[Evergreen-catalogers] Tiny Cat

[sarahc at zionsville.lib.in.us]

> A long-running discussion among the developers has been putting
> together
> a set of test records for Evergreen, which would be used for
> automated
> software testing and possibly for community demonstration
> databases.

Sounds like a good idea that would benefit the community.

> What I'd like to bring up is the possibility of Evergreen
> catalogers
> getting together and creating a small, cohesive data set of
> bibliographic and authority records.  By "cohesive" I mean a set
> of
> records that are selected to appear as if they come from a tiny,
> but
> real library, albeit one that collects in every format and perhaps
> includes an unusual number of "problem children" like Stephen
> King's
> 11/22/63.

Would the focus of "problem children" be on properly cataloged
items that are tricky for the database to handle?
>
> Why build Tiny Cat?  Having a stable, shared data set would make
> it
> easier to experiment with tweaking default indexing and display
> rules
> without having to always make reference to existing Evergreen
> catalogs
> that also have to support local cataloging practice.

For us our biggest "problem children" are non-standard records
that come in when new libraries join the consortium. We're trying
not to support local cataloging practice, but assimilation takes
time. :)

 It would
> also be a
> fixed point of comparison for cataloging and OPAC functionality as
> new
> versions of Evergreen get released
>
> Would this be of interest to the members of this list?

Seems interesting to me.




Sarah Childs
Senior Cataloger
Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library
250 North Fifth Street
Zionsville, IN 46077
317-873-3149 x13330
sarahc at zionsville.lib.in.us