirmed. Photo from MarcEdit web site.
What does it do?
Start MarcEdit
Select your file
Give the Output File a name, then import the file
Make sure you choose the right sheet
Then tell MarcEdit which field �to map to which MARC tag
Click here!
Don’t forget to add indicators.
And add the subfield.
Join Items to have them in the same field
Join Items to have them in the same field
Lauren says: you can move columns in Excel so the ones you want to join are next to each other.
Join Items to have them in the same field
Fred says: wish I’d thought of that
Joined items will have an asterisk next to them
Finished!
Make a template
Templates save time
Load a template
Click finish, and you’re done!
And here’s what they look like:
And you think you’ll get everything right the first time?
Probably not
William Hogarth, The Laughing Audience, 1773
Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Probably not
Not only is mapping very time-consuming, it usually takes several attempts to get it right.
Review
Review
Review
William Hogarth, The Laughing Audience, 1773
Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
REVIEW!
Are your indicators correct so you don’t have to add them later?
Did you match the columns to the correct MARC field/subfield?
Did you join the fields/subfields you needed to join?
Did you join ALL the fields/subfields you needed to join?
Did you match ALL your columns? Did you leave one out?
Now go back and keep trying until you get it right.
That’s one of the reasons you saved a template.
Compile and upload your records into Koha
Marc Breaker
Convert machine-readable mrc files to human-readable mrk files.
Just in case.
Compile and upload your records into Koha
Compile and upload your records into Koha
Compile and upload your records into Koha
Uploaded and ready to search!
But what if you want to add more cataloging data? Subject headings, URLs, other neat stuff?
You’ll have to wait until next time…�
Other Resources
Photo: Wiki Commons