User manual

9
Migrating Catalog Data
Migrating catalog data from the legacy system is a prerequisite to using Koha
for most libraries. The process involves exporting MARC records from the legacy
system and importing them into Koha using Koha's import tools.
Migrating bibliographic data is usually easy; holdings data, however, presents a
few challenges. This stems from the fact that different library systems record
holdings data in different ways -fields and subfields used for an element may
be different. In some cases, certain fields used in Koha may not be directly available
in the holdings field.
In this chapter we will learn how to convert MARC files from legacy systems into
Koha compatible files. We will learn about Koha's MARC record import tools.
An orientation to migrating catalog data
Let's start by getting a better understanding of the migration process. Here is what
we will cover in this orientation section:
The structure of MARC files that we will import into Koha
How Koha's holdings MARC field differs from the corresponding field in
other systems
The tools we will employ to convert and import the catalog data into Koha