[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Need help understanding the basics

[Jason Etheridge]

Hi Raymond, I see you've gotten help in other threads but I'm going to
try to hit this one real quickly.

On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 9:18 PM, Raymond Norton <admin at lctn.org> wrote:
> 1. Steps for adding a paper back book that has a bar code on it into Evergreen.

A barcode you added to the book, or the UPC/ISBN barcode on the back?
In either case, in the staff client you should go to Cataloging ->
Import Record from Z39.50, select Library of Congress and Biblios, and
search for your book there.  You may have luck scanning the UPC/ISBN
barcode on the back into the ISBN field, but I don't have a scanner
handy to test at the moment.  I did grab book nearby and entered the
ISBN without the hyphens and got a hit from Biblios.

If you have easy access to ISBN's and need to do lookups in a more
batch manner, you should download a 3rd party program called MarcEdit
from Terry Reese, which has the ability to search a list of ISBN's
against multiple Z39.50 sources.  You would take the MARC file thus
produced and upload it into the staff client through Cataloging ->
MARC Batch Import/Export.

This is just getting the bibliographic records into the system; you
still need to associate barcoded items with those records.  Going back
to the Import Record from Z39.50 interface as an example, select the
record you found and hit MARC Editor for Import.  In later versions of
EG there will be a checkbox labeled Fast Item Add.  If you select
that, then you can enter a Call Number and an Item Barcode in the
adjacent textboxes and click Import Record.  If there is no Fast Item
Add, just click Import Record, then wait until the screen reloads and
you see an Actions for this Record menu.  Click that and choose
Holdings Maintenance.  Select your library in the interface that
spawns from that, and then choose Actions for Selected Rows -> Add
Volumes.  Enter 1 for # of volumes, enter a call number, enter 1 for #
of Copies, enter a barcode, then click Edit then Create.  The
interface is good for adding lots of items at once across multiple
libraries, but no so much for quickly adding a single item (thus the
Fast Item Add that was added later).

Either method will spawn a copy editor that will let you tweak options
on the copy such was whether it shows up in the OPAC, or can
circulate, etc.  Hit Create Copies and there you go.

For handling items through the MARC Batch Import/Export interface, I
believe that's still a work in progress.

For these item barcodes, most libraries will purchase pre-printed
barcode labels to apply to their books.  Some home libraries may get
away with re-using their ISBN/UPC code as if it were an item barcode,
but that's quick and dirty (how do you handle multiple copies?)

> 2. Steps for importing information from Marc records from a free site using
> isbn numbers found on book we already own, or will purchase
> 3. Steps for adding a book to evergreen, and associating it to the bar code
> found on the book, or a new one we would adhere to it.

Looks like I hit upon some of these above. :)

> Maybe this would turn into a conversation not wanted on the list. If that is
> the case, it would be helpful if I could converse with someone off-list.
>
> Thanks in advance!

Good luck!

-- 
Jason Etheridge
 | VP, Tactical Development
 | Equinox Software, Inc. / The Evergreen Experts
 | phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
 | email:  jason at esilibrary.com
 | web:  http://www.esilibrary.com