Re: [Koha-zebra] .abs file and subfield ordering

[Sebastian Hammer]

Joshua Ferraro wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> I've been playing around with the .abs file for Koha's MARC records,
> trying to put together some solid mappings between the 'attributes'
> and MARC tag/subfield combos (ie, 'title' => (245$a$f$g, etc.) and
> have a couple of questions.
>
> First, this is strange, but using the MODS mapping as a guideline,
> I note that they map things differently depending on subfield order
> in the record. For instance, in tag 245, if  $f$g$h$k follow $b they
> go with <subTitle>. If they follow $a they go with <title>. I'm 
> wondering whether this is possible in Zebra and if so, how it can
> be acomplished. If your answer is that MARC MUST DIE, I'll completely
> understand :-).
>  
Of course MARC must die... but I don't think this is a major issue. I've 
had extensive conversations with staff at the LoC about Zebra's 
weaknesses as pertains to MARC, so I'm acutely aware of the weaknesses, 
but I'm not sure this is one of them. Most of their concerns have 
concerned the ability to combine multiple subfields into one phrase 
index for scanning or complete subfield searching... I've never heard of 
a wish to control indexing based on what subfield follows what other 
subfield... others on the list may have other experiences (indeed, other 
formats than MARC21 may pose other challenges here).

> Also, speaking of mappings, I've got a few CQL questions. So I 
> understand the notion of a 'context set' and 'indexes' within
> each context set. I'm not clear on what the best context set
> would be for the MARC records in the libraries using Koha. bath?
> cql? 
>  
I'll defer to Mike, since he's on the editorial board. I imagine this 
might be something that'd be good to bring to the ZING list.

> Also, though the bath context set defines indexes, it doesn't clearly
> specify mappings for those indexes into any specific record format
> like MARC. Are there specifications anywhere that define such 
> mappings? Bib-1 maybe? MODS? Any suggestions?
>
> Finally, in some of the ABS files included with Zebra I see a
> ? after the tag like in this entry:
>
> elm 245                 title           -
> elm 245/?               title           !:w
> elm 245/?/a             title           !:w,!:p
>
> Is this a 'WildThing'? could someone explain what that means? :-)
>  
I think Bath has been roundly criticized for stopping short of mapping 
USE attributes (to say nothing of indexes) to MARC fields. The Bib-1 
semantics document makes a half-baked effort, but I don't think anyone 
would consider it an authority today. I've heard some folks say that 
either the US national profile or the ZTexas profile actually specify 
mappings to MARC fields for the basic stuff.

But the marc21.abs file that comes with Zebra should be a really good 
starting point for the most simple and obvious stuff. I developed that 
over several iterations with Larry Dixson of the LoC, and it was 
directly based on a set of requirements that they developed for their 
LIS vendor when they migrated to Voyager (of course, the vendor totally 
ignored them). And the folks at the LoC sure do know their MARC.  :-)

--Sebastian

> Thanks,
>
>  

--
Sebastian Hammer, Index Data
address@hidden   www.indexdata.com
Ph: (603) 209-6853